Dedicated Bus Lane is in the Milwaukee County Budget

The city of Milwaukee is moving forward with plans for a dedicated bus lane. “The Milwaukee County Board's 2019 budget included funding for Bus Rapid Transit, a 9-mile route from downtown Milwaukee to the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa,” Corri Hess reports for Wisconsin Public Radio. The budget only contains funds for part of the project. The city hopes it will receive additional funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA). The FTA is expected to let Milwaukee know if it will pick up the 80 percent of the project after the city applies for the funding in the first half of next year.

The 2019 budget also contains a provision to allow the city to “purchase up to 15 battery electric buses to begin transitioning away from fossil fuels,” Hess writes. City officials hope these improvements will help a transit system that has lost riders at a rapid clip.