Milwaukee's County's big experiment with electric buses starts Sunday, when the Connect 1 line begins service between downtown and the Watertown Plank Road Park and Ride. The Transit System says it's open to adjustments as the experiment rolls along.
Connect 1 will be Wisconsin's first bus route using a system called bus rapid transit, or BRT. Riders will be able to catch a bus every 10-15 minutes. The nine-mile ride between roughly the downtown Northwestern Mutual complex and the Watertown Plank Park and Ride won't stop as often. For about half of the way, the buses will have their own dedicated lane. Riders will pre-pay their fares either though the new WisGo cards or by paying cash or using a credit card at a vending machine at one of 33 BRT stations. So Connect 1 buses should move along faster.
The Transit System is also promising a quieter, more environmentally friendly ride.
For one thing, when Connect 1 is fully implemented, no more loud diesel engines. Like other electric vehicles, BRT buses start and run very quietly.
And the motors won't be burning diesel fuel, not even the so-called clean diesel the transit system typically uses. Diesel will power heating and cooling units for passengers. But otherwise, the vehicles will be be zero emission, powered by six 1,300 pound electric batteries able to provide a range of up to 247 miles. When the batteries need re-energizing, a charging system at the park and ride will attach to the roof of a Connect 1 bus for between three and six minutes.
Milwaukee County Transit has been holding open houses for riders wanting to get used to the new vehicles.
At one recent session, employee Fran Musci demonstrated a relatively new rear-facing securing system for wheelchairs or other mobility devices, that BRT buses will have in the seating area.
"So the arm comes out, alongside my mobility device. Then it swings down, then it will squeeze the mobility device from both sides, and now it secures. It does a little light squeeze and it beeps like that. The operator pushes a button and does a final lock in, so that it doesn't go anywhere. When the bus stops, that mobility device does not move. If they do a sudden stop, everyone else might go flying forward. But a person sitting here would go back into the backrest," Musci explained.
Connect 1 will also have a more traditional wheelchair securing area that uses a straps and a hook.
The buses will have 32 seats, and including standing areas, capacity for up to 68 passengers.
But the BRT system will bring other changes that some riders may not like. Connect 1 will replace the East-West Gold Line and won't go to 124th Street and Brookfield Square like it does now. Instead, Waukesha Metro buses will come east to 95th Street, and riders will transfer there, usually for free. Between Hawley Road and the Regional Medical Complex, buses will travel on Bluemound Road instead of Wisconsin Avenue. And to go north of downtown towards UWM and Bayshore, riders will need to transfer to other lines like Route 30, which will run more frequently.
Transit System official Paula Schultz says she hopes the north-south riders will get used to the changes.
"Well, the Gold Line is a very beloved line. For sure. It is. I think that people realize once the service is still there, we will be fine. The service is still there. It's just a different name on a different bus," Schultz tells WUWM.
And for those who don't like the changes, Schultz says Milwaukee County Transit welcomes rider suggestions for improvements.
"Definitely. We do listen to the comments that we get, and we take them very seriously," she says.
Due to supply chain issues with battery electric buses, a few of the BRT vehicles will be diesel-powered, until four more battery-powered buses arrive later this year. Federal taxpayers have supplied about $43 million of the $55 million in capital costs to get BRT underway.
But under a sponsorship deal, Connect 1 rides will be free from the start of service this Sunday, June 4 through September 30.
