The Milwaukee County Transit System has temporarily removed all battery electric buses from the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service that started in early June. MCTS says bus manufacturer, Nova Bus, notified MCTS August 24 of a potential battery problem that may have occurred during the manufacturing process.
MCTS says "out of an abundance of caution," it will, for the time being, replace the electric buses with those powered by so-called "clean diesel" fuel.
Some of the BRT buses were already diesel-powered.
MCTS declined to do an interview, but says it will report on the matter to a Milwaukee County Board committee on September 5.
MCTS says the BRT service, known as Connect 1, will not be otherwise affected. BRT provides faster service between downtown Milwaukee and the west side of the county.
Lake Effect recently sat down with the Transit System's Director of Service Development, Tom Winter, to discuss the overall performance of Connect 1.
Winter begins by telling WUWM's Chuck Quirmbach about some schedule tweaking that takes effect on Sunday, August 27.
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