![]() ![]() As ridership has fallen, farebox revenue has also declined. MCTS’s second-largest funding source is also declining. Governor Tony Evers used his discretion with a separate grant to partially restore the cut, but the issue again needs to be addressed in the 2023-2025 state budget. Yet, despite those developments, a controversial $30 VRF was still required in 2017 to avert severe service cuts that year and beyond.”īut the transit system’s largest source of revenue - state transit aid - has not kept pace with annual inflation for most of the past decade and was actually cut by the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Legislature to offset $32.7 million of the pandemic federal aid. “Shrewd management included the restructuring of certain high-ridership routes to allow federal Congestion Management and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds to temporarily pick up their cost and the purchase of fuel at relatively low prices in futures markets. “The good fortune included the county’s receipt of federal stimulus funds in 2009 to purchase new buses, as well as MCTS’s receipt of tens of millions of dollars of reprogrammed federal funds from defunct light rail and commuter rail projects,” the report states. But in the intervening years, WPF says a combination of “shrewd management” and “good fortune” have forestalled some of the cuts. In 2008, the last time WPF studied MCTS in detail, the non-partisan think tank issued a similar warning about structural problems within that transit budget that spelled doom for bus service. Under a baseline scenario, it will be short $25.7 million by 2025 and $40.5 million by 2028. Under even the optimistic scenario, MCTS would still be short $17.9 million by 2025 and $28.4 million by 2028. ![]() ![]() The Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF) report, “ Detour Ahead,” models an “optimistic” budget deficit estimate and a “baseline” estimate. According to a new report, the transit system’s annual structural budget deficit could reach $40.5 million, a quarter of its 2023 budget. The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) would need to eliminate 25% of its service in five years without new or restored funding. A Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus from Gillig.
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