Milwaukee Alderman Calls for Streetcar Fund Reallocation

On Feb. 3, Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan is releasing his better transit alternative option for Milwaukee "Moving Milwaukee Forward — A Common Sense, Cutting Edge Transit Alternative: Transit-On- Demand/Premium Transit."

The Moving Milwaukee Forward option proposes reallocating federal streetcar funding to create cutting-edge, technology-driven transit-on-demand service and a premium fixed-route transit service using green-energy vehicles, Donovan said.

The system Donovan is proposing would utilize a smartphone app for riders and would allow on-demand service to key locations in a six-mile service area across Milwaukee.

“Similar on-demand transit operations are used in Europe, and I believe they are the cutting-edge way of the future,” Donovan said. “This system would also be smarter, faster and less expensive than the streetcar, and the green technology for some of the vehicles could be made locally by global leaders Johnson Controls or Rockwell Automation.”

“Most importantly, Moving Milwaukee Forward makes it abundantly clear that there are other, better alternatives available, and saddling Milwaukee with an archaic, expensive and ridiculous streetcar is simply unconscionable of the local ‘leaders’ who want to take us back to the 1950s,” he said.

Having the streetcar funding reallocated by Congress is difficult, but it is “definitely possible,” Donovan said.