Federal Transit Administration Administrator Marc Molinaro sent letters to Milwaukee transportation officials calling for immediate action to address rampant fare evasion on the city’s bus and rail systems, which is costing taxpayers millions of dollars in lost revenue annually.
The federal agency is also asking officials to provide transparency about the resources they are allocating to improving public safety, as commuters express increasing fears about using Milwaukee-area transit services.
In letters to John Rodgers, interim director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation, and James Vineau, system manager of the Milwaukee Streetcar System, Molinaro calls for transparency.
“Each time a rider steps onto a bus without paying, it erodes the public’s trust in the system, discourages responsible riders, and normalizes disorder,” Molinaro said in a release. “These aren’t isolated annoyances. They’re signals of a system abandoned by its leaders.”
Molinaro is requiring the MCTS and the city of Milwaukee to submit, by Dec. 22, written reports identifying the actions and plans being taken to reduce crime and fare evasion on their systems, including trends and prior actions. They also want Milwaukee transportation officials to summarize all sources of funds to improve passenger and worker security, including fiscal 2025 budgeted and fiscal 2026 planned allocations, and comparison to prior years, and information about funds from other Federal agencies, including any Department of Homeland Security funds.
The letters are the latest in a series that the U.S. Department of Transportation has sent to transit systems, urging them to address safety and fare evasion and to focus on reducing crime to make commuting safe for Americans and their families.
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