Milwaukee County's buses slid into their summer groove on Sunday, June 7, as the transit agency flipped to its seasonal schedule and brought back weekday mid-day service on several trimmed routes. Riders are getting more daytime trips, a reshuffled timetable across much of the system, a few stop relocations and a reminder that long-running construction detours are still very much part of the daily commute. The changes are aimed at boosting reliability during heavier summer travel and adjusting to construction that continues to chew up key corridors across the county.
What changed on June 7
Starting Sunday, June 7, MCTS restored mid-day weekday service on Routes 28, 33, 34 and 55 and tweaked schedules on 15 more lines to keep buses running closer to on-time, according to MCTS. Southbound BlueLine buses are now running on a shifted alignment between 64th and Silver Spring and 60th and Villard, weekday service on Route 66 has been expanded to serve UWM, and the agency says an extra weekday bus will be added on corridors hit hardest by the I-94 East-West project. “Summer service changes are about making sure our riders have safe, reliable and dependable transit,” MCTS President and CEO Steve Fuentes said in the agency announcement.
Detours to watch
Several long-term detours are not going anywhere just yet. Route 24 will keep bypassing the 16th Street viaduct over the Menomonee River until a planned rehabilitation wraps up in fall 2026, and Route 60 will stay off 60th Street between Main and Bluemound into late 2028, as local reporting shows FOX6. The GreenLine and Route 80 are also using altered airport stop patterns near General Mitchell International, with buses skipping the cell-phone lot and stopping closer to terminal ticketing areas, per local coverage.
The broader I-94 East-West rebuild remains the backdrop for many of these reroutes and extra travel time. WisDOT and local officials say that reconstruction could stretch roughly eight years, according to reporting by CBS58.
Money and enforcement
Fare hikes that took effect January 1 - including a $2.75 regular single ride and adjusted fare-capping thresholds - are still in place as MCTS works to plug a structural funding gap, per local coverage from TMJ4. County officials said at a June 4 briefing that stronger enforcement and operational savings have nudged the system toward a modest projected surplus of roughly $490,000, and county figures show fare-evasion rates dropped from about 33% last summer to roughly 24% in early 2026, according to a press release shared via Urban Milwaukee. That combination of restored mid-day trips and tighter enforcement helped unlock contingency funds in the county's 2026 budget to bring extra service back for the summer.
How to plan your trip
Riders should double-check updated timetables and stop maps on the MCTS service-changes page and lean on the Umo trip planner or real-time bus tracker to confirm times and detours before heading out. The agency has also rolled out contactless tap-to-pay while keeping WisGo and the Umo app for reduced-fare and capping benefits, so anyone who depends on daily or weekly capping is better off sticking with one payment method for accurate fare calculations.
For exact stop moves, detour details and line-by-line schedules, visit Ride MCTS and sign up for E-Notify detour alerts before your next trip.
