(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bryan Steil (WI-01) is urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to impose stronger oversight on Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) after recent reports revealed millions of dollars in lost revenue from widespread fare evasion.
Steil sent a letter Friday to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calling for accountability measures, citing federal records showing Milwaukee County received $57.24 million in transit funding in 2023.
“Federal funds are intended to strengthen and sustain public transportation, not to compensate for avoidable revenue shortfalls caused by lax fare enforcement,” Steil said. “Fare evasion not only pushes MCTS toward insolvency, but it is fundamentally unfair to the hardworking families who rely on public transportation, follow the rules, and pay their fares.”
Revenue Losses and Deficits
According to MCTS data, riders skipped paying fares more than 8 million times in 2025, amounting to nearly one-third of all trips. In 2024 alone, the system lost about $4 million in revenue from fare evasion.
The agency announced in June that it was facing a $10.9 million deficit due to “unexpected expenses and lower passenger revenue.” While ridership has increased in recent years, fare collection has dropped, largely because MCTS bus operators were instructed to stop enforcing payments and to “no longer ask for fare” from riders.
Longstanding Concerns
Concerns about the solvency of MCTS are not new. Policy reports have raised alarms dating back to 2008, with another analysis published in 2023. Steil said the consistent warnings underscore the need for federal scrutiny given the level of taxpayer support directed to the county transit system.
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10 Responses
Cool. Now cut off Pentagon funding until they can pass an audit. Think of the billions with a B that would save every year.
Bravo!
Where’s the Epstein files?
Don’t look behind the curtain….
Where’s Hillary’s emails?
How about somebody looking into who designed the roads around here? 1/4 mile long turn lanes that are
so ridiculous, you have to post DO NOT ENTER signs. The area around 50 & 94 is a complete clusterfuck!
I did in fact notice when I moved to Cheezland the civil engineering here sux
How is it a cluster? I’ll admit southbound 94 exit onto 50 is really stupid but the rest isn’t that hard to comprehend…unless you’re a FIB.
Brian must be trying to get re-elected. This RINO is quite and does nothing most of his term, here he is doing useless crap to get in the limelight. No thanks. We need an alpha male to run things.
Bryan fights the fentanyl issue to the hilt, reaching out to families and trying his hardest to push for laws to stop it, and also to KEEP repeaters of fentanyl incarcerated! He cares immensely AND IT SHOWS!!!