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In need of quiet solitude not long ago, I did the obvious: I got on Milwaukee’s streetcar, The Hop.
It did not disappoint: In all, five people Hopped on, then off, as we trundled 2.1 miles across downtown. It’s a bit under what the latest federal transit data says is average: In 2021, for every mile the trolley ran, four people got on; for every hour a 150-passenger car runs, 23 people board.
That’s why it surprised no one that, when a garbage truck crashed into a streetcar in March, no passengers were hurt, there being no passengers.
It’s why, again in those latest Federal Transit Administration numbers, The Hop cost $15.03 per ride in operating expenses, never mind the cost of rails and wires — not a dime of it paid by passengers. It’s why the Legislature is doing Milwaukee a favor when it says, “enough.”
The low passenger counts along the route that was supposed to be most hungry for trams — train station to Third Ward to office towers — are only half the equation. The numerator is the cost. The FTA’s latest figures say that in 2021 for every hour a Milwaukee streetcar is out impeding traffic, it costs the city $351.
Compare that to the alternative. The Milwaukee County Transit System runs not only throughout downtown but through much of metro Milwaukee. It uses buses, plain old buses, though clean and comfortable. Every hour one is running the streets, it picks up about half as many passengers as the streetcar, but it costs only $103 to operate, or 29% of the price.
Buses just cost less to run: $142 per vehicle-hour in Madison, for instance, or $95 in Appleton. Streetcars cost more: Portland’s larger, established system pays $251 an hour in operating costs. Philadelphia pays $275 an hour, says the FTA, while its buses cost $169 to do the same thing. This suggests The Hop will remain costly even if the city expands it past the best-case starter route, as supporters hope.
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