Bus routes would link jobs with central city workers

The Journal staff

Employers think of the central city as an untapped resource of entry-level workers who are desperately needed as workers in industries in West Allis, Wauwatosa, Butler, Menomonee Falls, Oak Creek and the Northwest Side of Milwaukee, county officials say.

The problem is: How do these workers many of whom do not own cars make the daily trek to jobs?

The Milwaukee County Transit System and the county Division of Economic Development have put together five new bus routes to help get workers to outlying job sites.

A report on the new routes, including a recent proposal to increase bus service to the new Quad/Graphics plant in West Allis, was set to go before the County Board Mass Transit Committee late Wednesday.

"The primary concern that we're hearing from a lot of major companies is the availability of entry-level labor," said Timothy M. Casey, director of the Division of Economic Development.

"There's a mismatch between location of jobs that are now on the fringe of the metro area and the availability of an able work force that is primarily in the central city," Casey said.

A study recently released by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee surveyed 491 central city residents, ages 18-59, and found that 64% of job seekers did not have a car.

"The county at all levels has come to see that transportation is a barrier to employment," Casey said. "We're trying to work with employers to make jobs accessible to central-city workers. There are a lot of people in the central city who want to work and will take advantage of the opportunity by using the bus." New Transit Program

To accomplish that, the transit company has established the Employer Trip Reduction Response Program to improve bus service to outlying industrial sites.

In addition to the Quad/Graphics plant, the program also is being considered for use at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa, the Granville Woods Industrial Park in Northwest Milwaukee and the Oak Creek Industrial Park. Details of bus routes and times have not yet been worked out.

Expanded bus service currently is operating in Butler and Menomonee Falls industrial sites through this program.

Joseph A. Caruso, transit system marketing director, said ridership on the Butler-Menomonee Falls route had expanded from 25 when it began in early January to 100 by the end of that month.

"I think what has happened is we have seen a number of businesses running into difficulty keeping jobs filled because they are too distant from labor markets and are located outside transit service areas," Caruso said.

In the Quad/Graphics proposal, an early morning bus would run from the North Side through the South Side and into West Allis to the plant on Highway 100. The firm operates on 12- hour shifts, and an early evening bus would take workers home, Casey said.

With the use of federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds, the transit system has set up the program with a $170,000 budget. The current budget will last only a year. The transit system can reapply for funding for a second year, but that would be it. Goal Self-Support

The goal is for the bus routes to become as self-supporting as possible through the fare boxes. When the money runs out, business leaders and transit officials will need to evaluate the future of the program.

In the meantime, employers who want expanded bus service will pay half the operational costs, Casey said. The amount of federal funding was not large enough to serve all five projects, making employer contributions necessary.

According to the Transit Committee report, Quad/Graphics will need to contribute $13,800, Granville Woods will need a $12,950 contribution, Oak Creek will need a $15,000 to $20,000 contribution and the medical center a $26,5000 contribution. The Butler industrial area, in partnership with Waukesha County, contributes $24,500.

Granville, the medical center and Oak Creek are seeking transportation or economic development grants to pay their employers' share of the increased service.

The federal funds give employers time to promote bus use and employees time to acquaint themselves with mass transit, Caruso said. The transit system with its tight budget could not afford to provide as long a start- up time as the federal funds do, he said.

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