If you take public transit, you now have a few new options to get around town.
The Milwaukee County Transit System last week announced two express routes supplementing existing routes and one entirely new route. Here's how it breaks down:
Gold Line
The Gold Line crosses the county line into Waukesha County, connecting Brookfield Square Mall to the UW-Milwaukee campus. The route also makes loop around popular East Side destinations on Prospect and Farwell Avenues.
Purple Line
The Purple Line offers express service north and south along South 27th street and into the Glendale Industrial Park.
Both lines are "metro express" routes, meaning they make fewer stops and offer faster service.
Route 61
Route 61 provides service to new destinations, running along Appleton Ave. and taking commuters into Milwaukee's northern suburbs, including Menomonee Falls and the Germantown Industrial Park.
MCTS spokesperson Jacqueline Zeledon says the new routes were designed to specifically serve commuters and provide access to jobs.
"A lot of our riders are commuting to work," Zeledon said. "We added the new routes so we could provide more faster and efficient service to our customers, especially helping people make connections to work."
Funding for the new lines came from two sources. For the express lines, MCTS received a $17 million federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant, the same funding source it used to create the Green, Blue and Red lines in 2012.
For route 61, partial funding came from a settlement between the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope and Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, who advocated for more public transportation serving area health care providers, Zeledon said.
The new lines launched on Jan. 18 and will soon offer real-time tracking to riders.
