Pandemic leaves future of bus, merger in doubt

With the future in doubt for the Ozaukee County express bus service as well as the proposed merger with the Washington County shared-ride tax service, county officials will look at drafting a memorandum of understanding that could allow taxis to take riders across county lines.

Members of the Public Works Committee last week directed Ozaukee County staff to draft a memorandum that would suggest a way for taxis to cross county lines.

Committee Chairman Marty Wolf told the committee that at a recent meeting with Washington County officials it was discussed whether to install additional bus stops along the counties’ border, whether to pursue a full merger or to allow county taxis to cross over.

Wolf said there seemed to be more support for allowing taxis to traverse borders, even though no one is sure what the demand is for such a service.

Although merging the two systems has been discussed for some time, “there are a number of reasons not to,” Wolf said.

One of the main obstacles to merging the two systems is that it would require the creation of an independent transit commission, which by statute would require weekly meetings. 

Riders wanting to go from Washington to Ozaukee County, or vice versa, usually for health care services, currently must stop at Newburg Village Hall and change from one system to the other before proceeding.

Officials have estimated that 50,000 people or more make that trip every year. 

“But nobody knows for sure,” Wolf said. “Forming a pilot program would help us see what the demand really is for the service.”

Supr. Pat Marchese said now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, may not be the right time to do such a study since ridership is down.

“I’m a little concerned. I’m not sure this is a good time to do a pilot study,” Marchese said. “Especially with unemployment still high.”

Supr. Tom Grabow agreed.

“This is not the time to do a study,” Grabow said. “The data will be off.”

County Administrator Jason Dzwinel said the county’s transit program may be fundamentally changed due to the coronavirus.

“Outside of Lasata,” the county’s senior living campus in Cedarburg, “I don’t know that there’s been an area of county services more impacted than transit” by the virus, he said.

That includes the future of the Ozaukee Express commuter bus system, which has seen ridership dropping the last several years, even before the onset of the virus, which shut down the service in March.

“There may be drastic changes coming to our express bus service,” Dzwinel said. “That discussion was coming pre-Covid.”

Increasing shared-ride taxi services would likely increase costs, he noted, but those cost increases might be covered by a reduction in the Ozaukee Express service. 

“It comes down to a policy decision. Do we want to be in that business?” Marchese said.

Public Works Director Jon Edgren said a draft memorandum of understanding on the shared-ride taxi could be brought to the committee by next month’s meeting.