If the route can’t sustain bus service, future rail service does not look too good.
Not even the allegedly rail and mass transit friendly WISDOT could save it.
You are reading too much into that article.
The reason the state paid for the bus service in the first place was for the guaranteed Amtrak connection in Milwaukee. Which I never understood with the increasing Chicago to Milwaukee train frequency. There are 2 or 3 other bus carriers that offer Milwaukee to Green Bay service from the Milwaukee Amtrak station. The schedules are rather odd. I think the original issue for the subsidy was schedules coinciding with the Chicago to Milwaukee trains which made the total trip time reasonable. So the route has demonstrated ridership and the Milwaukee Amtrak station is also the bus station. I know zippo about this Amtrak bus service though and have no ridership stats.
As for the proposed train service. I don’t think it was ever a certainty but it had more certainty than Milwaukee to Madison which was my point earlier. WisDOT still is in study phase with Milwaukee to Green Bay and there are two rather expensive projects underway in Milwaukee last I heard. Mitchell Field Airport station expansion and the Muskego Yard bypass project.
It’s too bad. Thruway is a good service. Significantly quicker than ”competing” bus service along the GB-Milwaukee route(s). It’d take tens of millions to provide train service that matches the travel times Thruway provides now.
Looking from outside, it seems ridiculous that Wisconsin didn’t choose to develop passenger service to its 2nd largest metro area from Milwaukee. Maybe political? Especially when service to GB, of a different identification, is still studied.
The last time my Aunt rode it about 3-4 years ago she said the bus was fairly full to Fond Du Lac (which I have no idea what that means and never asked back then). So I tend to think this was a political move more than one of low ridership. I don’t understand why they did not setup a contractual agreement with another line.
From what I understood before… the state actually purchased the buses and the contract was to maintain the buses and run the service. That is what I suspect is behind the maintenance costs mention. The original service provider was US Coach (Wisconsin Coach Lines).
“Rising operational costs due to equipment and maintenance needs, combined with inflation, made the service financially unsustainable without additional state support, according to the department.”
The state legislature is to blame.
The service contract would need to be renewed. The cost was paid for by ridership plus the state.
I note that there are two bus runs supported by WisDOT between Milwaukee and Green Bay via Sheboygan, so the issue is not connectivity but (as mentioned) convenience. Note that there is also a subsidized route from Madison to Green Bay via Fond du Lac, and an unsubsidized run from Milwaukee through Fond du Lac to Appleton (where it turns west to serve other communities) so one wonders if the argument is in part about competition with private operators.
https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/travel/pub-transit/icbus-map.pdf
Buses are rolling bathrooms. Avoid them if you can.