MCTS reveals first battery-electric bus designed by Novabus

Milwaukee County has revealed its first zero-emission battery-electric bus.

The Milwaukee County Transit System revealed the first battery-electric bus designed by Novabus on Thursday outside the Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee. The bus will be part of the East-West Bus Rapid Transit Line, and crews have already set up a charger at the west end of the line in Wauwatosa.

The new bus has roughly the same layout as the current MCTS bus model but without a diesel engine, making no carbon emissions, officials said. Other design amenities include chimes to alert riders with visual impairments, wider doors, a wider aisle and USB charging ports at each seat.

Donna Brown-Martin, the Milwaukee County Director of Transportation, said MCTS is planning to install a charging station at The Couture at the east end of the East-West BRT. A charging station manufactured by ABB was installed at West Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa in September, she added.

The agency performed a feasibility study for charging stations at the North-South BRT/Purple Line route, and now they are working on a preliminary design, Brown-Martin said. Officials hope to send plans to the Federal Transit Administration.

MCTS Maintenance Director Ron McCorkel said most of the components were made in Wisconsin and Illinois and provided 300 and 150 jobs in each state, respectively. While parts are made in places like Pleasant Prairie and Racine, Novabus is assembled in New York state.

The transit agency purchased 11 battery-electric buses and hopes to bring that number to 15 by the fall of 2023, officials said. Passenger service with new buses is scheduled to begin in June 2023.

A group of workers from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 picketed the event on the nearby public sidewalk. In October, 97 percent of union members voted to reject the latest MCTS contract offer, and members cited issues like overtime, burnout and safety.

“We want to drive these buses,” a union member said. “They talked about what heroes we are, but that’s patronizing.”