Milwaukee County Transit isn't inefficient - the transit operator is justifiably proud of their cost controls and higher-than-average farebox ratio, they do run a tight ship.

No, I'm saying their business plan is based on 40% farebox ratio, primarily from captive riders. These riders are relatively insensitive to service levels or price. The operator has decided that non-captive riders are not a target market.

So the transit agency tries to maximize the ridership while minimizing the cost. Everybody does that, of course. It's meant a fairly robust system within six miles of downtown with above-average farebox ratios for over 30 years. But it means buses every fifteen minutes or longer, because the operator doesn't *need* to run more often; they're not trying to attract non-captive riders. Hence my quote: "...the operator's goal is to run as few buses as possible to carry the ridership"

I'm not saying I like it; most in this group have lots of ideas how to change it. But that's how this operator has chosen to deal with their political, geographic, cultural, and economic environment to maintain stable and robust money-losing service for decades.

Profitable companies use very different business models, of course.

-Ian