Transit Commission Meeting Minutes - May 21, 2026
Transit Commission Meeting – May 21, 2026
The Transit Commission of Waukesha met on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 5:30 PM in City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting, chaired by Commissioner O'Donnell, included approvals of consent items, public comment (none received), detailed discussions on four procurement and service change items, and a ridership report. All votes were unanimous.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (March 19, 2026): Moved by Kevin Riley, seconded by Commissioner Piper. The minutes were approved without discussion.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were offered.
Discussion Items
- Purchase of Fareboxes (Item 5A): Brian, Transit staff, presented a proposal to purchase 31 Fast Fare non‑registering fareboxes from SPX Genfare for $94,922. The current 15‑year‑old fareboxes are at end‑of‑life and failed two weeks ago. The new units are “low tech” for cash only, as smart cards and mobile payments are handled by Wisco. The procurement was through an RFP; SPX Genfare scored highest technically and second lowest in cost. Federal funds will cover 80% and the remaining 20% will be reimbursed with federal relief funds, requiring no city funds. Commissioners asked about exact change requirements (yes), the percentage of riders paying cash (about 25%), and the system’s lifespan (physical hardware, long lasting). Motion by Piper, second by Riley. Approved unanimously.
- Purchase of Replacement Passenger Signs (Item 5B): Staff recommended purchasing eight bus bay signs and a lobby monitor from GMV, the current AVL vendor, for $99,985. The signs will show route and next bus arrival, include braille and audio for visually impaired customers. This is a sole‑source request due to integration requirements with GMV’s system. The city sign crew will install, with a potential $10,000 contingency for electrical issues. Federal funds cover 80%, relief funds the remaining 20%. Motion by Piper, second by Riley. Approved unanimously.
- Amendment to Clear Channel Bus Shelter Agreement (Item 5C): Staff proposed reducing shelters in the program from 22 to 20, as two relocated shelters were deemed less desirable by Clear Channel. The amendment reduces annual revenue by about $1,400 (from a $700/shelter revenue share). The contract expires in about 1.5 years; staff expressed concern that Clear Channel might not renew. Rejecting the amendment could force the city to maintain the 20 shelters at an estimated $20,000/year cost. Motion by Riley, second by Piper. Approved unanimously.
- Proposed Service Changes Effective August 24, 2026 (Item 5D): Staff presented minor changes: Route 5 rerouting for efficiency (eliminating four turns), elimination of the 5:50 PM Saturday trip on Route 5; elimination of the 7:05 AM and 8:15 AM weekday trips on Route 9 (reducing from 30‑minute to hourly service); adding a full‑day loop around South High School on Route 9 (per school staff request); and elimination of the 6:15 AM weekday trip on Route 15. Total reduction: 16.5 service hours per week (2.5%), annual savings of $59,000. Staff noted that if approved, service levels would fall to 1990s levels. Motion by Riley, second by Piper. Approved unanimously.
- First Quarter 2026 Ridership Report (Item 6A): Staff reported fixed‑route ridership decreased 9% (January–March 2026 vs. 2024) but with a 24% reduction in service hours during the period. The efficiency measure—passengers per revenue hour—increased 18% to 9.0 (from 7.6). MetroLift paratransit ridership grew 15% compared to 2024, reaching its highest level since 2012, with an annual projection of about 15,000 rides.
Key Outcomes
- All four action items (fareboxes, passenger signs, shelter agreement amendment, service changes) were approved unanimously by Commissioners O’Donnell, Riley, and Piper.
- The purchase of fareboxes and passenger signs will use 80% federal funds and 20% federal relief funds with no city general fund impact.
- The service change reductions will bring Waukesha’s transit service to approximately 1990 levels.
- Staff will report to the City Council on current service levels as requested by the City Administrator.
Meeting Transcript
All right, we'll go ahead and get started for the Board of Public Works meeting for excuse me, the transit commission meeting for um Thursday, May 21st, 2026. We'll start with a roll call, Chad O'Donnell. Uh just for correction, it's a 21st. Oh, 20. I got it. 22. Kevin Rayleigh here. Joe Piper's here too. One step behind. All right. With that, we'll go ahead. I don't see anything for public comments. We'll start with the uh allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republican. Which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. So I think we can go ahead then and uh start with uh item three A, approval minutes. Kevin Riley makes a motion to approve the transit minutes from March 19th. Pyprel second. Joel Piper will second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none of a vote. Oh, Donald I. Kevin Riley, aye. Piper I. All right. Motion passes. We'll move to item 40. Um the first uh discussion recommendation item is uh the review and act on proposed purchase of fare boxes from SBX Genfair. Um we are bringing forth the proposed purchase of Fast Fair non-registering fare boxes from XBX Genfair uh for ninety-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-two for a total of thirty-one units. Our current fare boxes um that collect all the fares, the cash fares on the bus are at the end of life. Um the the company no longer supports it. Um this version, and only emergency support is available, and there's a lot of points of failure. This is a 25 or 15-year-old technology um system that um and in fact just two weeks ago it did fail. So um this was an approved pro uh project in the CIP for this year. And uh we really didn't need a high-tech fare box, what we currently have due to us switching to Wisco three years ago. Um that's really uh uh eliminated the need for uh we you know Wisco takes care of our smart cards and um mobile app payments, so we're really just we're really looking for replacement fare boxes that were quote unquote low tech that could do cash uh take collect cash fares. And so what we did is we conducted an RFP and uh very happy with the results. We've got all four vendors that do this type of fare box in North America responded, and we got five proposals, and uh we're recommending the X SPX Genfair. Um it turns out they were the by far they were the best on a technical score, and uh they were second lowest on cost, so they we we feel it's the best value. Uh one of the things that really stands out is our current fare boxes are Genfair as well. And so what we'd be able to do is reuse the cash box so it goes inside the fare box, collects the cash and coin. Um so we can reuse that part, but also the vaults at our badger drive facility. Um we would not have to change that out or do any kind of alterations with uh all the others, we would have to do that. And uh we've had very good uh luck or not luck, but the Genfair um systems have done well. Um they've been around for a very long time, for 45 years. They're just down in the Chicago area, so they're very accessible. Um we've had a very good uh experience with them. So we are recommending this system uh or this purchase, and uh as always we would federal funds will pay for the 80 percent and then the remaining um funds would be used to city operations, but we'd be reimbursing with the uh uh federal relief funds, so there's no um no city funds involved in this purchase and the and we're significantly under the CIP um budgeted amount of 160,000 dollars.
openpublica.com