Riders won't need to pay to ride The Hop streetcar come November.

The fare collection equipment hasn't been ordered, so rides on Milwaukee's streetcar will remain free longer than originally planned.

The Department of Public Works is aiming to keep fares free in 2020 but that will ultimately be decided in the 2020 streetcar operating budget that will be approved by the Common Council.

Ald. Cavalier Johnson expressed disappointment at the news from Department of Public Works officials.

"What I don’t understand is why, since we knew at a date certain, in November of this year, that rides on the streetcar would no longer be free and we knew that securing the fare boxes would have a rigorous (request for proposal) process and would take up to eight months to purchase and install, why are we at nearly July and those still haven’t been purchased?” he asked at Wednesday's meeting of the Public Works Committee.

Dave Windsor, DPW streetcar system manager, countered that this didn't sneak up on them.

Based on ridership in other cities, they knew that there would be a significant drop if they started charging fares, he said.

"Rather than spend the $400,000 that we have reserved, and we could start the process, on equipment that we may not use and hope we don't have to use, we'd rather make that $400,000 available for other capital uses," he said.

Johnson said he wasn't satisfied with that answer.

Nor did the answer didn’t sit well with Ald. Robert Bauman, who chairs the committee.

Bauman said after the meeting he agrees with not spending money on equipment that might not be used.

But that’s not what Mayor Tom Barrett’s administration has been telling the public was going to happen, he said. Although Bauman thinks The Hop should remain free, he said the consistent message from Barrett has been that the fares would be free only for one year.

And now, without equipment to charge riders, the city couldn't collect fares even if it wanted to, he said.

“I wanted the public to hear from the people who are in charge of this program that they really have no plan going forward to deal with the operating cost issue, they’re flailing around talking about finding sponsors and smart kiosks that are magically going to produce money and they aren’t ordering the fare equipment,” he said.

The Hop's operating cost is about $4.3 million a year, Windsor said.

Funding sources for next year include the sponsorship of the Forest County Potawatomi Community, federal dollars and anticipated $250,000 to $500,000 from smart kiosks installed on platforms along the route.

The city has a request for proposals issued for the kiosks that would allow companies to advertise and the city to provide arrival times and other information.

He estimated that the funding gap in 2020 currently stands at between $1 million and $1.5 million. The goal is to fill that gap with additional grants, sponsors and advertising.

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Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.