Passengers board a Milwaukee County Transit Service bus Monday. Ridership on Milwaukee County buses dropped. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Ridership on Milwaukee County buses dropped more than 2% to 43 million from 2012 to 2013, a loss of more than 1 million riders.

The drop is included in a new report by the American Public Transportation Association — and confirmed by the Milwaukee County Transit System. The report also paints a picture of Milwaukee as somewhat out of sync with other metropolitan areas, which are seeing the highest number of public transit users in more than a half-century.

Nationally, public transit ridership rose more than 1% to 10.7 billion rides on subways, buses, rail and other modes, according to the report by the Washington, D.C.-based organization. The most growth occurred in rail transportation and bus systems serving less than 100,000 riders.

In Milwaukee, subways and rail transit aren't an issue. And bus ridership has been on a downward slide for years. Just for comparison, 51 million people rode the bus in 2007, according to the Transit System.

The decrease in Milwaukee isn't due to lack of users but more to budget struggles.

"Because we've had funding cuts and fare increases on and off over the last 10 years, our system tends to have a decrease in ridership, so it won't match trends in the rest of the country," said Jackie Janz, a spokeswoman for the Milwaukee County Transit System.

Art Guzzetti, vice president of policy at APTA, said the long-term trend nationally for buses is growth, and he is seeing a trend toward "multimodalism," where bus and rail systems complement each other.

"Together it's all working, because we're on a 20-year ridership growth trend, and we have no reason to think it'll stop," Guzzetti said.

If Milwaukee's ridership continues to shrink, even though evidence continues to suggest growing preference for mass transit, the city could consider different types of transit, said Rob Henken, president of the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum. Given the growth in rail, one solution that may attract more riders is rapid transit, which not only includes rail but also buses with dedicated lanes to bypass traffic.

"Ultimately, this could be a weakness for Milwaukee, given that across the rest of the country, this type of transit is doing well," Henken said.

The APTA attributed the increases to a growing economy and a growing willingness to use transit. Transit advocates have long argued that a cultural and generational shift against driving is occurring — the idea that so-called millennials prefer living in cities and getting around without cars.

In Milwaukee, biking has taken off; the percentage of workers in the city commuting on their bikes nearly doubled from 2006 to 2012, according to American Community Survey data. Walking to work also increased slightly during the same time period.

There are younger people moving to Milwaukee who are interested in a car-free lifestyle — University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee assistant professor Robert Schneider encounters them all the time. But based on broad data, these attitudes are confined to particular segments of the population, said Schneider, of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

He also said transportation isn't always about preferences, and that needs to guide transit decisions going forward.

"There are a lot of people who live in a lower-income community who don't have a choice at all, because there's low automobile ownership. And they may simply take the bus because it's the only choice they have. It's important that the transportation system serves them," Schneider said.