Kenosha Transit
Encyclopedia
Kenosha Area Transit is a city-owned public transportation agency based in Kenosha, Wisconsin
.
The system, which is part of the Southeast Wisconsin Transit System, maintains a fleet of 68 buses and five streetcars operating on 10 bus routes and one streetcar route throughout the city and outlying areas. Five historic refurbished ex-Toronto Transit Commission
streetcars have operated in the downtown Kenosha area since Saturday, June 17, 2000 on a 2-mile (3.2 km) loop
between HarborPark and the Kenosha Metra
station.
cars, later supplemented by motor busses. There were several owners of the system over the decades. On February 14, 1932, the service was supplanted by a system of twenty-two electric trolley-buses, also called trackless trolleys; 10 St. Louis Car Company
coaches (Job 1555); and 12 Yellow Coach
Model MTA 701 coaches. At that point, the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company, the operators at the time, pioneered a color-coded route designation system, which is believed to be the first in the world.
Ford V8 gasoline transit buses were introduced to supplement increased wartime-production service during World War II.
On September 5, 1942 the system came under the ownership of Kenosha Motor Coach Lines (KMCL) (later Kenosha Motor Coach Company), which had been incorporated on June 27, 1942. By 1948, KMCL began purchasing new diesel coaches, which finally supplanted all trolley-bus operations in March of 1952.
The president of Kenosha Motor Coach Lines was Henry P. Bruner (November 16, 1900 - November 30, 1993). Bruner had been a transportation consultant in Indiana, and with personal assets of approximately $16,000 managed to acquire southeastern Wisconsin transit properties valued at $1,242,000. He acquired the Racine
city system in 1939 from The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transport, known as Racine Motor Coach Lines.
On December 27, 1943 KMCL under Bruner purchased the ten and one-half mile Kenosha-Racine segment of the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha rapid transit
trackage from Milwaukee's Transport Company for $100,000, with a down payment of $22,500 and an annual payment of $7,750 plus an annual right-of-way rental of $6,500. (The book value of the line was $952,388.)
On September 27, 1944 KMCL, with a $75,000 down-payment, an annual payment of $5,000 and a yearly land rental of $5,000, acquired for $300,000 the remaining Racine-Milwaukee line of 24 miles, which included in its appraised book value of $1,720,214 Transport Company cars 1111, 1113, 1118 and 1120, and duplex trains 1180-1181, 1182-1183, 1184-1185 plus line-car D-23. The Transport Company furthermore had guaranteed KMCL a salvage value of $181,000 - $73,000 for the Kenosha-Racine segment and $158,000 for the Racine-Milwaukee portion.
These dealings brought about a $1 million stockholder lawsuit against KMCL and the Transport Company, which charged its officers and directors with profiteering by underbidding the purchases. The court denied the affirmations, a decision later upheld after appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
On July 18, 1945 the Shore Line Transit Corporation of Indiana quietly purchased all of the outstanding KMCL stock.
On September 27, 1945 another interurban segment, the 28-mile Milwaukee-Port Washington
line, was sold to KMCL for $142,000 (a $37,5000 down payment, a $2,000 annual payment and a $3,900 annual land rental.) More rolling stock was included: cars 1139, 1140 and 1141, plus duplex trains 1186-1187, 1196-1197 and 1198-1199 plus line-car D-3 (ex D-23), M-1, 202, F250, F251 and F252, and section cars 40638 and 44037.
In December of 1946, KMCL bought the 23-mile Milwaukee-Waukesha-Hales Corners rapid transit line for $325,000 ($37,500 down and $7,500 a year plus annual land rental of $18,600), with an additional agreement to pay trackage rights to the Transport Company for operations over Milwaukee streets. In this transaction, all the remaining Transport Company rolling stock was tendered to KMCL. (The Transport Company retained all real-estate ownership plus operating rights over the Milwaukee-West Junction trackage.) Throughout all these purchases by KMCL, the operational crews remained employees of the original company.
Following these dealings the Transport Company was able to realize tax deductions of $3,432,676 on the sales of its interurban lines. Bruner's total risk was $169,000.
Bruner told the Milwaukee Journal on May 22nd, 1947 that KMCL "would like to abandon passenger service as soon as possible." His petition to abandon the Kenosha-Milwaukee rapid transit line was granted in stages. The last Kenosha-to-Racine train left at 12:55 a.m. on September 13, 1947 (with Frank Hemmingsten as motorman and Carl Hansen, conductor) and service on the Racine-Milwaukee line ended when the last train left Racine at 10:15 p.m. on December 31, 1947. (Quin Valdes was the last motorman, and Emil Nichol the conductor.) The next day, all replacement bus service by Bruner's subsidiary company Milwaukee & Lake Shore Line was canceled following a 10.8-inch snowfall. The bus line was not a success and was given up within one year.
However, repeated attempts to abandon the Milwaukee-Waukesha-Hales Corner lines were denied, and Northland Greyhound
acquired all KMCL stock on August 27, 1948. Northland Greyhound's initially stated intent to continue service but soon claimed losses of $20,000 per month and intent to abandon. (That line would instead be resold to become The Milwaukee Rapid Transit & Speedrail Company.)
The onset of increasing postwar automobile ownership led to continuing declines in bus service hours and profits. In the early 1960s the system - now Kenosha Motor Coach Company - was sold to Lakeshore Transit-Interurban and, in mid-1969, to longtime local school-service transit provider Pathfinder Lines, which finally ceased local transit service in February of 1971. A successful citywide referendum then permitted the city of Kenosha to acquire and operate public transit service. City-operated transit service commenced with five routes in September 1971 with four gasoline-engined and one diesel-engined Twin Coach
busses, supplanted by several used GMC diesel coaches purchased from Milwaukee and Janesville, Wisconsin
(the latter gasoline-powered). The color-coded route designations were supplanted by a route-numbering system. By April 1975, 24 new GMC coaches (designated the 500 series) were introduced into service. By 1980 several new GMC Rapid Transit Series
(RTS} coaches were added to the growing fleet. By the 21st century the active KAT bus fleet included buses built by Orion Bus Industries
, Gillig
(including several Gillig Phantom
s), Nova Bus
and Flxible
.
and/or the Village of Pleasant Prairie
. Three other routes originate and serve newer areas in western portions of the City and Kenosha County.
has a station directly across from the city's Metra station
. There, riders can take the Union Pacific North Line to Chicago
, Waukegan
and northern Illinois suburbs. Coach USA
's Wisconsin Coach Lines
intercity buses stop near the Metra station entrance, connecting riders to Racine
, Milwaukee, Waukesha
and the O'Hare International Airport
. Routes 2, 4, 30,31, 35 and 36 connect to Western Kenosha County Transit
Route 1 at Southport Plaza. KAT Route 1 used to connect to Belle Urban System
's Route 9 at University of Wisconsin-Parkside, but that connection ended when Route 9 was discontinued.
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
.
The system, which is part of the Southeast Wisconsin Transit System, maintains a fleet of 68 buses and five streetcars operating on 10 bus routes and one streetcar route throughout the city and outlying areas. Five historic refurbished ex-Toronto Transit Commission
Toronto Transit Commission
-Island Ferry:The ferry service to the Toronto Islands was operated by the TTC from 1927 until 1962, when it was transferred to the Metro Parks and Culture department. Since 1998, the ferry service is run by Toronto Parks and Recreation.-Gray Coach:...
streetcars have operated in the downtown Kenosha area since Saturday, June 17, 2000 on a 2-mile (3.2 km) loop
Streetcars in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Streetcars have been running in Kenosha, Wisconsin for more than 100 years through a variety of companies and routes.-Kenosha Electric Railway:...
between HarborPark and the Kenosha Metra
Kenosha (Metra)
Kenosha is a railroad station in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States served by Metra's Union Pacific/North Line. It is the northern terminus of the line, which runs south to the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, Illinois. Kenosha is the only Metra station in Wisconsin...
station.
History
Urban public transit service has been available in the City of Kenosha since February 3, 1903, when streetcar operations commenced over the Kenosha Electric Railway using two BirneyBirney
A Birney or Birney Safety Car is a type of streetcar that was manufactured in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. The design was small and light and was intended to be an economical means of providing frequent service at a lower infrastructure and labor cost than conventional streetcars...
cars, later supplemented by motor busses. There were several owners of the system over the decades. On February 14, 1932, the service was supplanted by a system of twenty-two electric trolley-buses, also called trackless trolleys; 10 St. Louis Car Company
St. Louis Car Company
The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887–1973, based in St. Louis, Missouri.-History:...
coaches (Job 1555); and 12 Yellow Coach
Yellow Coach
The Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company was an early manufacturer of passenger buses in the United States. It was founded in Chicago as a subsidiary of the Yellow Cab Company in 1923 by John D. Hertz...
Model MTA 701 coaches. At that point, the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company, the operators at the time, pioneered a color-coded route designation system, which is believed to be the first in the world.
Ford V8 gasoline transit buses were introduced to supplement increased wartime-production service during World War II.
On September 5, 1942 the system came under the ownership of Kenosha Motor Coach Lines (KMCL) (later Kenosha Motor Coach Company), which had been incorporated on June 27, 1942. By 1948, KMCL began purchasing new diesel coaches, which finally supplanted all trolley-bus operations in March of 1952.
The president of Kenosha Motor Coach Lines was Henry P. Bruner (November 16, 1900 - November 30, 1993). Bruner had been a transportation consultant in Indiana, and with personal assets of approximately $16,000 managed to acquire southeastern Wisconsin transit properties valued at $1,242,000. He acquired the Racine
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
city system in 1939 from The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transport, known as Racine Motor Coach Lines.
On December 27, 1943 KMCL under Bruner purchased the ten and one-half mile Kenosha-Racine segment of the Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
trackage from Milwaukee's Transport Company for $100,000, with a down payment of $22,500 and an annual payment of $7,750 plus an annual right-of-way rental of $6,500. (The book value of the line was $952,388.)
On September 27, 1944 KMCL, with a $75,000 down-payment, an annual payment of $5,000 and a yearly land rental of $5,000, acquired for $300,000 the remaining Racine-Milwaukee line of 24 miles, which included in its appraised book value of $1,720,214 Transport Company cars 1111, 1113, 1118 and 1120, and duplex trains 1180-1181, 1182-1183, 1184-1185 plus line-car D-23. The Transport Company furthermore had guaranteed KMCL a salvage value of $181,000 - $73,000 for the Kenosha-Racine segment and $158,000 for the Racine-Milwaukee portion.
These dealings brought about a $1 million stockholder lawsuit against KMCL and the Transport Company, which charged its officers and directors with profiteering by underbidding the purchases. The court denied the affirmations, a decision later upheld after appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
On July 18, 1945 the Shore Line Transit Corporation of Indiana quietly purchased all of the outstanding KMCL stock.
On September 27, 1945 another interurban segment, the 28-mile Milwaukee-Port Washington
Port Washington
Port Washington is the name of some places in the United States of America:*Port Washington, New York*Port Washington, Ohio*Port Washington, Wisconsin, a city*Port Washington , Wisconsin, a town...
line, was sold to KMCL for $142,000 (a $37,5000 down payment, a $2,000 annual payment and a $3,900 annual land rental.) More rolling stock was included: cars 1139, 1140 and 1141, plus duplex trains 1186-1187, 1196-1197 and 1198-1199 plus line-car D-3 (ex D-23), M-1, 202, F250, F251 and F252, and section cars 40638 and 44037.
In December of 1946, KMCL bought the 23-mile Milwaukee-Waukesha-Hales Corners rapid transit line for $325,000 ($37,500 down and $7,500 a year plus annual land rental of $18,600), with an additional agreement to pay trackage rights to the Transport Company for operations over Milwaukee streets. In this transaction, all the remaining Transport Company rolling stock was tendered to KMCL. (The Transport Company retained all real-estate ownership plus operating rights over the Milwaukee-West Junction trackage.) Throughout all these purchases by KMCL, the operational crews remained employees of the original company.
Following these dealings the Transport Company was able to realize tax deductions of $3,432,676 on the sales of its interurban lines. Bruner's total risk was $169,000.
Bruner told the Milwaukee Journal on May 22nd, 1947 that KMCL "would like to abandon passenger service as soon as possible." His petition to abandon the Kenosha-Milwaukee rapid transit line was granted in stages. The last Kenosha-to-Racine train left at 12:55 a.m. on September 13, 1947 (with Frank Hemmingsten as motorman and Carl Hansen, conductor) and service on the Racine-Milwaukee line ended when the last train left Racine at 10:15 p.m. on December 31, 1947. (Quin Valdes was the last motorman, and Emil Nichol the conductor.) The next day, all replacement bus service by Bruner's subsidiary company Milwaukee & Lake Shore Line was canceled following a 10.8-inch snowfall. The bus line was not a success and was given up within one year.
However, repeated attempts to abandon the Milwaukee-Waukesha-Hales Corner lines were denied, and Northland Greyhound
Greyhound
The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
acquired all KMCL stock on August 27, 1948. Northland Greyhound's initially stated intent to continue service but soon claimed losses of $20,000 per month and intent to abandon. (That line would instead be resold to become The Milwaukee Rapid Transit & Speedrail Company.)
The onset of increasing postwar automobile ownership led to continuing declines in bus service hours and profits. In the early 1960s the system - now Kenosha Motor Coach Company - was sold to Lakeshore Transit-Interurban and, in mid-1969, to longtime local school-service transit provider Pathfinder Lines, which finally ceased local transit service in February of 1971. A successful citywide referendum then permitted the city of Kenosha to acquire and operate public transit service. City-operated transit service commenced with five routes in September 1971 with four gasoline-engined and one diesel-engined Twin Coach
Twin Coach
Twin Coach was an American vehicle manufacturing company from 1927 to 1955, based in Kent, Ohio, and a maker of marine engines and airplane parts until the 1960s. It was formed by brothers Frank and William Fageol when they left the Fageol Motor Company in 1927. They established the company in...
busses, supplanted by several used GMC diesel coaches purchased from Milwaukee and Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
(the latter gasoline-powered). The color-coded route designations were supplanted by a route-numbering system. By April 1975, 24 new GMC coaches (designated the 500 series) were introduced into service. By 1980 several new GMC Rapid Transit Series
Rapid Transit Series
The Rapid Transit Series bus is a long-running series of transit buses originally manufactured by General Motors and is currently produced by Millennium Transit Services as the RTS Legend. Millennium had produced the buses from 2006 until it shut down production in 2009, only to be bought back...
(RTS} coaches were added to the growing fleet. By the 21st century the active KAT bus fleet included buses built by Orion Bus Industries
Orion Bus Industries
Orion International, previously Orion Bus Industries and Ontario Bus Industries in Canada and Bus Industries of America in the United States, is a bus manufacturer based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and established by the Government of Ontario in 1975...
, Gillig
Gillig
Gillig Corporation, formerly Gillig Bros., is a manufacturer of heavy-duty low-floor transit buses located in Hayward, California. Prior to 1993, Gillig had also been a manufacturer of school buses.-History:...
(including several Gillig Phantom
Gillig Phantom
The Gillig Phantom was a transit bus produced by the Gillig Corporation in Hayward, California. The Phantom was first introduced in late 1980 and, with the exception of a small number of buses built in a three-year-long joint venture with Neoplan from 1977 to 1979, was Gillig's first transit bus...
s), Nova Bus
Nova Bus
Nova Bus is a Canadian bus manufacturer in North America, owned by Volvo Buses, and headquartered in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada.- History :The factory was originally a General Motors plant for building city transit buses intended for the Canadian market...
and Flxible
Flxible
The Flxible Co. was a motorcycle sidecar, funeral car, ambulance, intercity coach and transit bus manufacturing company based in the United States that was founded in 1913, and which closed in 1996.-History:In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F...
.
Policy
The City of Kenosha owns Kenosha Area Transit and operates it using public employees under the direct supervision of the City of Kenosha Department of Transportation. The policy-making body is the Kenosha Transit Commission, consisting of seven members appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Kenosha Common Council. The powers of the Transit Commission are substantial, including essentially all the powers necessary to acquire, operate and manage the system. The Kenosha Common Council has the ultimate responsibility for review and approval of certain matters, including the transit system's annual budget.Regular Routes
In the 21st Century, seven of KAT's ten regular bus routes and one streetcar route are downtown-oriented and either begin from, or pass through, the Joseph McCarthy Transit Center (a transfer point named for the late Kenosha Transportation Director Joseph McCarthy) at 724 54th Street within the central business district. Each of these seven downtown-oriented routes pass through portions of the Town of Somers, WisconsinSomers, Wisconsin
Somers is a town in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,059 at the 2000 census.The unincorporated community of Somers is located within the town at Kenosha County Highway E at the former Milwaukee Road .-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town...
and/or the Village of Pleasant Prairie
Pleasant Prairie
Pleasant Prairie can refer to:* Pleasant Prairie Township, Minnesota* Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin...
. Three other routes originate and serve newer areas in western portions of the City and Kenosha County.
- Route 1- Isetts/Tremper to UW-Parkside/North 30th Ave.
- Route 2- Anderson Park to 52nd St.
- Route 3- Lincoln Park/South Sheridan to Indian Trail
- Route 4- 60th St./Southport Plaza to St. Cartherine's/Carthage
- Route 5- 63rd St./Roosevelt to Bradford/Saxony
- Route 6- Downtown to Indian Trail
- Route 30- Downtown to Southport Plaza Via 75th St.
- Route 31- Downtown to Southport Plaza Via I-94
Route 35- Downtowwn to LakeView Corporate Park(Discontinued as of January 2011)- Route 36- Downtown to Industrial Parks
Connections to Other Transit Systems
Kenosha StreetcarStreetcars in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Streetcars have been running in Kenosha, Wisconsin for more than 100 years through a variety of companies and routes.-Kenosha Electric Railway:...
has a station directly across from the city's Metra station
Kenosha (Metra)
Kenosha is a railroad station in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States served by Metra's Union Pacific/North Line. It is the northern terminus of the line, which runs south to the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago, Illinois. Kenosha is the only Metra station in Wisconsin...
. There, riders can take the Union Pacific North Line to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Waukegan
Waukegan, Illinois
Waukegan is a city and county seat of Lake County, Illinois. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 87,901. The 2010 population was 89,078. It is the ninth-largest city in Illinois by population...
and northern Illinois suburbs. Coach USA
Coach USA
Coach USA LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service...
's Wisconsin Coach Lines
Wisconsin Coach Lines
Wisconsin Coach Lines is a commuter bus service, intercity carrier, and school bus company based in Waukesha, Wisconsin. WCL, founded in 1941 as Waukesha Transit Lines, is a subsidiary of Coach USA.- Overview :...
intercity buses stop near the Metra station entrance, connecting riders to Racine
Racine, Wisconsin
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...
, Milwaukee, Waukesha
Waukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The population was 70,718 at the 2010 census, making it the largest community in the county and 7th largest in the state. The city is located adjacent to the Town of Waukesha...
and the O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
. Routes 2, 4, 30,31, 35 and 36 connect to Western Kenosha County Transit
Western Kenosha County Transit
Western Kenosha County Transit is a regional fixed-route bus service operating throughout Kenosha County, Wisconsin and serving its many towns and villages. Western Kenosha County Transit is made up of three routes and two rush hour commuter shuttles. The system operates Monday–Friday at headways...
Route 1 at Southport Plaza. KAT Route 1 used to connect to Belle Urban System
Belle Urban System
The Belle Urban System is a public transit agency in Racine, Wisconsin. The Belle referring to Racine's nickname "The Belle City"....
's Route 9 at University of Wisconsin-Parkside, but that connection ended when Route 9 was discontinued.