“I know we have over 800 bus operators and we have 203 maintenance employees.”

The Milwaukee County Transit System Fleet Maintenance Building houses all Milwaukee County city buses that need repair. The body shop, tire repair and paint hangar are in the Fleet Maintenance Department. Dwyane Reese is the director of maintenance. He has been at Milwaukee County Transit System for 26 years.

Briceon Monk: How long has Milwaukee Transit been around?

Dwyane Reese: It has been around for 160 years.

Briceon Monk: What is the primary function of Milwaukee County Transit System?

Dwyane Reese: To move people across the city to school, grocery stores, housing and job.

Briceon Monk:  How many buses are in the fleet?

Dwyane Reese: There are 372 buses in the fleet.

Briceon Monk: How many employees work at MCTS?

Dwyane Reese: I know we have over 800 bus operators and we have 203 maintenance employees.

Briceon Monk: How does transit get their funds?

Dwyane Reese: Three sources: the county, the federal government, the state and one more, the fares.

Briceon Monk: How many routes are in Milwaukee County Transit System?

Dwyane Reese: There are 46 bus routes.

 Briceon Monk: What happens when a bus gets into an accident?

Dwyane Reese: The bus operators report the accident to the dispatcher, the dispatcher calls the garage, and depend on the severity of the accident it will be a report on it, like a small mirror.  If the mirror is loose or the bus is leaking fluid it will go back to the garage or here. When maintenance get to the scene to see if the bus is real damage, then it will go back to Fleet Maintenance.

Briceon Monk: Who maintains the bus?

Dwyane Reese: So the mechanics we have, (there are) three tiers of mechanics.  The A Mechanics who can do everything who make all the repair the bus.  Then we have the C Mechanics only things they do remove and replace parts on the bus.  Then we have our B Mechanics only things they do is remove and fix brakes on the bus.  Then we have our Cleaner Tankers.  At night they service and they empty out the fare boxes, add fluid to the buses and add oil to the buses. They clean the inside of the buses and run the buses in a bus wash every night. The cleaner and tankers clean 32 buses a night.

Briceon Monk: How many locations are there?

Dwayane Reese: There are four locations, the Vine Street, 17^th Street, and KK garage on South Kinnickinnic Ave., and the Fond du Lac garage on 35^th and Fond du Lac.

Briceon Monk: How do the MCTS make sure the buses are safe?

Dwayane Reese: We do 650-mile inspection basically every two months we inspect the bus.  100% of the bus we inspection the brakes, the hoses, the line, make sure that it not old or cracked and hard, then we replace the line right away. We inspect the brakes, the lights, we inspect any safety issues on the bus.  During the inspection, we fix it right away we won’t run the bus until those safety issues are repaired.

Briceon Monk: What is the average miles per day and per year for a bus?

Dwayane Reese: Oh, I can’t answer that one every route has a different time limit we have some buses runs for 21 hours there are more than some.