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The Hop, presented by Potawatomi Casino Hotel, will pilot a new service during this year’s Summerfest.
The “Festivals Line” is a combination of the existing M-Line and L-Line, with all vehicles serving the full route and making it even easier for passengers along the entire route – regardless of where they board – to reach the Lakefront stop and its convenient access to the festival grounds without the need to transfer.
The “Festivals Line” will also reduce headways in reaching the Lakefront from the existing 20 minutes of the L-Line to approximately 15 minutes.
“While The Hop has always been a wonderful option for accessing events along the Lakefront, with our new Transit Concourse at the Couture making that connection even easier we are anticipating wonderful ridership during this year’s Summerfest,” Milwaukee Commissioner of Public Works Jerrel Kruschke says. “We are eager to pilot this new combined line, which will both simplify and enhance our service as residents and visitors make their way to the festival grounds this summer.”
The “Festivals Line” will replace The Hop’s existing operations during each of the nine days of Summerfest (June 20-22, June 27-29 and July 4-6), with service still beginning at 5 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. on Saturdays and operations extended until 1 a.m. each night of the festival.
Rather than having three streetcars on the M-Line and one on the L-Line, the “Festivals Line” will see all four in-service vehicles serving the entire route. Northbound vehicles will deviate from the traditional M-Line route to include the loop east on Michigan, through the Couture Transit Concourse and back west on Clybourn before resuming north towards Burns Commons, while southbound vehicles from Burns Commons will proceed along the regular M-Line route.
Headways for all stations along the route will be approximately 15 minutes during peak hours. Since all vehicles will serve all stations, passengers can board at any stop along the route and reach the Lakefront station without needing to transfer.
With the “Festivals Line,” passengers boarding at Intermodal will reach the Lakefront stop in just 12 minutes, a trip from the Historic Third Ward will take eight minutes, and reaching the festival grounds from Burns Commons will take approximately 36 minutes.
For riders not looking to access the festival grounds, southbound travel times will remain unchanged, while a northbound trip from Intermodal to Burns Commons will be approximately 10 minutes longer than the usual M-Line schedule. Lakefront/Summerfest passengers wanting to return to the Downtown Business District, Historic Third Ward or Intermodal station can transfer at Cathedral Square to the next southbound streetcar rather than traveling up to Burns Commons.
From ramps and surface lots to metered (and in some cases free) street parking, there are countless options for parking once downtown and using The Hop to navigate the City or reach the festival grounds. For more information on parking along the route, visit www.thehopmke.com/parking. For more information on the new “Festival Line,” visit www.thehopmke.com/festivals.
