The reason that there are no wires at the two turns at kilbourne is because the distance to anchor points for the electrified wire is too great to prevent sagging and bouncing on windy days….

This is awesome! Currently am an operator for the hop and wanted to see if there any videos for it and not only is there, you happened to get on board the run I was operating!

I love MKE, totally underrated city. I was eager to sample the Hop while I was in town but whenever I wanted to go somewhere, it never suited my needs. Had I known it was free, I would've taken a "joy ride". Most of my trips were served by the 30 bus which had fairly frequent service and I paid with the Umo App. I'm also glad you showed off City Hall, certainly great architecture in Brew City!

Visited Chicago and took the Hiawatha to Milwaukee for a day. Used this to get around downtown during my duration there. I feel like it's a good start , and it was amazing to see a free public transit service in a very cute and quaint large city with a humble vibe. Although I have visited family in Chicago as a kid and adult , that was my first time visiting Milwaukee and I loved it! I hope they expand on this street car service and even maybe add light rail in the future . It's a really cool city with nice people and the food was amazing too. Nice to see you there enjoying the architecture. One of my favorite parts !

Damn I gotta visit my hometown. Awww I miss the city buses there. Hey Milwaukee I miss you.

Lovely video. Even though it's currently rather short, the Hop is incredibly helpful for my commute home from work in Third Ward. Every time my mom visits, whether or not it's helpful we ride anyway because she really enjoys it. I love the Hop!

As an employee of San Diego Metropolitan transit system I would be honored for you to come out one day and have a tour of our system

Great to see such bright, beautiful cars unmarred by the billboard type wraps we see in so many other cities. A much clearer view for us riders on cloudy days.

Cool to see Milwaukee trying to create an electric powered rail system! I’m a big fan of the METRO Rail in the Twin Cities, so it’s cool to see something like this happening in Milwaukee.

It should be expanded. Milwaukee used to have an amazing streetcar, and it should again.

Lived in Milwaukee and Shorewood in the 50's. Very decent trolleybus network (I rode the #15 line all the time) and streetcars lasted until 3/58 with the very long #10 line the last. Ran down Wells St., over the valley on viaduct and then split, one part serving the ball park and W. Allis to the south and the other straight out west. Too bad Milwaukee got out of the electric habit. The streetcar is a start but much more is needed. Milwaukee was also very safe in the 50's, not so much today so I hear though I haven't been back except once in many many years.

I hope you rode MCTS while in Milwaukee, it’s really a great bus system for the most part

The Hop is the size it is because it is the result of the suburbs freaking out about building a light rail, which was supposed to go all the way to Waukesha (10 miles plus away) and would have served commuters. The Waukesha crowd went ape about "city people" coming out there, so they did everything to block it. That was in the early 1990s. Nearly 30 years later, the amount of money that was left from that failed project built the Hop. The decision was to build the most expensive part with the grant money, because additions outside of downtown would come easier. Downtown, all utilities are under the street, and that makes for a complicated build and lots of utility expense. Milwaukee got as much as they could out of that federal grant, which amounted to 2.1 miles. And, with the Couture Tower finally being built, the L-Line can be completed, with the east most station inside of that building, between the parking structure and the retail part of the tower building. Testing on that section will begin this Summer, and full operation by Fall.

Great to see you in my home town! I have somewhat mixed feelings about the Hop. I like the concept and support expanding it to be useful, but as you point out in its current state, its not all that useful. It does link some of the highest density residential areas near Burns Commons with a lot of jobs in the CBD, but that's about it. Aside from hitting the intermodal station, it misses all of the other things that would draw ridership. It doesn't have access to any of our sports venues and misses many of the performing arts and convention areas as well. It doesn't get to the airport either. All that being said, I enjoy the service as someone who works right next to its route. My boss and I were fortunate to be able to ride on one of the first "revenue" service cars on the route its first day. We were looking out the window and saw it heading toward us from the 3rd ward and ran downstairs. I just hope we can continue to expand it so it can be more useful in the future. That takes money though and it was a fight to get just this far with it. Hope to see you in MKE again!

Love Milwaukee! Worked up there for about 6 months.

Thanks for this video. I live in Milwaukee but never saw this when I was downtown. I saw the tracks for it only. 😃

My husband is from Milwaukee and I love going there to visit his family. I love the city and the vibe that it has. I haven’t ridden The Hop yet but I hope we can soon. I love your narration and your speaking style and I also loved how you said you were going to hop over to the hop stop and hop on The Hop. You’re cute! I love those video screens, too. They are modern and so much better at providing information to riders.

damn, that's a cute streetcar. I like how seamless it looks when it's disconnected from the Catenary wire, almost looks like it's floating. I have never heard of Brookeville but they're apparently from my home state of PA. Also 'The Hop' is an adorable name for streetcar line, omg. Edit: did a bit more research and it turns out that quite a few of these have been deployed in US cities in the 2010's! Really liking the resurgence of streetcar lines in the past 10 years. These Battery / Catenary powered units offer a flexibility that really shows why they've caught on in popularity

I remember riding on the night of my birthday in 2018. It’s a quiet ride. Doesn’t really go much of anywhere in the city. If they expand it to other parts of downtown (ie. Henry Mier Festival grounds (summer fest), museums at the lake front, Fiserv Forum, Marquette/MSOE/Matc) maybe it would get more traffic. Currently Milwaukee is building a new skyscraper that is supposed to have a station for the hop near the lakefront.

I'm glad you've enjoyed riding on The Hop. Great streetcar to hop from one place to another. I have plans returning to Milwaukee once the L-Line becomes operational, and I'm definitely gonna *hop* in it.

Interesting, don't you all enjoy railroad trams, trains etc are just so cool take a ride in my ''transportation'' folder, (folder 2 in playlists) :)

Great to see you in my city. I use the Hop nearly every time I take the Hiawatha. I along with a few other folks I too hope the system expands but it is not looking likely that it will expand rapidly anytime soon. Maybe if downtown keeps growing at its current rate that will change. Glad you liked our city hall.

I went to school at MSOE (Jackson/Ogden stop) and lived for a short while at the far north stop. Was really useful in the winter to avoid the snow and slush. The L line expansion has been talked about since inception. They also talked about expanding into the third ward (south), towards UW Milwaukee (north), and towards Fiserv Forum (West). I feel any one of these is much more useful than the L line expansion. Parked cars at the shopping center on the north side of the route would regularly be in the Hop's way, but for my specific situation it was very helpful. Also there is an app with pseudo-live tracking. This was nice because in the beginning (due to training or it being new?) it was not regular on the 15 minute schedule.

WELOCOME TO MY CITY🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉THE SUMMER IS EVEN BETTER

Thanks for visiting my city and riding our Hop. There is also an extension planned to go from the Intermodal up 4th Street, aka Vel Phillips Blvd, almost to North Ave in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The L line was delayed by the plague but will hopefully be running for next summer and all the festivals by the lake

Enjoyed this what I refer to as ,a travel blog for one very simple reason.There wasn't any distracting crap music to have to tolerate.Now I appreciate that sometimes AI generates a track to accompany the vlog but this youngster doesn't have that.

I always thought well of Milwaukee’s downtown, but now experiencing it in person I’ll say it’s even prettier than photos and google maps make it seem

Expand this out to the Airport and maybe I'll find an excuse to visit Milwaukee someday.

Thank you for a fascinating video. I do like the Light Rail vehicles in Milwaukee, and hopefully line L will soon open. How amazing that rides are still free !

Milwaukee isn’t very dense and has either been stagnant or shrinking for years. Due to that, it’d seem there’s not likely to be a lot of meaningful interest in transit train networks until something lights a fire on robust broad-based economic growth there (and in turn population growth too).

Milwaukee is my hometown. It’s a great city. It had socialist mayors for about fifty years, and thus it’s a city with lots of parks and beautiful boulevards. More recently, it’s mayors have had a lot of vision. It’s also a physically beautiful city right on the lake. Glad you had a nice visit!

Go Back to Wisconsin, I heard Milwaukee rolled out a new Battery Rapid Transit Bus (BRT) called the CONNECT 1 it goes from the Watertown Plank Road Park and ride all the way to the lakefront to the Contour Transit Concourse where you can also catch the hop there (The L Line) make a video about that!

I watched the hop line get constructed just outside the MSOE library. This video really showcases just how loud those cars actually are. They used to be a lot quiter than they are now.

Really enjoying this series of your Midwest adventures!!! We’re going to have to get back up to Milwaukee to hop on the HOP!!!

Awesome! Haven’t been there in a while but I want to see this. I wish Chicago had a street car system

I thought these looked extremely familiar despite having never used it. The Detroit QLine uses these exact same Liberty cars, and has the same hybrid operation system.

Great video. Can you recommend some stops that had some of the more touristy things-such as Fizer Forum or near the Art museum?

The interior of the train reminds me of that of the green line in Boston with the low entry doorway and then some stairs

Thanks again John In Chicago

Great video Thom, absolutely love trams! The same thing happens with the midland metro in Birmingham UK. Trams run on battery power for a small section, because of the heritage of the area

I love it and hope it’s expanded. Very efficient and practical.

Thank you for an interesting video. I have enjoyed all of your videos I have watched on your channel. Thank you and keep the videos coming.

I live in Chicago and we love heading to Milwaukee for weekend day trips. It's a shame--the city is very pro-transit, and has wanted light rail FOREVER. But the state legislature and often the governor's office for years have consistently been anti-transit. They helped kill Milwaukee's former light rail plan--which is why the city now has a color coded BRT overlay to its regular bus system. Those are the routes the city wanted to have been light rail. And it's the same with The Hop. There are extension plans, and the line has been successful in terms of ridership and, especially, economic development. But the GOP legislature (and GOP city council members) keep interfering. But it's definitely a convenient thing to take the Amtrak Hiawatha from Chicago, and then The Hop and the BRT buses around downtown (and even all the way up to Bayshore Town Center mall in the north suburbs.)

As a milwaukee native, I'm glad you enjoyed your time here For others contemplating a visit, please do. The opinion of many in milwaukee is that this is one of the most useless projects ever forced upon us Nothing but a failed attempt at a positive legacy by the previous mayor

You hop the hop and you hop right off it don't go no where.

It really is a nice street car. I wish it were used more.

Enjoyed the ride!

Thank you for the video Thom. I don't know a lot about Milwaukee but it looks a neat city to visit. The Hop looks like an interesting system with potential. Hopefully the new extension will encourage more ridership when it opens. The tram system in the city of Birmingham, UK also has the same set up, overhead wires on most of the route but uses battery power in the city centre. As I speak Spanish and recently returned from Mexico, the sign did make me laugh!

As always, I found it an informative video! Now, I know why _The_ _Hop_ is free (and I liked the many words for "free" at 11:35), as well as other details about it. Thanks for the video!

I've always found this tram to be interesting. The fact that it's a battery-powered tram and doesn't run under catenary power is what makes this system unique. I also had no idea that it doesn't cost a dime to ride. Another great video!

Here in Dallas our modern streetcar also uses these Liberty streetcar systems to get over the historic bridge between our downtown and across the Trinity River without catenary wires

Come to China to try our HSR system, it really is the best in the world. I love the US, but when I was living here the transport system seemed really lacking and outdated. Moving back to Milwaukee in a year and I really hope they can move forward and expand this into other neighborhoods. It sounds like it has soured a lot of peoples views on this but if they can be patient and demand more lines I can see Milwaukee being very similar to Portland, Oregon which has a good system for a city with a very similar size to Milwaukee

Great video.

Reminds me of the TIDE un Norfolk, Va

I hope Milwaukee's next line will be an upgrade to full LRT with electrified, tracks separated from the street, and signal priority. Even this would be a drop in the bucket compared to how much they spend on car infrastructure.

I like your trams :D

The hop will eventually run thru ground floor of 44story Cotoure bldg now under construction on lakefront.

That is very nice! I wonder if other light rails have batteries in case of emergency.

Good video and go Sox man!

I rode the Hop in its first year when I lived in the area... It was nice, but ultimately didn't serve much purpose as I could (and often times would) walk to many of the places along the current route. It really needs to extend out to some key destinations to make it worthwhile.... UWM, Fiserv Forum/Deer District, Miller Park, Marquette, and Mitchell Airport to name a few.

Works so much better than the DC streetcar because it runs in the center of the street with island platforms. The next extension for DC will be all center running, but it’s current side-lane route is incredibly problematic waiting behind parked cars all day long.

Thank You!

everyone in milwaukee basically has the same view on it: we're happy for the free public transportation but nobody uses it because the route is very pointless..

You just gave me a great idea. I'll have 10 hours to kill next month while waiting for the CONO after I get off the Cardinal. A side trip to Milwaukee And a (ahem) hop the Hop

I forgot Hennessy was a Bucks sponsor until this video. Thanks

Awesome!

As someone who lives downtown west of the river, I'm a little disappointed with the planned expansion. They should expand it up 6th street to connect the Wisconsin center, the Panther Arena, the public museum, and Fiserv Forum, ya know, places that bring in a lot of people, instead of that tiny loop which could easily just be walked. As it is right now there's just no reason to use it, unless you specifically live in East Town.

Interesting!

You seem like a pretty chill dude. If you ever come to Vancouver Canada, try out our skytrain

Note- If you are going into Milwaukee. The Freeway Flyer MCTS buses are not running with exception of the 40U, 44U, 49U, 81, and 143. Other than that I really think this streetcar is pointless considering it goes basically no where and it's also a very boring route.

they have the same cars in downtown Oklahoma and for 40% of the ride there they are off the cable. Though the tram is only 4.8 miles of rail and are build soley for tourism and minor commuting downtown they still charge you a dollar per ride. And they dont have the screens showing where you are but rather advertisements

The new L-line is up and running now!

Buses that run to prisons? Try the Q100 in Queens, NY. It runs 24/7, limited stops, from the #7, E, F, N and R subways in Long Island City, Queens, to Rikers Island, over the bridge from Astoria, Queens. It used to have an odd schedule, more frequent on weekends (for inmate visitors) and less frequent on weekdays, making only a few stops on the way to the prison. But now it's added more intermediate stops for regular commuters, so it has a fairly frequent schedule, seven days a week.

I think it would be amazing if they had a route to and from American family field as it would likely get a lot of use by people.

Thanks for another fine video. Did you get a sense of rush hour ridership?

It just needs a much better coverage area.

Come to Phoenix and check out our trains. We have the same liberty streetcars in Tempe. We also have a regular light rail.

You should do patco if you haven’t already done it.

How in the world are these tram vehicles open gangway but lightrails the country over and closed?

Correction: the streetcars were not scrapped to make way for the freeway system in 1958. It was just due to the increase of automobile use in commuting. The freeway system was not built until the late 1960s.

Thom do the history of the North shore line , Tom

Always been lots of controversy surrounding the HOP. It would have been better had it have better connections to outlying areas to increase ridership. They really have no means for gathering fares because the ridership just isn't there. For the small area it covers is easily walked by foot.

I too enjoy the city of Milwaukee has anybody ever been down to Amelia's restaurant near the airport?

You should come to Sacramento

If you're in Milwaukee better stay strapped....

the eletric/ battery thing is what metra should do with their f40 battery power convertion

11:32 Das hört man natürlich gerne!

That is Chris Farley country

9:57 uhhh the bike??

Glad I remembered to post this: This isn't related to your current post on the hop. During your post about the CTA Purple line, I reported on the Market-Frankford Line in Philly having an A, B, or AB designation. The enclosed link updates that and says the "Skip-stop" policy was discontinued three years ago. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nLOUjJV7ltycen0.html&pp=ygU7c2VwdGEgZWxpbWluYXRlcyB0aGUgc2tpcCBzdG9wIG9uIHRoZSBtYXJrZXQgZnJhbmtmb3J0IGxpbmU%3D

Interesting I noticed the 'push button to open' sticker on the door is bilingual (US English, Latin American Spanish) but the announcements are only in US English. Interesting you can take a bicycle on the tram. Something not permitted in many European city tramways. I guess they don't get as full as the Tram systems in Germany, Belgium and France where you usually lock you bike in a rack or locker at the station or stop. No radios hmm 🤔 in the era of multimedia Smartphones isn't that legally ambiguous a decent lawyer could argue watching a video on an app isn't listening to a radio. Those lean on seatbacks are referred to as Perch seats in SW England. We have shelters in urban areas on the Community rail Tamar Valley line in Plymouth.

8:54 8:56 8:57 8:57 8:58 8:58

Milwaukee residents mostly view the Hop as a colossal waist of money on a useless pet project that they now want to dump even more money into the abyss. In the video, I think I saw one other rider. That is amazing. It also explains why it’s in such good condition. It’s basically a mostly useless novelty. It looks cool. That’s about it. They can’t hardly get people to ride it for free. 😔

Was a great idea in theory: but in reality, a HUGE waste of more than $14,000,000 - that should have gone into the existing bus lines. This is downtown in the Theater🎭District, supposed to attract tourists - but the tourists staying in our expensive hotels in that area are within walking distance to the theatres, concert halls, performing arts center, arena, etc., and they have their own cars, or will taxi to & from those short destinations. They were supposed to charge $1 Fare after the first year, & with city, county, state & Potawotamie Casino sponsorship it has remained free - but as you demonstrated - hardly anyone rides The Hop, a useless boondoggle. Rumor was they were going to expand service to other areas of the city/county - but this, too, would be a further waste of monies. Sad, very, when the City & County of Milwaukee has so many other more pressing needs than an empty bus for the rich. 🤑💰 💵💰

This was the worst idea for my city... I can walk faster to my destination than this stupid thing moves!

Cost millions and just goes in a circle. Its a novelty but doesnt contribute to mass transit.

Nothing is free. Someone is paying for it. Taxes

a little tinker toy that take you on a short joy ride. useless.

Typical pipe dream, few use it and it goes no where. Total waste of millions of tax dollars, I do live in the area.

They don't charge because nobody would pay to ride it. They barely ride it for Free.