How It's Paid For

Fare-free first: about $0.5 to $0.6M a year. The bigger network phases in later ($13.8M starter, $22.6M full).

Where the money comes from

• State transit aid. Wisconsin already helps pay to run city buses (urban transit aid, s. 85.20) and rides for seniors and people with disabilities (s. 85.21).
• Federal transit aid. Federal formula grants help run and buy buses (FTA 5307 and 5339). There's more for accessible vans (5310), rural county service (5311) and intercity links (5311(f)).
• County and city. A local share, as today, with the county joining so the whole county becomes one network.
• Clean-air and safe-streets grants. CMAQ, TAP, Safe Streets for All, and FTA Low-No for electric buses.
• Partners welcome, never required. Health systems, employers, colleges and neighboring communities can add stops or trips. The network never waits for them.

Rides to recovery: unspent opioid money

Sheboygan County's opioid settlement share is about $3.97 million over 18 years. It spent about $315,000 in 2024 and 2025, none on transportation, and $1,815,678.60 was unspent at the end of 2025 (Legislature report, pp. 309 to 317). The settlement's allowed uses include “transportation to treatment or recovery programs or services” (Exhibit E), and other Wisconsin counties already fund rides (Wisconsin Watch). Our plan: a share helps run fare-free service on recovery and clinic routes and the overnight on-demand. Research.

Building money: hubs, stations and docks

• Downtown already has big plans on the books: a pedestrian bridge and two future parking structures, which are years away.
• Our idea: put part of that kind of money into moving people instead of storing cars.
• Tax increment financing (TIF) can build things: heated Longevity Hubs, shelters, e-bike stations and safer crossings. That frees the regular transit dollars to run more buses.
• The bottom line: one-time building money can carry the network for years, not months.

Why fare-free costs less than you think

• Fares pay for only a small slice of today's service. Most of the cost is already public.
• Collecting fares costs money too: fareboxes, passes, punch cards, counting cash and handling special programs.
• Today's patchwork of pass deals (schools, agencies, employers) becomes one simple rule: everybody rides free.
• No fares means faster boarding, buses that stay on time, and more riders on the same buses.
• Sheboygan has tried fare-free before, and ridership rose.