Waukesha County Transportation Services for Seniors and Wheelchair Users

Getting a ride in Waukesha County when driving is no longer an option

Most Waukesha County families start in the same place: a parent uses a wheelchair or scooter, or has just been told to stop driving, the family car will not take the chair, and there is an appointment on Thursday. This page lays out every transportation service the county and the city actually run, who each one is for, what it costs, and where each one stops. Then it explains when arranging a private accessible ride through BriteLift makes sense instead.

We arrange rides in Waukesha, Brookfield, New Berlin, Pewaukee, Menomonee Falls, Elm Grove, Muskego, Oconomowoc, Sussex and the surrounding communities.

Four programs serve Waukesha County, and they are not interchangeable

This is where most families lose a week. There isn’t one county transportation service — there are several, run by two different government bodies, and which one you qualify for turns on a single question: can the rider get into an ordinary car?

Start here. If a subsidized program fits the trip, it will cost a fraction of a private ride.

1. RideLine — the accessible van program

Run by the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Waukesha County. Wheelchair and scooter riders only: to qualify you must be non-ambulatory, meaning you cannot get into and out of a car.

• Phone: 262-548-7848
• Fare: $3.50 to $17.00 per one-way trip, set by your income on a fare determination form
• Hours: weekdays, roughly 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM
• Notice: at least 24 hours, and 48 is safer
• Eligibility: Waukesha County resident, non-driving or limited-driving, certified by the ADRC before your first trip

If your mother can get into a car, even slowly and with help, RideLine is not her program. That catches people out. It is the most common reason an application comes back rejected — and the answer in that case is the next program down, not an appeal.

2. Shared-Fare Taxi — for riders who can still get into a car

Same ADRC, same application packet, completely different service. It is open to Waukesha County residents 60 and over, or under 60 with a disability designation, who don’t drive or have limited driving.

The fare math is unusual and worth understanding before you call. You pay a minimum of $3.50 toward each one-way trip. The county subsidy covers the middle. If the meter passes $9.00, you pay everything above $9.00. So a short hop across Waukesha costs you $3.50 flat, and a longer run costs $3.50 plus whatever the meter shows over nine dollars. Service areas and hours vary by the individual taxi company, so ask which company covers your address.

The catch for our readers: a shared-fare taxi is a taxi. It will not take a power chair.

3. Waukesha Metrolift — the city’s ADA paratransit

This one is run by the City of Waukesha, not the county, with its own separate application. It shadows Waukesha Metro Transit’s fixed bus routes, which is the limit worth knowing: if the trip doesn’t parallel a bus route, Metrolift doesn’t go there.

• Cash fare: $4.00
• Two-ride card: $8.00, and it doesn’t expire
• Personal care attendant: rides free when named in your certification. Any other companion pays the same $4.00 you do.

One rule matters if you’re visiting family here rather than living here. Hold an “ADA Paratransit Eligible” card from another transit system and you can ride Metrolift for 21 days within a 365-day period without being certified in Waukesha at all. After those 21 days, you need local certification.

4. MTM, if the rider is on Medicaid or BadgerCare Plus

Wisconsin routes non-emergency medical transportation for Medicaid and BadgerCare Plus members, IRIS included, through MTM at 866-907-1493. If that is your situation, use it — nothing else will be cheaper for a medical appointment. Family Care and Partnership members are the exception: MTM will turn you away, because your plan arranges the ride itself. Which plan covers what.

The application is one form covering two programs

RideLine and Shared-Fare Taxi share a single ADRC application. Section I covers both. RideLine also needs Section II and the fare determination form, plus a disability designation form. There is a separate line for help filling it in — 262-548-7928, as opposed to 262-548-7848 for general transportation questions.

Certification takes weeks, not days. Apply well before the appointment you need it for. Discharge day is not the day to start.

Does RideLine cross the county line?

Yes — and this is worth getting right, because a lot of people assume the opposite and pay for a private ride they did not need.

RideLine does take riders out of Waukesha County, but only for medical trips, and only when that same service is not available inside Waukesha County. Out-of-county trips must be pre-approved, with four standing exceptions that need no prior approval:

• Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, main campus
• The Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center
• The Eye Institute
• Aurora St. Luke’s Hospital, for cardiac care

So a Brookfield resident heading to Froedtert’s main campus is exactly the trip RideLine is set up to handle. Call the ADRC before you call us.

Milwaukee County’s Transit Plus is the stricter of the two: it does not leave Milwaukee County at all.

The one bus connection between the two counties

Before you pay for anything, know that Waukesha Metro Transit and Milwaukee County Transit meet in exactly one place: Brookfield Square. Transfers happen at the mall and along Brookfield Square Drive and Executive Drive. There is no second transfer point.

For a rider who can manage a fixed-route bus, that is a cheap way into Milwaukee County. For someone in a power chair with a 9:00 AM appointment at Froedtert, two buses and an outdoor transfer in February is a different proposition.

Where those programs actually run out

There are four situations we get called for over and over, and they are all cases where no county program applies.

The trip crosses the county line and is not medical

This is the biggest gap. Taking your mother from New Berlin to a family gathering in Bay View, or from Waukesha to a memory care residence in Greenfield to visit her husband, is not a medical trip — so the out-of-county allowance does not reach it. Church, a funeral, a graduation, lunch with a friend: none of it qualifies. When you book through BriteLift, the reason for the trip is not a question we ask.

It is early, late, or a weekend

RideLine runs weekday business hours. A 5:30 AM dialysis chair time, a Saturday discharge, or a procedure that finishes at 7:00 PM all fall outside it.

You found out today

Between 24 and 48 hours of notice is the requirement. Hospital discharges rarely give you that. We ask for 24 hours where possible because it gives the best chance of matching the right vehicle, and we still take same-day requests when an accessible vehicle is free.

Nobody is certified yet

RideLine requires an approved application; Transit Plus requires an in-person functional assessment; Metrolift has its own certification again. None of them happens in an afternoon.

Trips to the Milwaukee medical campuses

Most specialist care for Waukesha County patients sits over the line in Milwaukee County. It helps to give us the clinic name and the entrance, not just the hospital — these campuses are large and the wrong door can mean a long walk.

• Froedtert Hospital and Children’s Wisconsin — 9200 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee
• Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center — 5000 W. National Ave., Milwaukee
• Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center — 2900 W. Oklahoma Ave., Milwaukee
• Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s — 2323 N. Lake Dr., Milwaukee

Give us the appointment time rather than a pickup time you have estimated. We work backward from it. For a Waukesha County pickup heading to the Milwaukee medical campuses, plan on a pickup window of about 90 minutes before the appointment, and more in winter or at rush hour.

What to tell us when you book

• The chair. Manual, power or scooter, and its width at the widest point. Power chairs and extra-wide chairs need a different ramp and interior space, and bariatric vehicles need more notice.
• Whether the rider transfers to a seat or stays in the chair for the whole trip. That decides which vehicle we send.
• Oxygen, a walker, a cane or a service animal.
• Whether someone is riding along. A family member or caregiver rides at no extra cost, but the seat has to be reserved.
• Whether it repeats. Dialysis, infusion or therapy on a fixed weekly pattern is easier to set up once as a standing schedule than to rebook every week.

What it costs

Most one-way rides around the Milwaukee area fall between $100 and $150, and a round trip usually lands between $200 and $250. Distance, time of day and the type of vehicle all move it. A Waukesha County trip into Milwaukee County sits at the higher end because of the distance, and the booking tool quotes your actual trip before you commit to anything.

This is private pay. There is no eligibility screening, no prior authorization and no case manager who has to sign off. If your trip qualifies for the Wisconsin Medicaid transportation benefit, use that instead — it will be cheaper. Full cost breakdown.

Book a ride

Prefer to talk it through? Call 414-716-1212. If the trip repeats every week, calling is usually faster than filling the form in each time.

Questions we get from Waukesha County families

My mother was turned down for RideLine. What now?

Read the reason on the letter. If it says she is ambulatory, that is not a mistake to appeal — RideLine is only for riders who cannot get into a car. Apply for Shared-Fare Taxi instead, on the same ADRC form. If she uses a wheelchair and was still turned down, call 262-548-7848 and ask what the disability designation form was missing.

Can you take my mother from Waukesha to a doctor in Milwaukee?

Yes. Check with the ADRC at 262-548-7848 first, because RideLine may cover it at a much lower fare — especially if the destination is Froedtert’s main campus, the Zablocki VA, The Eye Institute or St. Luke’s for cardiac care. If it does not fit, or the timing does not work, we arrange it.

Do I need to be certified or enrolled with you?

No. There is no application and no eligibility process. You book the ride and it is arranged.

Can you do a standing weekly schedule?

Yes, and for dialysis or therapy it is the sensible way to do it. Use the online form to enter several dates at once, or call and we will set the pattern up in one conversation.

What if my mother has dementia?

Tell us at booking. The ride is door to door, and a family member or caregiver can ride along at no extra cost. If she disorients easily, we’d suggest one does, and that you tell us who will be meeting her at the clinic.

How far ahead should I book?

24 hours gives the best availability. Same-day requests depend on an accessible vehicle being free, so call as soon as you know the time.

Do you go south into Racine or Kenosha?

Yes, and the rules down there are different again — Kenosha’s city paratransit stops at I-94, so Twin Lakes and Paddock Lake have no city program at all. See the Racine and Kenosha County guide.

Related pages

• Service areas across southeastern Wisconsin
• Milwaukee County Transit Plus: how to apply, what it costs
• Free and low-cost rides to medical appointments
• Racine and Kenosha County rides
• Every Milwaukee-area transportation option, compared
• Hospital discharge rides
• Dialysis transportation

Program details verified September 2026 against the ADRC of Waukesha County, the City of Waukesha Metrolift pages, the Waukesha Metro Transit fare tariff and find-a-ride.org. Programs change their rules — confirm by phone before relying on one.