MILWAUKEE — It takes a lot of people to make sure the Milwaukee County Transit System’s 350 buses stay clean and in good working order. 

Passengers often only see the contribution that bus drivers make in keeping the transit system up and running, but there is a whole team of mechanics and bus cleaners that are also key to the operation. 

Louie Kwasny Jr. is an “A mechanic” with MCTS, meaning he is responsible for diagnosing what is causing mechanical issues onboard busses. When a check engine light comes on, Kwasny is dispatched with his laptop to figure out what is wrong. 

“When you finally find where that little broken wire is, or little green connector, and you put it back on and see that check engine light go away, it feels good,” said Kwasny as he worked on a bus. 

MCTS is looking to hire more “A mechanics.” However, it’s a position that requires previous mechanical experience. There are other roles that do not require previous experience, such as bus cleaner-tankers.

Bus cleaner-tankers are responsible for keeping buses clean, fueled and in good working order.

Joe Price is the manager of administrative services for MCTS. Price said that many people start out in these cleaner-tanker roles and learn mechanical skills on the job. While today he oversees an entire department, Price started out as a cleaner-tanker in 1999. 

“The cleaner-tanker position we consider as an entry level position to the Milwaukee County Transit System,” he said. “They don’t need to have mechanical aptitudes per se. Once they come into the system, they learn the buses, how the buses operate, and we can train them up to the mechanics position, but the cleaner-tanker position is the entry level position.”

To learn more about the jobs available with MCTS, you can visit their hiring website.