Madison Metro Transit will begin scaling back some early-morning, late-night and holiday bus service in December under a plan intended to reduce overtime and help close a projected city budget gap. The Transportation Commission approved the changes unanimously last month. They are part of a broader effort to reduce city agencies’ projected spending before Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway presents her 2027 budget to the City Council in October. Weekday service on Route C, which connects the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the far East Side, is expected to begin at about 5 a.m. Weekday service on the route will not be affected, but weekend service will start at about 6 a.m. Route D, which runs between Dane County Regional Airport and Verona, will begin weekend service shortly before 6 a.m. Weekend start times on Routes G and H will move back by 30 minutes or less. Route G serves the Stoughton Road corridor, while Route H connects South and West Madison. The largest weekend reductions, measured by total operating time, are planned for Routes J, L and O. Those lines are projected to lose between 13% and 20% of weekend service because of later starts and earlier end times. Routes P and S also would have shorter weekend schedules. Route L serves the city’s shelter for unhoused men on Bartillon Drive. Metro’s planning memo says the route will continue to begin before the shelter’s daytime closing window, with evening trips continuing until intake closes. The changes will not affect Route A, Madison’s existing bus rapid transit line, or Route B, the planned future bus rapid transit route. Service also will be reduced on most federal holidays and on Ho-Chunk Day, the day after Thanksgiving. Metro interim planning manager Connor Mountford told commissioners that the changes were based primarily on when buses carry the fewest riders, rather than on particular parts of the city. The goal, he said, was to find savings while limiting the effect on ridership. Metro estimates the weekday changes will affect an average of 13 riders. The Saturday reductions are expected to affect about 100 riders, while Sunday changes would affect roughly 60. For example, the early weekend reductions on Route C are projected to affect about seven Saturday riders and three or four Sunday riders; similar changes on Route D would affect about four riders on each weekend day. Planning staff said the schedule would still allow most riders to reach downtown and nearby workplaces before 6 a.m. on weekdays and before 7 a.m. on weekends. Some trips could be shortened rather than eliminated. Commission members chose reductions on Routes J, L and O instead of deeper cuts on Routes G and H because of concerns about unequal effects on riders, Mountford said. West Side Ald. Barbara Harrington-McKinney said commissioners understood that the reductions were necessary even though they were not the outcome they wanted. The cuts come as Madison faces higher wages and benefit costs, fuel and power prices, paratransit expenses, vehicle repairs and technology costs. Rhodes-Conway directed city agencies this summer to propose 2% reductions for next year, citing inflation and state limits on local government spending. The city pursued those reductions instead of asking voters for another referendum after a 2024 referendum helped prevent service cuts. Metro’s day-to-day operating budget grew from $78.2 million last year to $84.6 million this year. The agency is seeking about $92 million for 2027, including the service reductions. The proposed budget changes are expected to save approximately $2 million through reduced service, facility-lease changes and the use of federal grant funds for some maintenance supplies and tools. Metro also is trying to avoid another midyear request for additional city funding. The agency reported a $5.7 million operating overspend in 2025 and projects a $4.2 million gap for 2026, driven in part by rising paratransit demand, repairs for older 60-foot buses and heavy reliance on overtime. The agency’s projected city subsidy for 2027 is about $30 million, down from $34 million this year. Metro’s budget documents warn that maintenance backlogs, overtime dependence and other contracted services could push annual operating costs to $100 million or more by 2028 without continued changes. East Side Ald. Derek Field said the commission will need to confront increasingly difficult financial decisions as state restrictions on local budgets tighten.