Kenosha Transit
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| Headquarters | 4303 39th Avenue |
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| Locale | Kenosha, Wisconsin |
| Service type | Bus service, streetcar |
| Website | City Transportation |
Kenosha Area Transit (KAT) is a city-owned public transportation agency based in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The system, which is part of the Southeast Wisconsin Transit System, maintains a fleet of 68 buses and seven streetcars operating on 10 bus routes and one streetcar route throughout the city and outlying areas. Seven historic refurbished ex-Toronto Transit Commission and SEPTA streetcars have operated in the downtown Kenosha area since Saturday, June 17, 2000 on a 2-mile (3.2 km) loop between HarborPark and the Kenosha Metra station.
Urban public transit service has been available in the City of Kenosha since February 3, 1903, when streetcar operations commenced over the Kenosha Electric Railway using two Birney cars, later supplemented by motor buses. There were several owners of the system over the decades. On February 14, 1932, the service was supplanted by a system of twenty-two electric trolley-buses, also called trackless trolleys; 10 St. Louis Car Company coaches (Job 1555); and 12 Yellow Coach Model MTA 701 coaches. At that point, the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company, the operators at the time, pioneered a color-coded route designation system, which is believed to be the first in the world.
Ford V8 gasoline transit buses were introduced to supplement increased wartime-production service during World War II.
On September 5, 1942 the system came under the ownership of Kenosha Motor Coach Lines (KMCL) (later Kenosha Motor Coach Company), which had been incorporated on June 27, 1942. By 1948, KMCL began purchasing new diesel coaches, which finally supplanted all trolley-bus operations in March 1952.
The president of Kenosha Motor Coach Lines was Henry P. Bruner (November 16, 1900 - November 30, 1993). Bruner had been a transportation consultant in Indiana, and with personal assets of approximately $16,000 managed to acquire southeastern Wisconsin transit properties valued at $1,242,000. He acquired the Racine city system in 1939 from The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transport, known as Racine Motor Coach Lines.
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