About Milwaukee's Hop streetcar

Two parallel metal tracks stretch across the roads in downtown Milwaukee, soaking up the heat of the summer and the frost of the winter. You wait a bit, a streetcar the length of two buses slides slowly toward you.

You wonder if it’s automatic, running robotically and beeping like that, until you see a conductor in the front seat and you let out the breath you’d been holding — it will stop at traffic lights and behind cars. On the side of the car golden letters read in all caps: “THE HOP.”

The Hop is a fixed-transit network that gives a ride to more than 1,000 people a day, going to various destinations in downtown Milwaukee. Its route stretches from Veterans Park to Milwaukee Public Market and expanded to the lakefront in spring 2024.

The Hop is a relatively new addition to the city, having started running in 2018. But it’s a continuation of a long history of streetcars in the city — the first electric streetcar started giving rides in 1890 and for decades was the primary form of transportation.

Today, The Hop has become a staple of downtown life, whether or not you ride it.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: About Milwaukee's Hop streetcar