On Monday, the Hop Street Car overhead wire was hit causing it to be shut down for an unknown period of time. 

The Hop, which is run in Milwaukee with a series of overhead electrical wires, was tangled up in bent cables. Reports say a cement truck ran into the wires after forgetting to lower the boom and damaged the wires. 

The five passengers onboard were not injured, but the car sat disabled at the corner of Milwaukee and Buffalo for several hours. 

“We just happened to be sitting here. It fell right onto the streetcar,” says a HOP spokesperson to WTMJ. “We had five passengers onboard. We de-boarded them. No injuries, nothing like that.”

Moments like this, low overall usage and extremely high operating costs has contributed to some backlash from the local lawmakers. “The Hop, locked in a two-mile loop for the foreseeable future, costing us $4 million a year. I’m sure every one of your listeners can think of a better use they can put $4 million to,” Alderman Scott Spiker said. 

The overall operating cost for the hop according to Mayor Johnson’s budget is almost $7 million. However, the city recoups some of that cost from grants and a major sponsorship by Potowatomi. (RELATED: Waukesha Alderman No Longer Teaching at Catholic Memorial After False ICE Claim)

“That’s $4 million we don’t put towards libraries, $4 million we don’t put towards streets. That’s four million we don’t put towards new fire trucks, and our needs are growing. And our status quo is slowly killing us,” Spiker added.

The street car does not charge fares for riding, largely one of the reasons for its lack of success is lack of usage. Frankly there is no use for it in downtown Milwaukee. Originally, it was only going to operate for free for one year, but lack of usage has kept the car free to use. (RELATED: New Bill Allows Cars To Be Towed By Cities For Particular Violations)