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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndyGo has been chosen to receive a $33 million federal grant to help fund a new garage and maintenance facility at its East Campus headquarters, the transit organization announced Monday.
The funding is part of a $1.6 billion U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration effort supporting cleaner buses. IndyGo was one of just nine agencies nationally chosen to receive more than $30 million from the program. Another Indiana transit group, Bloomington Transit, was awarded about $7 million from the fund.
The entire grant will be spent on the garage, Carrie Black, a spokeswoman for IndyGo, told IBJ in an email. The project could be done by the end of the year.
“This new facility is essential to our growth, mission and ability to efficiently serve our riders,” said IndyGo President and CEO Inez Evans in written remarks. “The space will bring us closer to our goal of reaching a near-zero emissions fleet by allowing us to store additional electric vehicles for our upcoming bus rapid transit lines.”
The recently-acquired East Campus at 9503 E. 33rd Street will serve as IndyGo’s new headquarters. The East Campus garage project is also being partially funded by a $65 million bond from the Marion County Transportation Income Tax.
The bond was approved by the City-County Council in December 2021, nearly along party lines. Money from the bond could also be used to add additional buses.
If the proposed 2023 budget for IndyGo is adopted, $52 million would be spent on the East Campus garage over the next three years. Another $200,000 is budgeted in 2024 for facility equipment at the site.
IndyGo purchased the former Celadon offices in 2020 for $3 million in order to create a new headquarters. The property includes three buildings totaling 110,910 square feet on a 10-acre parcel. The existing West Campus, at 1501 Washington Street, will still house some offices, buses, parts and equipment, according to IndyGo’s website.
The federal government also chipped in $81 million toward IndyGo’s $188 million Purple Line project in April 2021.
The 2023 proposed budget includes $41 million in grants, which would fund 34% of the $122.7 million proposed capital budget. The remaining proposed capital budget funding sources are bonds and local revenue.
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How about offering better services to your Open Door Program? I bet the new offices will be fancy with the Federal Dollars received
I guarantee that Indianapolis taxpayer’s haven’t paid $30 million in income taxes to the federal government, which is the amount of the DOT grant for the East Campus project.
Criticize the project and/or the spending if you’d like Brent, but your comment is not even remotely grounded in truth.
Paul L. ~ If you think I am wrong, then how is it possible that Indiana as a state gets more money from the federal government every year than it send to the federal government? In fact, if Indianapolis taxpayers alone sent $33 million a year to Washington, that would be roughly $110,000 for every family of three. How much did your family send to the federal government?
Can’t believe how much of our money goes into the IndyGo rathole.
They have a concentration of services on the east side (which makes sense. High population density and a concentration of lower-income people). I bet having those east side services start/end their day here will be a significant cut in operating costs because of less deadheading.