IndyGo plans to resume its regular schedule of routes next month after two months of cutbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buses will begin running on their usual weekday schedules June 1, the transit agency announced Wednesday. Saturday and Sunday service will continue unchanged.
“As we navigate through this pandemic, IndyGo will continue to monitor ridership and evaluate routes and schedules,” the agency said in a written statement.
IndyGo said it also plans to continue the increased cleaning and sanitation procedures that it implemented at the start of the pandemic. Riders will be asked to keep as much distance from each other as possible and encouraged to wear face masks.
Because of pandemic-related staffing shortages and ridership declines, IndyGo cut back its service March 29 and has been operating buses on a Saturday schedule six days a week since then. Sunday service has stayed the same.
IndyGo also temporarily suspended fare collections as a way to limit interactions aboard buses. Fare collections resumed May 4 after the transit system installed plexiglass shields to protect drivers.
Ridership dropped 22.2% in March compared with the same month a year ago. Ridership for the first three months of the year is down 5.5%.
According to preliminary ridership numbers, weekly ridership fell from nearly 176,000 per week in early March to a low of 61,000 the week of April 13. It has picked up slightly since then, topping 75,000 the week of May 11.
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$45,000,000 from CARES Ac for Indy Go. Ridership was declining prior to the Pandemic. This thing is in the right place at the right time for a government bailout – same for some blue states.
False. Ridership from January 2019 to January 2020 was up 8%.
It sure was a blessing to our family for getting him to PPHS at the Circle Center mall. It sure beats school buses. I think IPS should use them for their high schools.
IndyGo received transit operating funds as did the majority of agencies in the nation, all were affected by the pandemic. IndyGo as a public transit agency is as deserving of assistance as others agencies providing comparable service. That IndyGo ridership across the board was up by 8% bucks the trend of downward transit ridership for all but a few transit agencies across the nation. Transit ridership is up in the Seattle area, which is booming and characterized with significant population growth. That IndGo registers transit ridership improvement in a service area with little population growth is something to applaud. Instead of tearing down the agency the object it to build it up and ensure that it can provide high quality transit service which will attract ridership.The ridiculous state ban on light rail remains. However, BRT works well for ridership volumes in Indianapolis. Interestingly, short and longer term ridership on some IndyGo bus routes is as high or higher than projected ridership on the $816 million 8-mile South Shore commuter rail line extension coming to Northwest Indiana. So, BRT expansion in Indy reflects a good deal – 3 lines and about 40 miles of bus rapid transit at at half the cost of said rail line. Yep, some will rightly say the projects are very different and they are; both a beneficial and best meet needs in the areas served.