Buses get no respect. Romance clings to the rails and to the grand stations that serve them. When you take a train, you may well find yourself in a replica of a Greek temple or the Baths of Caracalla.
Local governments finally have the authority to build a mass-transit system, but they also have work to do and questions to answer before they can ask voters to pay for new rapid-transit lines and expanded bus service.
Officials in six central Indiana counties have the go-ahead to seek voter permission to fund a regional bus system.
The legislation authorizes officials in Marion, Madison, Johnson, Hancock, Hamilton, and Delaware counties to seek voter permission to raise income taxes to fund a regional bus system. Light rail is not part of the legislation.
The compromise language does not include a provision to establish a light-rail system or an increase in corporate taxes. However, the legislation would still allow for an increase in individual income taxes pending voter approval.
Supporters of competing plans to expand mass transit in central Indiana say they’ve got differences to work out before the General Assembly wraps up March 14 but they’re confident they can find resolution.
The Indiana House passed legislation to authorize new taxes for an expanded bus system but the bill is headed to a conference committee where lawmakers will try to find a compromise on the issue.
Construction of the hub, which Mayor Greg Ballard noted Thursday in his annual State of the City address, is set to begin this fall with completion expected by the end of 2015.
The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday morning to move a mass-transit bill to the full House, where it’s sure to see further debate.
The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote Monday on a mass-transit bill and is considering an amendment that would require 10 percent of revenue to come from non-traditional sources.
If the House approves the bill as amended, it will set up a debate between the Republican-controlled chambers about who pays for expanded transit.
The Senate passed a mass transit bill 28-20 on Tuesday that’s meant to give central Indiana residents authority to impose new taxes to pay for an expanded bus system for the region.
A mass-transit bill for metro Indianapolis cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday morning, but left open many questions about how such a system would be funded. An amendment to the bill nixed the use of light rail.
dvocates for expanded mass transit in central Indiana will focus on a Senate bill that gives counties a way to generate more tax dollars to pay for better buses and more routes.
The proposal, which would allow counties to impose taxes on corporations and residents to pay for expanded transit, will be fleshed out before the 2014 legislative session, then introduced as a bill.
Jeffrey D. Jackson, a 25-year transportation veteran named Thursday to head the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, was sued by Durango, Colo.-based American Heritage Railways in May.
Three tea party members testified Thursday against the $1.3 billion proposal that lawmakers delayed last session and sent to a study committee for review.
During a committee meeting Tuesday, Sen. Brent Waltz and Rep. Ed DeLaney crossed swords on a proposal that included widening roads and reforming the IndyGo bus service.
Central Indiana’s mass-transit planners unveiled detailed route information for the first time Wednesday and say a series of open-house meetings in August will be the public’s last chance to request changes before final recommendations.
Ehren Bingaman, executive director of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, will join architecture and engineering firm HNTB Indiana. He was one of the principal supporters of the mass-transit plan that stalled in the Statehouse this year.
