A proposed $1.3 billion transit system might bring redevelopment to urban neighborhoods. Yet transit proponents have surprisingly little to say about how much the system could generate in new real estate investment.
Federal transit data suggests passenger fares would generate about one-fourth of the money needed to operate a suburban rail and expanded bus system proposed for the region.
Buses in Bloomington and on the Indiana University campus could lose funding starting in 2014 if local officials don’t include Interstate 69 in their transportation infrastructure plans.
Downtown Indianapolis Streetcar Corp. said a circulator route between downtown and the Indianapolis Zoo in White River State Park might cost $20 million to $25 million to build and equip.
The Indianapolis Public Transportation Corp. has budgeted expenses of $57 million for 2012, but officials expect a revenue shortfall of $6.4 million because of drops in federal, state and local funding.
The goal is to show state lawmakers the support that exists for local funding options that might improve mass transit. Organizers plan to deliver the signatures when the next legislative session convenes in January.
Groups that perennially press the Indiana Department of Transportation to broaden its vision of mobility beyond highways now accuse the agency of “significant ineptitude or willful disregard” in eliciting public input.
IndyGo will accept new applications for funding beginning Feb. 14.
Routes to Carmel and Fishers that were to be discontinued at the end of the year are on the verge of being rescued.
Scaled-back transit plan, which includes rail line from downtown to Noblesville and Franklin, is projected to cost $2.4 billion, with local taxpayers picking up about half the amount. Funding would need to be approved through county referendums, however.
The luxury coach routes from downtown to Fishers and Carmel were launched three years ago and have been popular among suburban commuters.
Transportation planners are scrambling to find federal funds to help pay for the popular commuter routes from downtown
Indianapolis to Fishers and Carmel.
The bus system’s announcement in May that its current service and fare structure will remain intact through 2011 helped to
extend the life of the route.
Connecting rural bus systems with one another and with IndyGo must happen before commuter rail becomes a reality.
Carmel’s virtual Disney World of new, high-density attractions—from the mixed-use City Center to the Carmel Arts and Design
District—were built with walking and biking access in mind. A recently completed study shows the potential to link numerous
other city destinations by multiple forms of transportation.
Faced with a $3.2 million budget shortfall, IndyGo proposes the elimination of the Airport Express route, the Route 87 Eastside
Circulator and the IndyGo Commuter Express to Carmel and Fishers.
The partnership called Hoosier Ride is helped by a $2 million federal grant and will operate at least one trip daily in each
direction using Miller charters along four routes running between Indianapolis and Evansville, Muncie, Seymour and Kalamazoo,
Mich.
With traffic congestion growing, the idea of sending streetcars zipping down Washington Street—from
far-east-side Cumberland to Indianapolis International Airport on the west—is making a return. And
the route could offer the best bang for the buck in spurring transit-oriented development.
The expanded service shuttling air travelers and airport workers to and from Indianapolis International Airport began Feb.
3, to the newly opened Fairfield Inn & Suites at West and Washington streets.
Backers of the plan
said the work by the Central Indiana Transit Task Force amounts to a crucial private-sector endorsement
needed to finally proceed with a regional transportation system.
