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Video: IndyGo’s service upgrades explained Over the objection of some Open Door paratransit users, IndyGo’s board has approved a new fare policy it says will benefit 70 percent of riders. The plan, the first change in the bus system’s fare policy in 10 years, was approved Thursday and retains a base fare of $1.75 (and $0.85 half fare) and adds free transfers within two hours of a fare purchase. The new policy eliminates free fixed-route service for Open Door customers, though they are eligible for half-priced fare. “Overwhelmingly, the public has been supportive of the proposed policy changes, with approximately 70 percent of survey responses being either very supportive or supportive,” said IndyGo’s Bryan Luellen, vice president of public affairs, in a report to the board. “On the negative side, the highest comment type was regarding the elimination of the monthly pass, followed closely by the elimination of free rides on fixed route for Open ...

  He’s been married 44 years now, and it’s lasted for the same reason he’s lasted as a city bus driver: Robert refuses to let the little stuff bother him. “I’m very happy most of the time,” he said. “I’ll see somebody having a bad day and start joking with them, and sometimes that helps change how they’re feeling.” He’s a combat veteran who came back from Vietnam with a short fuse, but somehow shook it off, drawing from a lifelong ability to be patient and understand that not everything’s worth a fight. “I learned it from my parents. It’s up to you. You can keep on carrying that stick with you, or not,” said the IndyGo driver, whom I’m calling Robert. “I don’t let anybody wreck my day. I wake up in a great mood - because I woke up, and that’s a blessing right there,” he said. “There’s always somebody trying to spoil your day. But the key is, you don’t have to let them.” You might call it the hold-your-tongue approach, something he also does when his wi...

IndyGo’s bus drivers see a lot. Sometimes they meet new friends, the way that Dilexi Rosario did after she started driving. But what are the chances she would meet a future husband? Dilexi was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New York City as a teen-ager. She got a job driving school buses, and when she moved to Indianapolis with her first husband, she kept driving, this time with IndyGo. She’s been a city bus driver for 12 years now and loves it – meeting people, listening to their stories, offering some advice now and then. Simply put, she likes helping people. The marriage didn’t work out, and so at age 40 she had two grown children and felt like something was missing. “I was looking for true love,” she said. “Isn’t everybody?” She didn’t have to look far, as it turned out: She met Sean Cox when he worked in the garage at IndyGo and was glad when later he became a driver. “When he started driving, he wore a different uniform, and that’s whe...

I drove very large interstate buses for awhile - a job that gives a whole new meaning to "heavy traffic." It changed the way I think about safety and gave me a lot of respect for professional drivers. The trips from my base in Indiana to destinations in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky were an education: Long days with 55 people aboard, sometimes quiet, sometimes alive with singing and conviviality. Every minute, I was thinking about safety: A minimum of four seconds following distance between vehicles, preferably longer. The sheer size of the bus in heavy city traffic, scanning six mirrors constantly, looking ahead and planning ahead - no sudden braking, which could throw my senior citizens off their feet on the way to the bathroom. I like driving, but operating a big bus is a responsibility to be considered carefully. This is worth thinking about, because there’s a need for drivers, especially in the IndyGo system and for school buses. Some school districts ar...

  The Red Line will feature electric buses running every 10 minutes (IndyGo) It’s too soon to know the effect on ridership from the new Red Line and other improvements, but they’ve already produced a new interest around public transit, Bart Peterson says. “There’s a dynamism that we haven’t seen before,” he said. “We might have a chance to take a real step forward and see public transportation become part of the fabric of the city.” Fewer than 2 percent of residents in the metro area commute to work on IndyGo’s buses, according to the American Fitness Index . “Over the years, so many people had thrown their hands up and said we would never embrace public transportation,” said Peterson, who served as mayor from 2000 to 2008. “We need to do better. A modern, engaged city is about attracting talent – often millennials - and public transportation can be a draw for them.” The Red Line will use electric buses running every 10 minutes for most of the day on d...

Seth Johnson / Facebook A frequent IndyGo rider who has to take the bus because of a vision problem says a car would be more convenient sometimes, but that even if he could drive, he would still pick public transit. Seth Johnson lives in Fountain Square and rides to his job as an editor at Nuvo Newsweekly and Nuvo.net at 38 th and Meridian. He walks half an hour to downtown from his home in good weather, but takes the bus there as well and to appointments in Broad Ripple and elsewhere around town. If scheduling is a problem, he gets a ride with friends or takes a cab, but most of the time his ride is an IndyGo bus. Johnson is part of a larger trend in which Americans are driving less and looking to transit alternatives, according to a 2014 study from the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group. “Young Americans have experienced the greatest changes: driving less; taking transit, biking and walking more; and seeking out places to live in cities and walkable commun...