Former mayor: IndyGo moving in the right direction

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 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 dedicated routes from Broad Ripple through downtown Indy to the University of Indianapolis. It’s one phase in a plan designed to shift to a grid-based system of routes and increase service by 70 percent with the help of federal funds and a new transit tax.

Young people have been driving less, and researchers are studying what that means for transportation and urban planning. In one eight-year period the number of miles driven by younger Americans fell by 23 percent, a study from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found.

“For the first time in two generations, there has been a significant shift in how many miles Americans are driving each year,” a news release from the group said.

“America needs to understand these trends when deciding how to focus our future transportation investments, especially when transportation dollars are so scarce.”

Peterson said public transit was a weakness in comparison with other cities, but also hurt the economic prospects of Indianapolis residents.

“The ability to get places and get to jobs is crucially important, and I think if we’re going to deal with the fundamental problem of income disparity, we need to address that,” he said.

Peterson, who had been a senior vice president for Eli Lilly, became CEO of Christel House International in January after Christel DeHaan, the nonprofit’s founder, stepped down. She remains board chair.

Christel House works with more than 4,500 low-income students on education and life skills across the globe, including at several Christel House Academies in Indianapolis.

“The people we serve at our learning centers depend on public transportation, as do many more people in Indianapolis,” Peterson said.

“Our historic under-investment in public transportation has been a weakness for the city. So it’s good to see an increasing recognition of that, and a commitment to developing a strong public transit system here.”

- By John Strauss, jcs1122@yahoo.com


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