Improved IndyGo service may win over Red Line skeptics
What Karissa Hulse and others have seen are riders who
are polite, help each other and greet their drivers. Hulse is a mom with two
young kids, so she notices courtesy.
“I’ve had countless times when people offered me a seat
when I’ve been riding with my kids or help me out when I’m juggling things,”
she says.
“It’s the community of kindness that I’ve experienced. And
that’s not unusual for IndyGo – it’s the norm, and that’s what is so comforting.”
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| Karissa Hulse |
New transit
technology
The Red Line, running 13 miles from Broad Ripple to the
University of Indianapolis, is the first stage of a bus rapid transit system
that will also include east-west lines and a grid system to provide more direct
service. Bus rapid transit uses dedicated lanes, faster boarding and ticketing,
and more frequent service to create an experience more akin to rail than a
chugging diesel bus. In fact, the plan calls for electric buses, though IndyGo
has spotted problems in testing the new equipment and says it won’t accept the
new buses if they don’t perform as advertised.
“BRT is a newer technology. It’s not light rail, it’s not
the public transportation most of us have in mind,” said Hulse, who has worked
with Transit Drives Indy, a
group supporting better mass transit. “It is a more flexible system, and less
expensive system. And that flexibility is important. As things change, our
system can change with it.”
The plan is funded with a $75 million federal grant and a
$54 million local income tax that keeps the finance burden off those on fixed
incomes.
BRT drove their
house decision
Hulse and her husband Brett live with their two children on
College Avenue near 42nd Street. The BRT will stop close to her front door, and the
couple, a one-car family, specifically bought the home to be on the Red Line.
Yard signs for and against the project have sprouted in
nearby yards, and she’s formed some impressions.
“Interestingly enough, I don’t think many of the people
against it actually live on College Avenue,” she said. “I talk to my neighbors,
and people are extremely excited about it. The yard signs that I’ve seen against
the Red Line are certainly in front of some College Avenue businesses. But in
terms of residences, they are very much centered around Kessler and Central
Avenue.”
Construction has pushed some College Avenue traffic onto
Central and antagonized residents. Hulse understands the frustration but hopes
people see the larger picture of progress.
When she first came here from northeast Indiana as a U.
of Indy student, she was advised to be especially cautious downtown. Fifteen
years ago, she says, there didn’t seem to be much of a vibrant scene for
20-somethings. Compare that to now.
“We spent Friday downtown with both of our kids. As we walked on Mass Ave after dinner, we
said this was nothing like we would have experienced 15 years ago. Good transit
means denser development and more walkable neighborhoods.”
Better service
would help
That’s the kind of vision spelled out in the Marion
County Transit Plan approved by 59 percent of voters in 2016.
"Several scenarios were initially developed by
transit planning experts, relying on documented factors including employment
and residential density, current IndyGo data on bus use, minority and
low-income population locations, and locations of community services and
amenities," a section of the 64-page report says.
"The proposed transit network was designed to
optimize connections between key origins and destinations in a connected,
systematic way."
Hulse gets it that only 3 percent of Indy commuters use
mass transit. But she and others think that’s changing as younger, more
transit-friendly residents arrive, and people can sample the improved IndyGo.
“When you don’t have personal experience with the service
yourself, it may be hard to understand it,” she said. “There are a lot of
people who don’t really know it’s there, because they don’t ride it.”
Have to start
somewhere
The couple moved to College Avenue about two and a half
years ago. Neighbors include a family who has been there for 20 years. They were
skeptical at first but have warmed up. On the other side of her is another home
with newer arrivals.
“They’re excited about the Red Line, and we have other
neighbors who moved here from the Nora area, and they have a ‘support transit’
sign in their yard.”
Like others who support the new transit plan, she thinks
people will warm up in time, much as opponents to the Monon eventually embraced
the trail’s success.
“I know we will never change everybody’s mind. I tell
people it’s not the perfect system, it’s not as built out as we want it to be,”
she says.
“But we have to start somewhere. And if we don’t start,
we’ll never get there.”
(Photos: IndyGo, Karissa Hulse)
- John Strauss
(Photos: IndyGo, Karissa Hulse)
- John Strauss
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