A peak into the future at Indy BRT (updated)
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Nov 2nd, 2011 | 8 comments
I reported a couple of weeks ago that Indianapolis had received a grant from the FTA to study “bus rapid transit” on the central corridors comprised of Washington Street east/west and some combination of streets north/south from Carmel, through downtown to the University of Indianapolis on the south side. This post attempts to explore the possible routes a bit more and to add some context.
A look at the Indyconnect site (as of November 1st, 2011) tells us that the proposed BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) routes would be implemented in the short term, relatively speaking, with possible...
FTA Awards $2 Million to Indy for BRT Planning
Posted by Curt Ailes in Transit on Oct 20th, 2011 | 5 comments
On October 17th, 2011, the FTA awarded Indianapolis $2 million to conduct an alternatives analysis on what is termed, “Central Corridors”. (click here for the official FTA press release in .PDF format) This is direct from last year’s adopted Indyconnect plan that laid out future BRT lines along Washington Street east & west as well as BRT from Carmel to the southside of Indy along Keystone, College & Madison Avenues. Although the text is not particularly constricting, nor is it confining to the technology being BRT, what it DOES do is open the door to starting the...
Regional Transit and the Trip Not Taken
Posted by Curt Ailes in Pedestrian, Transit on Oct 12th, 2011 | 29 comments
The past year and some change has been an exciting time for transit in Indianapolis. I feel like we may be moving from the decades of study, study, study to something actually taking place. Proof of that is the current undertaking of the NE Corridor AA/EIS which is also accompanied by a land use study which will not only strengthen Indianapolis’ bid to get federal funding for the project but also lay out a plan for what we would like the areas around the stations to look and feel like.
As of late, both the Republican and Democratic mayoral candidates have been supportive of improved mass...
Take Indy Commuter Express on Colts Gameday
Posted by Curt Ailes in Neighborhoods, Transit on Sep 20th, 2011 | 1 comment
According to a press release last week, Miller Trailways in partnership with CIRTA will be offering Colts gameday services from the normal weekday park & ride lots in Carmel & Fishers. This will provide a new way for people in the north suburbs to get to the Colts game without having to fight traffic & pay for parking. This is a step in the right direction towards providing alternative options for people to get downtown in what are normally, very congested conditions for Colts games. I encourage anyone who lives in the burbs who reads this blog to try it out for your next Colts game. It...
IndyGo’s 2012 budget is $6 million short
Posted by Curt Ailes in Neighborhoods, Transit on Aug 30th, 2011 | 16 comments
Another year, another round of budget shortfalls. The same old story for IndyGo, Indianapolis’ municipal transit provider. For the 2012 fiscal year, the short fall is expected to be $6.4 million short. At the core of the issue is existing funding sources drying up vs rising costs to do business mostly in the form of employee health care and gasoline expenses. Indeed, IndyGo has to fight for the same reasons that the Indianapolis Library system does. The recently passed property tax caps have put all taxpayer funded programs in a pinch this year. So, what do we do? According to a story in the...
