Spreading the Word About Transit

This article appeared in the Indianapolis Star (http://www.indystar.com/article/20111006/OPINION08/110060338/Spreading-word-about-transit?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|p)


It was a hit a few years ago when gasoline topped $4 a gallon and its own price was $3 a trip. At $5 a ride, it has maintained a loyal core. Indy Express Bus is a secret that needs to be shouted about, its backers believe; and its promotion can serve as a campaign vehicle for the greater cause of regional mass transit.


Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard will join Ehren Bingaman, executive director of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, in an announcement today of a new federal grant for marketing the suburban express service.


The end of a federal subsidy was supposed to have scotched the amenity at the end of 2010, but CIRTA and Miller Trailways have kept it going with the fare increase and reduced frequency. Bingaman is fond of pointing out that the total average cost of thecommute by car is $13 one way, not including parking, according to the American Automobile Association


Ongoing efforts to remind Carmel and Fishers residents of the continuing service will be enhanced by the $200,000 grant, which will be used for billboards, spiffed-up buses and other marketing strategies. Rides to Colts games have been added as well. In the planning stage is a service from Indy's central city for people working in the suburbs.


Convenience, energy conservation, traffic flow and air quality all will be bettered with increase popularity of Indy Express Bus. At the same time, however, its limited scope speaks to the need to develop a multicounty transit system with a dedicated funding source. This requires action by the Indiana General Assembly and ultimately the voters in a referendum.


While such a system may or may not include rail, at least in its early phases, the backbone would be buses -- including enhancement of the grossly underfunded IndyGo plus express bus service to communities as distant as Lebanon and Mooresville. Other metropolitan areas have achieved such mobility without painful tax increases; widespread buy-in is the key.


Mass transit succeeds when it is a choice and not a last resort. In Central Indiana, the latter has been the case for decades. It doesn't have to be that way, as the interurbans once showed and as Indy Express Bus demonstrates today. May the word spread.