Bill could strip IndyGo of millions of dollars, halt future work on Purple, Blue lines

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28 thoughts on “Bill could strip IndyGo of millions of dollars, halt future work on Purple, Blue lines

  1. It’s time to hold IndyGo accountably for their run amuck program. Empty busses are everywhere flying though this city like they are in the Indy 500! Way to go Aaron Freeman. We need much more oversight on IndyGo and less empty busses running through our city and costing taxpayers millions in abused funds!

  2. People cannot be forced to use public transit. As a region, Indpls. can’t even hold developers and corporations accountable for the tax credits and incentives in the billions of dollars that have been handed out over the past 3-4 decades. So we hold a PUBLIC utility to account, a PUBLIC service that is not designed to be run as a for-profit company? And that punishes who? Those least able to even have another transit option. Those most vulnerable—poor, disabled, and otherwise DEPENDENT on our public transit. This is a service that every city is responsible for supplying to their residents to the best of its ability. Maybe start with curtailing the CIB before going after a public commodity.

  3. What becomes of the 10% of Marion County taxpayer money that gets withheld in the years IndyGo fails to raise the $6M? Does it go back to Marion County projects? Or do rural counties get to steal it for their purposes instead of being returned to those paying the additional tax?

  4. This is a ridiculous attempt to — in the name of something else — cast aspersions on yet another entity with the name “public”. For the life of me, I cannot understand why people who will likely never need help (or think they won’t) with transportation to get to a job, school, the grocery store, medical services, or even libraries and museums, want to deprive other people of the means to get those crucial destinations. It’s not only cold-hearted, it’s short-sighted. And, Joe H., I took the redline not long ago, not that I needed to, I wanted to. And I and my friends all paid through the operational electronic payment system.

  5. What a joke piece of legislation this is, and what a joke Aaron Freeman is! Will he be sponsoring a bill to strip funding from the Indiana Department of Transportation for going hundreds of millions of dollars over-budget and years behind schedule on I-69 construction? No.

    This legislation is nothing but a cynical attempt at meddling in local affairs. Thankfully, I think most of the other legislators in the General Assembly will see this piece of garbage for what it is, But, even if it should pass the General Assembly, I believe Gov. Holcomb has enough integrity to veto it.

    Instead of fighting public transportation and engaging in cynical political grandstanding, perhaps Freeman could actually do something useful in service of his constituents.

    1. Agree with your first paragraph but not sure I trust the remaining legislators to do the right thing. And Legislature can over-ride IN Governor veto by simple majority.

    1. Well, Seattle manages to function without adequate public toilet facilities, it appears…my wife and I vacationed there in 2018 and, boy, did much of the downtown stink of human excrement.

    1. Busses carry more people than cars. People other than you also have places to be. Indianapolis is going to dry up and lose talent due to the lack of urban amenities that most capital cities have.

  6. As IndyGo is implementing the new grid based route system, and substantially increasing frequency of service, it will take time for the public to get used to this. But it will happen. Driving Shelby street from Ft Square to Hanna, I encountered 3 northbound Red Line busses AND people were waiting at every station but one. This line previously had HOURLY bus service. Now it’s minutes waiting. The public will love this when fully implemented. Vote “No” on this proposed bill and give IndyGo a chance.

  7. Sen. Freeman is wielding his power as a state legislator to throw a monkey wrench into plans the 15th largest city in the country has for modern, convenient mass transit. The Purple and Blue lines, like the Red LIne, are funded by federal grants and the local income tax increase approved by an overwhelming majority of Marion County voters several years ago. But he thinks he knows better. A stable genius, apparently. Wow.

  8. This is unacceptable overreach and shady behavior from Freeman. Tacking on an amendment to an unrelated bill at the last minute is the most sleazy way to go about this. IndyGo now has the foundation; it takes time to establish this. Freeman is literally just trying to kill these projects by inserting a new roadblock and degree of uncertainty to local funding mechanisms.

    There already is/way an incentive for IndyGo to raise the money – the county would be on the hook! They would have to answer to local taxpayers. This is not a State issue, this is a local issue. Freeman isn’t a City-County Councilor anymore and needs to back away from local issues.

    1. They have had 6 years to get their foundation up and running. They just don’t like they are being held accountable for it now.

  9. I think people who aren’t in poverty have no idea how important mass transit is to enabling people to come out of poverty. If we don’t want tax money to go to welfare, why not put it towards something that enables those in poverty to maintain a job?

    1. Exactly! They want to complain about panhandlers and people “cheating the system” but also want to hinder public resources that might help mitigate these issues.

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