Fishers to halt bus subsidy in May, leading to cancellation of route

Fishers has decided to discontinue its subsidy of the Indy Express bus service between that city and downtown Indianapolis, which will prompt the cancellation of that route, effective in May.

Fishers officials notified the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority of the decision on Friday. Riders were notified Monday.

In 2014, Fishers officials agreed to fund the rental and maintenance of the Eastern Star Church parking lot for riders’ parking and subsidize expenses when ridership dipped below the break-even point. Since then, Fishers has paid out about $35,000 to keep the bus in service.
 
To break even, there must be 116 rides per day on the Indy Express Bus. While average ridership varied month to month, ridership has decreased each month since June 2014, as well as compared to the same time period in 2013.
 
Fishers said it will continue to make the payments until May 1, when service will cease.

The Indy Express' Carmel-Indy route met a similar fate in December, despite $30,000 in stopgap funding and marketing support from Carmel.

That move came less than three months after program coordinator CIRTA and private operator Miller Transportation—which had been running two Hamilton County routes at a loss—adjusted the bus schedule to reduce expenses.

Miller had been using two buses to run three daily departures and return trips between downtown Indianapolis and a park-and-ride lot in Carmel, and two more to provide three round-trip options between Fishers and Indianapolis. But the $5-per-ride fare wasn't enough to cover expenses.

Organizers eliminated one bus and one round-trip option in each community, and the company asked local government to cover any shortfalls that resulted from the service cuts. But “traffic constraints” plagued the Carmel route, CIRTA said in a letter to riders, making it impossible to offer two morning departures.

CIRTA said in December that in the three months ended Nov. 30, Carmel ridership totaled 3,758—almost 45 percent fewer passengers than the Fishers route, which had been able to maintain two morning options: at 5:55 and 7:15. At the time, the Fishers route was averaging about 18 people on the first departure and 40 on the second.

Commuters took about 28,500 trips on the Carmel route last year, according to CIRTA figures released in August, and about 35,000 trips to and from Fishers.