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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAnything that restricts future development of public mass transit in Indianapolis—including the proposed Blue and Purple Lines (not to mention the shelved Green Line)—will, long term, place Indiana’s capital city in a second-level category of U.S. cities. It will be next to impossible to compete with those urban areas that are moving ahead with bus rapid transit systems, light rail systems, commuter rail systems, trolley and streetcar systems and diversified options for public mobility.
We are at a “red flag” moment in the evolution of transportation in greater Indianapolis. Either we give our young professionals the transportation options that they expect before they move away or we have an official ceremony and declare ourselves officially married, for better or for worse, to the automobile and massive highway construction expense.
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Gary Davis
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Not sure what a red flag means, but the Red Line has been a disaster from its roll out. Buses are empty(even pre-pandemic, as soon as they started charging for rides, ridership levels became almost zero). The buses don’t work in cold weather, and it has made residents along the corridor unhappy about traffic, parking, etc.
Seems to me, our investment(if it can be called such a thing) should be in new technologies, not electric buses which have been around for decades. Driverless car technologies, Uber, etc will dominate, not buses that take forever to get from one place to another. If IndyGo truly wants to serve the poor and needy, picking them up at the door and getting them to work, doctor, etc without waiting at a bus stop sure seems like a better way. With 5G technology, that future is sooner than we think.
Electric battery buses have not been around for decades. Trolley buses with overhead wired have been around for decades.
Red Line ridership is not zero. Either ride the bus or read the monthly reports. And, ridership decreases in Indianapolis reflect those nationwide. The statistics are clear; spreading misinformation is a disbenefit to all.
IndyGo daily ridership was about 30,000 pre-pandemic and has decreased by about 50%, a level not unlike those in the rest of the nation.
The bus batteries do work in cold weather but do not provide the miles between charged as designated in the contract.
The trend is to electrify bus fleets nationwide. This is happening in every major city. The issue is a manufacturer that produced batteries that can maintain the miles between charges with higher amp use for heating and AC and winter and summers, respectively.
The use of hyperbole truly misrepresents facts.
Driverless cars is a great idea. But the infrastructure for a totally connected driverless vehicle infrastructure is not yet available. And, util that time buses and cars with drivers will still continue.