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When a company is looking for a location to build, it won’t consider a region that doesn’t have pipes to bring adequate water to a site. Similarly, it will reject an area that doesn’t have power lines to provide electricity. In other words, a business won’t locate in an area that lacks the infrastructure to bring essential resources to the project.
So why do we in central Indiana assume that businesses will choose areas that don’t have the infrastructure to get workers to jobs?
In Indianapolis, we see almost daily headlines touting new jobs coming to the adjacent counties. The problem is, those jobs only benefit the region if workers can get to them.
And that’s a challenge. According to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, of the more than 17,000 people claiming unemployment in the first quarter of this year, 59% lived in Marion County—not in the counties making headlines for job additions.
I’m certain a number of you are already muttering, “We do have the infrastructure to get people to jobs! Roads!” That statement assumes workers have cars or access to transit to get from point A to point B. That is the problem in central Indiana.
First and foremost, car ownership is out of reach for a lot of people: A third of Indianapolis households have a median income of less than $30,000 a year, meaning that the $9,000 it typically costs to own a car is too much. This statistic no doubt contributes considerably to the data revealing that more than 30,000 Marion County households do not own a car.
So why don’t those individuals use public transit? Many do. However, many do not have access as a result of our public transit’s limited reach. A recent Brookings Institution study revealed that only one-third of metro Indy jobs can be reached via transit in 90 minutes.
Many of our regional transit systems, including IndyGo, have been working hard to expand their reach and capabilities. Although there are challenges like buses not crossing county lines, these are not insurmountable. Regional cooperation and innovative solutions such as the Workforce Connectors that carry workers to industrial parks in Hendricks and Boone counties show that when we work together, we can start to bridge these gaps.
Investing in worker-delivery infrastructure goes beyond just helping employees; it also benefits employers and the economy.
A 2015 study suggested that reducing average commute times could help low-income families rise out of poverty. Additionally, a recent transit webinar included stats showing that with 87% of public transportation trips linking riders to employment and local businesses, every dollar invested in transportation networks results in a $4 return on investment.
For these reasons, central Indiana needs more reliable ways to ensure that individuals seeking employment have access to transportation options. The region needs to invest in infrastructure that is proven to deliver a strong return on investment on a regional basis, creating a system that crosses county lines without requiring a switch in transportation modes, that distributes transit resources regionally and that ensures collaboration and coordination among municipal governments and developers.
If we want to continue to see investment in central Indiana, we need to prioritize worker mobility and make it easier for workers to get to jobs, embracing a regional approach to transportation and transit that alleviates obstacles and helps to ensure that the area’s employees and employers have a bright future.•
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Gebhard is executive director of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority.
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