INDIANAPOLIS — For many Hoosiers using the transit system is a necessity.
“I had a car situation, so now I'm on the bus,” Krishala Walker, a resident of east side Indianapolis, said. A vital line, transporting riders to help them earn a living.
"It works. It helps a lot of people that need to get to work and school, things like that,” Walker added.
But the coming of the rapid transit system, with the Red, Purple, and Blue Lines, means a revamp to the current system.
"I am curious about how it will change the routes and how people travel in the city,” David Miley, who lives on the north side, said.
Right now IndyGo buses run every 30 or 60 minutes.
IndyGo told RTV6 frequency will be halved to 15 minutes for some major routes, including north and south routes on Rural Street, Arlington Ave, and Mitthoeffer Road.
Although, there will be some significant routes that remain on a 30-minute schedule, such as College Avenue up to 38th Street or Keystone Avenue north of 62nd Street.
"I hear it's going to have its own line, like its own lane," Walker said.
As Walker referenced, routes operating along those of the Red Line will no longer be running, including College Avenue between 66th and 38th Streets and Meridian Street between 38th and 18th Streets. This change is concerning to some.
“I have set routes that I take all the time, it does concern me a little bit because it'll move me around in a different way,” Miley said.
But, for the most part, bus riders the newsroom talked to on Monday said they would go into it with an open mind.
“As long as this Red Line is in the budget of $4 or less, I'm okay with it,” Jennifer Brashears, an east side resident, said.
And good news for Brashears: Fares for both the current system and the Red Line run the same at $1.75 for one trip or $4 for a day pass.
The moral of the story? Look up your routes and the changes that you can expect once the Red Line is up and running.
To see the changes you can expect this fall on a map, click here.
The Red Line is expected to be open by fall of this year; the Purple and Blue Lines are expected to be open by 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Here are some other notable changes of the current bus system, per IndyGo’s Director of Public Relations Lauren Day:
- The route on 16th Street will become 15-minute service, currently only every 60 minutes.
- The route on 10th will improve to 15-minute service, currently every 20.
- The routes N/S on Arlington, Mitthoeffer, and Rural will become 15-minute service, currently only every 30-60 minutes.
- On the south side, several routes are moving to 30-minute service from 60-minutes and greater on weekends/
- Every route will run every day, some routes do not run at all on both Saturday and Sundays currently.
- Extending hours of service as well.
Click here for the changes you’ll see once all three lines are running (on a map).
