CIRTA Meeting

On Friday morning, September 26 (following the panel vote) we attended the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority (CIRTA) meeting held at the Grand Hall in the Indiana State Fair Grounds. We gained insight and met others involved in mass transit including; Ehren Bingaman; Executive Director of CIRTA, Jen Thomas of Jen Thomas PR and Kim Irwin; Executive Director of Alliance for Health Promotion.

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Panel Approves Commuter Rail Plan

On Friday morning, September 26 the Indianapolis Regional Transportation Council voted in favor of a diesel light rail. The plan is to have the Noblesville to downtown Indianapolis route up and running by late 2012.



WISH TV 8, FOX 59 News and other Indianapolis media covered the vote. Read news coverage (WTHR 13)

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'Dream Team' Invitation

To further help define the problem, and build the case for mass transportation in Central Indiana, we are inviting collaborators to share their expertise and input. The Dream Team will include; content experts, front liners and users of public transportation.

The invitation took the form of a booklet outlining the goals and objectives of the project.

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Power Map

One constant finding is that IndyGo is a very poorly funded system. Indianapolis was ranked 99th (out of 100 largest cities in the U.S.) in bus system size. 'The 2008 Sustainable City Rankings' ranks Indianapolis 44th out of 50 U.S. cities and 43rd in metro transit ridership. Read the report

We created a Power Map to determine who's at stake.

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All Aboard...

One of our field research included riding an IndyGo bus to the heart of downtown Indianapolis. We documented our observations and experience.

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Bus signs identify routes but outside of downtown Indianapolis they fail to post routes times. If you don't have a schedule you may be waiting up to 90 minutes for the bus to arrive.

Waiting...

Ready to ride!

IndyGo doesn't have a cohesive visual language. Schedules are different in design. The system map (shown above right) shows different colors for routes but buses and bus stop signs don't match route colors.

Exploring the bus interior.

One of the stops downtown.

An ICE bus in front of an IndyGo bus.

IndyGo buses are considerably smaller and less comfortable than the ICE buses. The Indianapolis Monthly featured and article about the ICE buses. Read the article; 'Class Transit'

26 different bus routes stop at this location (Ohio St. between Meridian and Pennsylvania.) During rush hour the added buses and cars make it difficult to navigate. This congestion results in many riders missing their bus.

During school hours bicycle stands at IUPUI are full.

Indianapolis has improved bicycle and pedestrian paths to connect its neighborhoods. Two paths are the Monon Trail and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

Ongoing Research

Our research is comprised of historical documentation, reports, articles, studies, surveys, public forums, and other tools available to learn more about public transportation and further define the problem. Our focus is Central Indiana but we are also looking at the history of mass transit in the U.S. and other countries.

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What's In A Name?

A few weeks into the process we decided to name our collaborative effort. We came up with a list of names. We narrowed it down to three names and ultimately chose 'Passenger'. What attracted us to the name Passenger is its meaning; 'A person who travels in a vehicle without participating in its operation.' Although we are not operating the vehicle we, as passengers, are a vital component of its purpose and function.

We also liked how the name poised us as passengers on the creative process.

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Is This Ride Really Worth It?

We identified cited facts to build the case for mass transportation in Central Indiana. The facts were prioritized by order of importance and relevancy.

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Cited facts:

• Indianapolis is the 12th largest city in america, and the fastest growing metropolitan area in the midwest. (US Census Bureau)

• In the last four years, the cost of commuting in Central Indiana has more than doubled. (Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority)

• The majority of the current IndyGo bus service was conceived for the 'transit dependent;' it was never intended as a legitimate option to driving a car. (Rebuilding Public Transportation in Indianapolis (pdf))

• IndyGo is the most poorly funded bus system in the midwest (Nuvo.net, Indianapolis is missing the bus), to which there is no alternative for mass transit.

• Mass transit options are key in attracting the next generational wave to live and work in a community. (Crain's Detroit Busisness, Stores, transit, walkability: To attract millennials, appeal to their desires)

• Mass transit availability is also a consideration for corporations wishing to relocate. (The Tampa Tribune, Slow down! Mass Transit may take effect)

• The ultimate problem of implementing effective mass transit in Central Indiana is deciding how to pay for it. (IndyStar, Mass transit's catch? Paying for it)

We did another 'why—what's stopping us' analysis based on the cited facts.

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The 'Why—What's Stopping Us' Analysis

We applied this process to lead us to a broader, more strategic challenge. We were able to further determine the goals and objectives of our topic.

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Defining the Problem

Following the challenges and opportunities brainstorming session we started defining the problem by identifying patterns in our findings.

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Challenges and Opportunities

After our initial research we conducted a brainstorming session to discuss the challenges and opportunities of mass transportation.

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Hello!

This is Passenger and we are an initiative to explore transportation options for Central Indiana.

This blog will document our process. Stay tuned!