Riding the Bus - IndyGo

As I wrote this I was in London working and having a bit of holiday. I wrote from an open-windowed cafe, where people hurried past back to work, or were off to the next shop, or were headed to grab a mid-afternoon tea and cake. The city was full of people in motion.

As you can imagine having a car here in a major city like London is expensive. Though my primary means of transportation had been by-foot, I rode the bus more in the UK in this trip than I ever had back home. It's just one of things people do here to get around. Because I don't own a car in Indianapolis, being in London has caused me to reflect on other transportation alternatives in Indy, namely the bus.

Here are few things to first consider about Indianapolis’ public bus system.

The Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo) has a hub-and-spoke ("loop") system. This means all of the thirty or more routes lead downtown to a hub. From this hub one can board any number of routes to other parts of the city. Check out IndyGo's website for which routes will best serve your needs. Trips are just $1.75, which means this can cut down on any type of commuting. And if you like to bike some of your trip and then get on the bus, all buses are equipped with easy-to-load bike racks.

For those who commute to or from the suburbs, IndyGo lists many of the resources available on how to get to your work place.

What's exciting is IndyGo has experienced increased ridership throughout 2012. This is exciting for two reasons. One, it demonstrates that Indianapolis citizens are interested in car alternatives (meaning less fuel consumption and less city congestion). Two, it means an increase in budgets are necessary to keep up public transit needs (see what IndyGo has to say about the future here). Increased budgets would allow for cross-town travel implementation and more direct and efficient routes.

A number of ways exist to purchase bus fares. Have exact change if boarding the bus with no ticket, head to their Customer Service Center on 34 N. Delaware Street to buy tickets, or go online to IndyGo's website to order fares.

Be proactive and take advantage of our bus system in Indianapolis. Be sure to look for new bus and transit implementations in the coming days.