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The Great Green Hope – The Ways and Means to Transit Becoming Reality

Published: January 16, 2012 by Ryan Puckett Categories: Civic Engagement, Sustainability Comments: 0 The Great Green Hope – The Ways and Means to Transit Becoming Reality

If you are reading this blog post, I am making a few assumptions about you.

  1. You are a 20, 30 or 40-something living in or near Indianapolis.
  2. You are passionate about Indy and you’re excited about its future.
  3. You are interested in Indianapolis becoming a more sustainable city and believe a more robust transit system would be a huge step in the right direction.
  4. You are related to me or you are an old friend and are reading this just to be nice.

Whether or not any of these are true, the effort to improve mass transit in Central Indiana is at a critical point and I’ve written about it several times in my blog posts. Despite all that’s been written and said and done, there still seems to be some confusion about what’s happening.

In an effort to cut through the clutter and expand on what you see in the news, let me attempt to explain. This post will be part civics lesson and part call to action!

During the first week of January, State Representative and House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Espich proposed a bill for a mass transit plan (HB 1073).

HB 1073 includes the following:

  1. A method for the public to express their support for transit funding through a referendum. In other words, you get to vote whether or not you support this idea at the ballot box in November.
  2. Local Home Rule. In other words, the local government (in Indy that would be the City/County Council and Mayor) to make decisions in the best interests of the people it serves.
  3. A method to partially fund mass transit through the flexibility to increase a local option income tax to become a dedicated funding source. The bill currently calls for a 0.2% tax increase. Transit advocates and the Central Indiana Transit Task Force recommend a 0.3% tax increase. As radio personality Amos Brown so eloquently stated on his program recently, 0.3% equals approximately ONE $5 Subway Foot long sandwich per month!

If you are wondering why this has to go through the Indiana General Assembly and are in the “Just Build it Already!” camp, there is no means to fund a mass transit plan and even the largest city in Indiana has to get authority to create a dedicated funding source.

Anyway, the House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on January 5 from several organizations and citizens who stated their support for an improved transit plan. There will likely be another hearing after which the committee will vote whether or not to bring the bill before the rest of the House of Representatives.

At this time, what’s needed is for you to contact your legislator. As I wrote last year, sometimes you gotta make sausage. I’m happy to tell you that this sausage making process couldn’t be any easier. All you have to do is call or email the legislators on the committee and ask them to vote in favor of HB 1073 in the Ways and Means Committee. If you happen to be a constituent of the Representative you call, you should mention that as well. (If you want names, emails and phone numbers, just contact me at ryan@two-21.com and I’ll forward you details.)

What happens if HB 1073 passes out of Committee? The House will then debate the bill on the floor and perhaps there will be amendments. Ultimately there will be a vote and then the bill will go to the Senate for a similar process. As you are aware, when the Governor signs the bill, it becomes law.

Getting approval from the House Ways and Means Committee is a critical first step in the effort to see more buses around town – buses that will come more often and run earlier and later. This is the first step to see bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors established along Washington Street, Keystone Avenue, College Avenue and 38th Street. Eventually (and I mean SEVERAL years later) these routes could potentially become light rail lines. This is also the first step to build a commuter rail running from Noblesville to downtown and eventually south to Greenwood and Franklin.

What else can you do? If you haven’t signed the petition to support this endeavor, you can do so by visiting cirta.us and signing the online petition. If you own a business or run a non-profit, or if you volunteer with a non-profit, encourage the owners or the board to sign a resolution. Indyhub passed one and my business did too!

If you want to stay on top off all this, Twitter is a great place to do it. You can follow @cirta_us, @icatransit or #INTransit. Also Chris Sikich at The Indianapolis Star has been reporting on much of this and his handle is @ChrisSikich.

There is one more thing to do – be patient. I’ve been asked by several friends when they can expect to ride a train around town. My answer is, “Not for several years.” This is a process. First we have to get authority to create a dedicated funding, then we have to pass an actually plan, then we have to purchase more equipment, hire more people and build infrastructure. Realistically, I think we’re looking at 2014 as a best-case scenario for bus system upgrades and 2015 or 2016 before you see other parts of the plan become reality.

Got any comments or questions? Just sound off below.

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Ryan Puckett is principal of two21 LLC, a communication firm with a focus on providing creative content, advocacy and communications strategy for all things pertaining to sustainability. Ryan is an Indiana University-Bloomington grad and alum of Northwestern University’s School of Journalism. He lives in Broad Ripple with his wife, son and dog, is a veteran of 160+ Phish shows and is a long-suffering Cubs fan. Contact Ryan at ryan@two-21.com or on Twitter @rmpuckett.

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