The Indy Express Bus from Fishers to Downtown will end service this spring. The announcement comes only two months after Carmel ended it’s express routes.
Decreasing demand, infrequent trips and rising costs are the main reasons being cited for suspending bus service from Fishers to Indianapolis starting May 1.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness sent a letter to the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority terminating funding that includes a paying for a rider parking lot and subsidizing expenses when ridership was low.
CIRTA, Fishers and Miller Transportation were working together to keep the service running. The Indy Express route started in 2007 with a nonrenewable federal grant and at one point enjoyed $2 fares and eight round-trip options, now it cost $5 with only two trips each way a day.
Cassie Stockamp, chair of the CIRTA board of directors, says public support is critical if mass transit is to succeed in central Indiana.
"People are going to have buy into it, we're going to have to understand that this is not a poor man's service," says Stockamp. "This is a service that we all need to use and enjoy."
Transportation officials are working to develop future mass transit ideas like rapid bus systems or a light rails but those options are years away.
For people in the northeast suburbs with limited commuting options, CIRTA points to its rideshare program, Commuter Connect, as an alternative.
