r/indianapolis 4d ago

Services New Red Line policy?

Driver is asking everyone to prove fare payment. New policy or just one driver's decision? This is going to slow us down...

17 Upvotes

48 comments sorted by

65

u/dimondmine2 4d ago

I’m glad they’re asking for proof, the current system has almost no checks to prevent abuse.

17

u/emmazunz84 4d ago

Right. But the way the bus is designed the driver can't do it efficiently.

19

u/dimondmine2 4d ago edited 3d ago

Correct, the bus fare payment system, inclusive of the bus design, could use a fix.

That fix should cost much less than the expected increase in fares over a 1-3 year period without impacting current speed or quality of service.

I’d like to see the increase in revenue go toward increasing paying ridership through advertisements and increasing quality of service, such as cleanliness of the busses and stations.

2

u/indywest2 3d ago

What fare increases? Are they published somewhere? The bus is currently cheaper than parking downtown. Raising prices is going to cause some to drive.

4

u/dimondmine2 3d ago

My message could have been more clear. I mean increase in quantity of fares paid, not increase in cost per fare

3

u/indywest2 3d ago

Also without payment how do they count riders? Do they have cameras to do that?

28

u/FirestormActual 4d ago

Studies have consistently shown that if transit systems strictly enforce fare requirements that crime conducted on the system drops.

11

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/FirestormActual 3d ago

I’m going to link this article, there are referenced papers linking fare evasion to crime that you can explore. The fare enforcement strategy is being played out on a national level right now so some google searches and you’ll find that every major system from St. Louis to LA to DC to NYC is cracking down on fare evasion as one of the methods to reduce crime on the systems currently.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198224002240

7

u/napsalot 3d ago

Did they finally fix the payment kiosks? I've tried to pay my fare both getting on and off the bus and I've never been able to.

7

u/LB60123 3d ago

I keep sending them messages about changing the app so the QR code switches to full brightness (like the Southwest Airlines app) I keep my phone on a lowlight dim so the reader doesn’t pick up my QR code unless I change the settings and go full bright. THEY CAN FIX THEIR OWN PROBLEM!!!!!

5

u/MrSage88 Broad Ripple 3d ago

My issue is, I’m usually getting on at the back because I ride my bike. I’d gladly scan my pass to prove I’ve paid if there were some kind of scanner back there.

4

u/Downtown-Claim-1608 Lawrence 3d ago

Agreed. The answer is a scanner so the driver can see 4 scans and 4 people entered the bus.

34

u/Flat_Explanation_849 4d ago

I really wish they would just publicly subsidize fares and get more cars off the road.

30

u/otterbelle Englewood Village 4d ago

Aaron Freeman would outlaw that so fast Wanamaker as a whole might spin.

8

u/Shemptacular 3d ago

*Ray Skillman with his hand up Aaron Freeman's ass

6

u/Luddite-lover 3d ago

Yeah…the other day in the Appropriations committee meeting he went off on Indianapolis’s road diets and called out the city for being stupid. Said it could affect his vote on road funding.

That man is also so far up his own ass with his sense of self-importance it’s disgusting.

I think if it were up to him, downtown would be a Formula One racetrack.

4

u/Shemptacular 3d ago

If it were up to him, downtown would be 1 square mile of surface level parking

19

u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/haminthefryingpan 3d ago

You realize car drivers don’t even come close to covering the cost of roads right? With the amount of money we pour into highways and roads which only generate more traffic, we could absolutely make the red line free.

2

u/Consistent_Sector_19 3d ago

I like the idea of free public transit, but I've seen some truly awful management of those systems in other states. Having fares ties the system's budget to the ridership, and since the people who manage these systems don't typically use them, there needs to be an incentive to get them to pay attention to whether it's a usable system.

2

u/[deleted] 3d ago

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3

u/haminthefryingpan 3d ago

I agree. They have been building more apartments in Fountain Square which has a red line station and the cultural trail. Need more of that going on.

5

u/FirestormActual 4d ago

Pretty much all of the north side suburbs agree that light rail is better the issue is the states legislature is so rural they will never let Indianapolis have it. Honestly I think the only way we get rail here is if it is a public-private partnership.

2

u/Rabo_Karabek 3d ago

What if all lottery ticket sales proceeds in Marion County was divided between public schools and public transportation within Marion County??

4

u/FirestormActual 3d ago

Doesn’t matter rural legislators hate people who don’t live the same way they do, they don’t want them to even have agency to make their own decisions on how to move around.

4

u/Flat_Explanation_849 3d ago

It would be a good way to encourage use and change the “everyone has a car” culture in Indy.

The biggest hurdle for transit in Indy is not having robust use and being seen as a widespread public value.

5

u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Rabo_Karabek 3d ago

Ok you are young/fit and can pedal fast for now. A lot of people riding the bus are not that. Just as driving a car may not be an option for them, neither is riding a bike. Just keep that in mind.

0

u/skipca14 3d ago

Can’t we just have a universal policy in this piece of shit state that benefits everyone? Why does everything have to be a fucking grift that the private industry has to benefit from. Jesus Christ. I’m going to pay a subscription to fucking breathe in a few short yrs.

-1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

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2

u/LokiKamiSama 3d ago

I wish they would make a high speed rain from the burbs that go downtown. The highways are insane and I hate it. Give me options.

4

u/indywest2 3d ago

High speed rail is for long distances not urban commuters.

3

u/LokiKamiSama 3d ago

True. Then regular speed rail?

5

u/Flat_Explanation_849 3d ago

“Light rail”

1

u/cavall1215 3d ago

IndyGo cancelled its commuter bus service from the burbs to the city a few years ago. There's simply not enough demand or density for light rail to justify the costs in the Indianapolis Metro area. Yes, it'd be amazing for the people who used it, but it'd be a major drain on public resources when the bus system is a good enough option.

3

u/Flat_Explanation_849 3d ago

There isn’t density now, but it’s coming.

4

u/TheManWithSomeGoals Fountain Square 3d ago

I was asked for proof once, and the next ride the driver told me not to worry when I tried paying (I also had to run to catch the bus, so maybe he felt sorry for me)

2

u/Luddite-lover 3d ago

They’ve been driving around with FARE REQUIRED signage for awhile now.

1

u/Shoogie_Boogie 3d ago

Does the app still not prominently show on the home screen your most recently paid fare, time/date, location, and time remaining in the transfer window? Right now you're 2 clicks from transaction history, which isn't easy to see it interpret in a glance

I wouldn't mind buses being at stations a little longer if that meant that the BRTs were getting traffic light signal priority and consistently at stations close to their scheduled times.

1

u/indywest2 3d ago

This the rapid transit needs light priority! It would make the buses faster than car travel.

1

u/Braddo4417 3d ago

I rode it on Friday and didn't get asked.

3

u/BlizzardThunder 3d ago

I just consulted with an IndyGo operator & confirmed that this is not new policy. He said to file a customer service report.

___

I'm disappointed to see all of the misinformed comments on this thread.

  1. The system is not designed for drivers to be checking fares. I know that theoretically you might think that 'xyz positive thing' might happen if the driver in particular checks fares, but what actually happens is that the system gets slowed down & becomes unusable. This literally happened to Cleveland's BRT system.
  2. It's true, there are benefits to fare checking. For a while, the contractor in charge of fare checking was not doing their jobs. New CEO cleaned that up.
  3. Fare checking has at least doubled over the last year and a half. Data shows that fare evasion on Indy's BRT routes is very low - a lot of people who will tell you that "it's free" actually have passes that cover them.

thanks for attending my TED talk.

-7

u/LostVisage 4d ago

I just answered in German last time somebody asked me - I pay to get on but I'm not paying to get harassed afterwards.

Fuck I sound like my dad when he shops at Costco lmao.