IndyGo CEO Inez Evans on legislative challenges, the Purple Line and what's ahead in 2022

By Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star

After another whack-a-mole year defined by unpredictability, 2022 is shaping up to be no different for IndyGo.

The public transportation agency has big plans this year, notwithstanding the uncertainty around the influence of COVID-19 on materials and labor.

"I think it's the biggest bubble out there that has the largest amount of concern that can have a ripple effect upon all the projects that we have on our books," President and CEO Inez Evans told IndyStar in an interview Wednesday. "We have so much on our plate."

Of concern, too, are potential legislative challenges that lie ahead.

Evans became CEO in August 2019, just before the launch of the city's first bus rapid transit line, the Red Line. This year, she'll oversee the construction of the Purple Line.

She sat down with IndyStar virtually to discuss the trials and triumphs of 2021, as well as what lies ahead for IndyGo in 2022 — the good and the foreboding.

The legislature

2022 presents IndyGo's third go-around with challenges in the Indiana General Assembly.

In the previous two legislative sessions, lawmakers introduced bills seeking to restrict bus rapid transit expansion until IndyGo raised a percentage of its revenues through private dollars, and make IndyGo, rather than utility companies, pay for utility relocations for its projects. After drawn-out debate, neither of these came to fruition.

This year, Senators Jack Sandlin and Michael Young introduced a bill that would prohibit future dedicated bus lanes outside the Mile Square, effectively tanking the Blue Line project, the city's third bus rapid transit line that would run along Washington Street between Cumberland and the Indianapolis International Airport.

"It's disappointing," Evans said. "But, you know, we're hopeful, as we always are, that the voice of the people" — the 59% of Marion County residents who voted for the referendum in 2016 for a public transit tax — "will be heard."

The Blue Line project would use $100 million of federal funds that require a dedicated-mass transit component. The $220 million project would include the bus line as well as 10 miles of new or upgraded sidewalks, 500 new or upgraded ADA curb ramps, nearly 20 miles of road paving and 65 new or upgraded traffic signals.

"It's not about IndyGo, it's not about what IndyGo is losing; it is about the community," Evans said.

In explaining his bill, Sandlin also referenced the "community" — that although infrastructure improvements are needed, he views the cost as too high to the "traveling public" on the city's major east-west corridor.

"What price do you put on the community?" he previously told IndyStar.

"I think everybody's got their own version of the 'community,' but IndyGo's community is all of Marion County," Evans said. "I know what the price of this project will cost the community, and it's $100 million."

It's unclear what could be done on the planned Blue Line corridor if the bill passes, but it couldn't be a bus rapid transit project or even an "enhanced corridor" project, both of which require an element of dedicated transit space to be eligible for federal funding.

The plan for 2022

That piece of legislation does not, however, impact the Red or Purple Lines.

One of the biggest wins in Inez's eyes in 2021 was securing $81 million in federal grant money for the construction of the Purple Line and its associated infrastructure improvements.

"That's like the big cherry on top of the sundae," she said.

The contracts have been awarded, and the project will break ground in 2022. Work is projected to start on 38th Street in the spring and move east.

"For me, that is our biggest thing," Inez said. "We're just so excited to begin to make this come alive for our community."

IndyGo also plans to build a new bus garage at its East Campus on 33rd Street, complete with a new workforce training center that will include a bus-driving simulator. When renovations to the East Campus administrative building are complete, this building will become IndyGo's main headquarters, though some staff will remain at the West Washington Street campus. The mobility services facility on West Michigan Street will also see upgrades, including a new vehicle storage space.

And there are hints of some brand new projects.

By the end of 2022, there will be discussions about building a park-and-ride, as well as a transit hub on the east side. IndyGo currently has just one transit hub, the Julia Carson Transit Center downtown.

"We have a number of routes that navigate on the east side, and we want to begin to be more efficient with how we manage those services," Inez said.

The agency also hopes to complete 90% of the design for the Blue Line by early 2023, absent any delays due to legislative challenges.

On the operations side, IndyGo is continuing to makeup for its bus driver shortfall — a problem transit agencies across the country have been experiencing.

By October, the shortage forced IndyGo to adjust some route schedules to preserve on-time service.

At the time, IndyGo said it needed to hire 10-15 drivers a month for the foreseeable future to get back to a comfortable spot. The agency started a "Why I Drive" promotional campaign, raised wages and established a mentorship program to attract and retain operators.

Heading into 2022, IndyGo is seeing a steady graduation of 5-10 operators each month, Evans said. They budgeted for about 500 operators, and currently have 425.

The buses

In 2020, Inez gave the electric buses it purchased from manufacturer BYD a failing grade.

In cold or hot weather, they performed far short of the vehicle range promised in their contract.

But in 2021, BYD opened a service center in Indianapolis, spent its own money studying the problems with the buses, rehabilitating them and installing inductive charging pads at IndyGo's North College Avenue charging station.

"There were some bumps in the road" getting that North College charging installed, she said — it did not happen as soon as IndyGo wanted, due to supply chain constraints.

There are still range issues, and until those are solved, IndyGo is withholding its promised payment to BYD of more than $30 million. But a second charging pad is planned for IndyGo's South Madison Avenue charging station in 2022. BYD is funding a total of three charging stations along the Red and Purple Lines.

"Because my last charger is not installed yet, I'm going to give them a B," she said. "They've really progressed. And I believe we're inching closer to that A rating, once that second charger has been installed. It is a phenomenal turnaround."

In late 2021, IndyGo chose to stay with BYD in ordering 30 new electric buses for the Purple Line.

The ridership figures

At its lowest point, in April 2020, overall IndyGo fixed-route ridership was under 40% of what it was in April 2019, according to board reports. Since then, the figures have been slowly climbing.

At 2021's peak in July, overall ridership was almost 60% of what it was in July 2019. In September, ridership dipped back down to about 46%. Nationally, according to quarterly reports from the American Public Transportation Association, bus ridership in July was 56% of what it was in July 2019, and in September, 60%.

While these are averages, data can vary widely by city. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Agency has seen ridership between 38% and 42% of 2019 levels during these months, according o the APTA; Los Angeles County MTA, the high 50s.

Transit experts are predicting a three to five-year recovery for mass transit ridership, Inez said. In the meantime, one way IndyGo is trying to encourage that rebound is by outfitting its buses with ultraviolet air-disinfecting technology.

IndyGo's contract with Lumin-Air will cost up to $1.6 million to outfit its entire fleet, 376 buses, with the devices and maintain them over the next five years. Installation is ongoing this month.

"What we're looking at overall is the ridership experience now," Inez said. "The BRT system, you know, that focuses on both the rider experience and ridership, because it's looking to make it more fast, more frequent, more reliable. ... I don't want to hammer too much on ridership, ridership, ridership. But it all goes in tandem together."

Contact IndyStar transportation reporter Kayla Dwyer at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

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