Building a bus system that works — with Jerome Horne
In this episode, we speak with Jerome Horne, ridership experience specialist for IndyGo, about Indianapolis's ongoing transit transformation and some of the key elements in building a reliable and effective bus system. Indianapolis makes a great case study for car-dependent cities looking to overhaul under-performing transit systems or even start from scratch.
Some of the topics we cover in this episode include:
Reasons to prioritize the bus over the train
The ridership vs. coverage dilemma
Why frequency means freedom
Getting the details right: bus stop spacing, amenities, and schedules
Why grids are better than hub-and-spoke systems
How to do public engagement that actually reaches the people who use (or would use) transit (and how Indianapolis did it)
Why it matters who you send to public meetings in different neighborhoods
How this transit makeover got funded (and why it succeeded where other cities' transit measures failed)
The Red Line, Indy's first BRT (bus rapid transit) line that launched in September 2019: what has gone well and what hasn't
Challenges so far, relating to: running the US's first-ever all-electric BRT fleet, introducing a new fare system, and finding enough drivers to staff the expanded system
Should transit be free to use?
IndyGo's new CEO, transit agency culture, and why it's important for transit decision-makers to use they system they run
Transit-related book recommendations!
Find Jerome on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Check out the incredible International Micro Museum of Transit, curated entirely by Jerome. And if you're up to it, take a peek inside New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens (you don't have to be a teen to join).
*Note: We had some issues with the audio files on this episode. You might notice the occasional brief skipping. :( We think it's still very listenable, but we apologize for the less-than-ideal sound on this one!
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