RBA to pay for routes from Gary to five Lake County cities

BY KEITH BENMAN, Times of Northwest Indiana
kbenman@nwitimes.com

The Regional Bus Authority will pay for expanded operation of three Gary Public Transportation Corp. bus routes that run into five other communities.

The RBA board on Wednesday approved paying GPTC about $1.5 million per year to operate expanded service to Hammond, East Chicago, Merrillville, Hobart and Crown Point.

"It's not just for Gary; it's for the region," said RBA board member Charles Barbour, who spearheaded negotiations with GPTC.

The new service will start up in September and buses on the routes will carry the RBA's new EasyGo moniker.

GPTC will continue to provide drivers and will maintain the buses. The contract also calls for GPTC and the RBA to jointly market the routes.

The service will mark the RBA's first venture into fixed-route bus service in the region since it was created three years ago.

The three routes to get RBA funding and expanded service will be Route 17, the South Broadway Express; Route 20, the U.S. 30 Circulator; and Route 12, the Tri-City Connection.

GPTC runs 13 bus routes altogether.

The Tri-City Connection buses will run every hour as compared to every two hours now, according to the contract approved Wednesday. The time between South Broadway Express buses will be cut to 30 minutes from the current 45 minutes.

Running the Broadway Express purely as an express route will cut 15 minutes off travel times. It now stops on demand every block.

The three routes carry about 31 percent of GPTC's riders. Two of them are among the bus system's top fare earners, according to GPTC planning and marketing director David Wright.

All fares collected will be returned to the RBA. Fares are estimated to be about $246,493 per year. After a 10 percent increase in ridership is achieved, GPTC and the RBA will split the fares.

GPTC general manager Darryl Lampkins said the RBA's action is particularly important in light of the tax caps imposed by House Bill 1001. Those caps will force the city of Gary to slash an estimated $36.7 million from its budget.

GPTC has sought financial assistance from suburban communities for its Broadway Express and U.S. 30 Circulator for years but always has been turned down.

The RBA is looking at providing a regional bus route from Hammond to Indianapolis Boulevard in Highland and Schererville. It also wants to run express buses from Lake County to Chicago by next year.

At its meeting Wednesday, the RBA also approved a contract with current Merrillville Town Manager Tim Brown to serve as the RBA's first executive director. He will be paid $90,000 per year. Brown will step down from the Merrillville post.