Valparaiso's yet-to-launch express bus service to Chicago and the RBA's own plan for express buses appear to be on their way to a shotgun wedding.
By an 11-0 vote Wednesday, the authority gave President Dennis Rittenmeyer the green light to conduct negotiations with Valparaiso on its plans. In turn, the RBA wants to piggyback on that service and begin similar service in Lake County.
The RBA has been up and running for two years and Valparaiso has been laying plans for express buses for much of the past year. But there has been no effort to merge the two.
That changed on Tuesday, when a Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority committee balked at a request to hand $2 million over to Valparaiso to buy buses.
Instead, the RDA committee told Valparaiso officials they might grant the $2 million, but to the RBA. The authority could then buy the buses or forward the grant to Valparaiso.
Tuesday night's RBA vote was preceded by some pointed remarks from RBA members, who wondered why Valparaiso wasn't talking to them sooner.
"We've been an active member of the RBA since its inception," said Keith Matasovsky, an RBA member and director of Hammond Transit. "Now for a new system to be created, and get all this money, is a slap in the face for those systems that have existed all this time."
Valparaiso officials have defended starting up their new V-Line city bus service and express buses outside the RBA framework by saying the new authority just isn't ready to run buses.
"In this case, Valparaiso got out ahead of the bus authority and when you are ahead you are paving the way," said Stuart Summers, executive director of Valparaiso's Redevelopment Commission.
In the end, Matasovsky voted for the proposal to begin negotiations.
Rittenmeyer said the RBA may go to the RDA for additional funding to buy express buses for its own service. In June, the RDA granted the RBA $6.5 million in funding for a two-year plan that includes centralized dispatch for all area bus companies.
Rittenmeyer told his board the RBA would be the owner of any buses Valparaiso would use. Valparaiso already has plans to partner with the City of Seattle in ordering buses to speed up the process.
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