Northwest Indiana RBA buses could roll as soon as summer

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

The Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority could be running bus routes under its EasyGo moniker as soon as this summer.

The RBA is talking to Hammond Transit, Gary Public Transportation Corp. and North Township about taking over at least three routes that run through multiple municipalities, according to RBA President Dennis Rittenmeyer.

"It sure looks like the tide is changing in terms of interest in working with us," Rittenmeyer said last week.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the RBA may be able to take over Hammond's "Saturday Shoppers Shuttle" to the Highland Grove shopping plaza in Highland.

"With the huge deficits we're facing with the tax caps, all the communities are going to give this a look," McDermott said.

Under plans McDermott has discussed with the RBA, the shoppers shuttle would run six days a week.

The RBA is talking with GPTC about taking over its South Broadway Express and Tri-City Connection routes, Rittenmeyer said. The first route runs from the Gary Metro Center to Crown Point via Broadway. The second runs from the Metro Center to Hammond's Dan Rabin Plaza.

Rittenmeyer said those talks are ongoing. Whether or not those buses would run under the GPTC label or the RBA's EasyGo label is not settled.

GPTC General Manager Daryl Lampkins could not be reached for comment on Monday.

McDermott has long been an advocate of regionalizing bus service. He said the plans under discussion now would be just a "first step" toward regionalizing bus service.

The RBA operates under a two-year, $6.5 million grant from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority. That funding will run out in 2009. The RBA hopes to have a permanent source of funding in place by then.

North Township owns two buses that it has offered to put in service on the shoppers shuttle route, Rittenmeyer said. The township would like to extend the route to Crown Point to give people better access to health services, said Hammond Transit Director Keith Matasovsky.