By JOSEPH S. PETE, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Few parking spaces are left by late morning near the IndyGo bus stop at Greenwood Park Mall.
Evening trips back to Greenwood are standing room-only.
Public transit operators are fielding scores of calls a day about bus schedules and fares.
As gas prices hover near $4 a gallon, more people have opted to take the bus to work, doctor's appointments and shopping, public transit officials said.
Access Johnson County, the county's bus system, had its highest single month of usage in March. And use of the Greenwood route of IndyGo, the Indianapolis mass transit company, was nearly 30 percent greater in April than a year ago.
Transit officials expect May figures to surpass April's.
More than 5,000 people ride the Greenwood route into downtown Indianapolis every day.
"People are using public transportation for the first time," Access Johnson County director Becky Allen said. "With gas prices the way they've been, people are beginning to see the value in it."
Greenwood resident John Dosch has taken the bus from Greenwood Park Mall to downtown Indianapolis since he started working for state government two years ago.
He said he's been largely insulated from gas price hikes because he doesn't have to drive to work. He fills up his Honda Civic once every two weeks, he said.
Every morning, he listens to his iPod or catches up on sleep while fellow passengers read, listen with headphones on or just watch the city pass by.
Evening buses are more crowded because fewer routes run then and people leave for work at different times in the morning.
Dosch said he's had a good experience with public transit, although the evening buses back often run late and seldom have open seats.
IndyGo soon will launch an express commuter bus service from Greenwood into downtown that's expected to make it possible for more people to commute. When the commuter express launches, Access Johnson County plans to run connecting lines from Franklin through the Whiteland area to the drop-off point.
An existing IndyGo express route in Fishers, which has been funded by a federal grant, has been full and had to turn people away.
To widen its coverage area, Johnson County transit officials are considering an express route from Edinburgh Premium Outlets to the yet-to-be-determined drop-off site of the IndyGo express service in Greenwood.
People from Edinburgh and Columbus have had interest in a connecting express route, Allen said. The service would be similar to the express route that Access Johnson County runs daily from Franklin Church of Christ, 3600 N. Morton St., to Greenwood Park Mall.
In the meantime, both IndyGo and Access Johnson County have received numerous calls asking what times the buses run, where they go, what it costs and how to use the systems.
Calls have been up at least 25 percent at Access Johnson County, and the three operators have to juggle callers on hold for about two hours every morning, Allen said.
IndyGo bus driver Jose Gonzales has to explain to many new users that the bus doesn't stop where they want to go. Many walk or bike several blocks to get to Greenwood bus stops at the mall and Kmart, he said.
"Since gas went above $2.50 a gallon, the use has been steadily climbing," he said. "More people aren't using it because of the schedules, routes or clean buses. It's entirely the gas prices. During rush hour, it can be jam-packed."
Some commuters resist the idea of taking the bus because they don't want to wake up earlier to go to work, but many bus drivers are up by 3:30 a.m. so they can ferry people to work. Rising early is a small sacrifice when you consider how much you can save on gas, downtown parking and maintenance costs, Gonzales said.
Most new users are looking for a way to get to work, but many are elderly people who use the bus to go to doctor or hairdresser appointments, Allen said. In the past, they often relied on family members to take them on errands, she said.
Bus usage should continue to increase as more people see how $4-a-gallon gas eats into their household budgets, she said. A $3.50 day pass on Access Johnson County costs less than a gallon of gas, she said.
"This is the Midwest, and many people never took the bus unless they had to," Allen said. "The last bus you took was the school bus here in Indiana. But people are starting to realize that public transit is an option they have to use."
Southside resident Jason Sutt, who attends a private high school downtown, takes IndyGo's Greenwood line every day to school. He has put off getting his driver's license and decided to go to college at Vincennes University so he wouldn't have far to travel.
"Gas prices are outrageous," he said. "I'm only 18, but I remember when it cost $1.85 a gallon. I really feel that this is going to lead us to another Great Depression. We have to have some alternative."