New study will explore unified bus services for Lake and Porter counties

PORTAGE | A "huge" study looking at all aspects of public bus transportation in Lake and Porter counties could kick off by the end of the month and be ready with recommendations within a year.

The study will look at how the Regional Bus Authority should deliver services and how it can secure long-term sustainable income, according to Belinda Petroskey, transportation planner for the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission.

The study will look at the services that need to be available to get people to use public transportation and the most efficient way to deliver those services, Petroskey told NIRPC's transportation policy committee Tuesday.

The study could result in one consolidated regional service or a combination of fixed-route and demand-response services, she said.

A key component of the process will be soliciting public input on what bus transport in the two counties should look like, Petroskey said.

In a sense, the result would be a throwback to the past, she said. The goal is to unify into a truly regional bus service the fragmented municipal and private services that as a whole don't meet riders' needs, Petroskey said.

The consultants performing the study, TranSystems Inc. of Kansas City and Chicago, will report their recommendations to the RBA in less than a year, Petroskey said.

To pay for the study, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority last month approved $125,000 as the local share of a federal 80/20 matching planning grant. Those funds will combine with $495,000 secured by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., in federal highway legislation to be administered by the Federal Transportation Administration.

"We'll end up spending every penny of it," Petroskey said.

A second RDA grant approved last month earmarked $200,000, with a possible increase up to $300,000, for administrative staffing of the RBA and office space for the next two years.