South Shore wants to run on Central Time

CHESTERTON - The recent move to include all of Indiana in Daylight Saving Time has been met with sometimes tepid, but always mixed reaction throughout the state.

Officials with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District have a bigger issue with the switch than most.

"We're rather unique in that we're the only commuter rail system that splits time zones," NICTD spokesman John Parsons said Friday. "I think it's the single greatest point of confusion for someone entering the system in South Bend."

By a unanimous vote Friday, the NICTD board approved a resolution asking the St. Joseph County Commission to seek a switch that would place the county in the Central Time zone.

The proposal means South Bend - the eastern terminus of the South Shore - would be on the same time as stations throughout the balance of the 90-plus-mile railway for the entire year.

South Bend is on the same time as Michigan City, Chesterton, Gary and Chicago only during daylight time. That will change, however, when the entire state begins to observe daylight time. If St. Joseph County isn't moved into the Central Time Zone, it will always be an hour ahead of Chicago and the rest of Northwest Indiana.

The U.S. Congress this week passed a bill expanding daylight time from March to November next year.

By changing to Central Time, St. Joseph County would continuously adhere to the same time as the bulk of the South Shore service area.

"We've even taken to listing two different times on our schedules," Parsons said. "This would get everybody on the same clock."

NICTD Board President and St. Joseph County resident David Niezgodski said the majority of his constituents favor a switch to Central Time.

"There couldn't be a better place for NICTD to take a position," he said. "It makes the most sense to opt to go with the same time as Chicago."

Also Friday, the board said it plans to add 119 parking spaces to what has become the most visibly congested station on the South Shore route.

The Dune Park station at U.S. 12 and Indiana 49, north of Chesterton, has 392 parking spaces in two lots.

NICTD plans to clear several acres east of the eastern-most lot and add spaces. Officials are working with the National Park Service to make sure no protected or indigenous species are wrongfully displaced during the project.

Each day during the week, commuter vehicles are parked on grassy patches and highway shoulders at and across U.S. 12 from the station.

The situation has become a headache for both NICTD and officials from the Indiana Department of Transportation, NICTD General Manager Gerald Hanas said.

"Even Michigan people are using Dune Park now," Hanas said. "I think due to gas prices and congestion, we're seeing a lot more riders."

According to Parsons, weekday passenger ridership has gone up for the period of July 2004 through June by nearly 1.5 percent over the same time period the previous year. Weekend and holiday ridership has gone up 6.2 percent in that same time period.

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