Monday, April 18, 2016

More Bus Rapid Transit Lies

Reviewing the presentation by IndyGo at last week's meeting of the Municipal Corporations Committee, I see that the public was once again treated to lie after lie after lie. Naturally, the Indianapolis news media is doing nothing to report the truth to the public because it's in bed with the consultants, contractors, lobbyists and other special interest groups that plan to profit off this billion dollar plus investment. And yes, it is a billion dollar plus investment regardless of what these professional liars are telling the public.

Councilor Christine Scales, the only council member present who asked any tough questions of the IndyGo officials, confronted them with their past studies that showed other preferred corridors of development for faster, more efficient routes of public transportation. The IndyGo folks first denied other routes were planned until Scales held up the past reports she had received from them. They shifted in their seats and danced around the issue as much as they could before finally admitting those were just early iterations without as much study behind them. Those studies, incidentally, were prepared at a cost of millions of dollars to taxpayers. The highest priority line at that time would have followed I-69 from Noblesville to downtown. That line isn't even on the 5-year plan now. Why? Because IndyGo says it's pointless to do it without Hamilton County's cooperation, and officials there have no plans to enact a tax increase until years down the road after Indianapolis taxpayers have paid the freight for implementing several lines that could eventually connect with the suburban areas.

IndyGo officials couldn't deny their federal grant application for the first phase of the Red Line projected a fare box return of just 17% despite a requirement in the state law that a tax increase approved for the purpose of building BRT had to include a fare box return of at least 25%. IndyGo claims its current fixed routes generate about 20% return at the fare box, but it's para-transit and other transportation services with less ridership drives the return rate down. They said they expect much higher return rates once BRT is implemented, but they wanted to be very conservative in their estimates. When asked if fares would be raised to make up the difference when ridership of the BRT lines fail to generate a 25% return, IndyGo officials said no; rather, other adjustments in the operating system would be made. What that means is that other non-BRT, fixed routes will be eliminated to meet the 25% requirement, which means less bus coverage city-wide for the vanity of having brand spanking new BRT lines.

IndyGo officials told another big fat lie when they claimed their $7 million per mile estimate for Red Line costs was in line with other comparable cities. They falsely claimed Cleveland, which built its BRT line for more than double the cost nearly a decade ago, was a false comparison because of the complimentary infrastructure improvements that were required for it. That's one of my points. They are not counting in their estimates tens of millions of dollars in expenses that will show up in DPW's budget. A 16-year old federal study found that the average cost of BRTs constructed up to that time had come in at $13.5 million per mile. Yet IndyGo thinks it can get the job done for half the cost nearly two decades later. The IndyGo officials also claimed that BRT was relatively new at the time Cleveland implemented its line. BRTs have been around since the 1970s. Pittsburgh built the first known BRT in the U.S. in 1977. Apparently, it never occurred to any members of this council committee to ask IndyGo officials why IndyGo told them just last August the Red Line would cost $60 million, only to return a few months later with a budget estimate of $96 million.

Have you wondered why business owners along College Avenue haven't been more vocal in their opposition to the Red Line like we've seen happening in other cities around the country where BRT lines were proposed? We got our answer to that question at last week's committee meeting. They've been bribed. That's right. Grants have been promised to every business owner along College Avenue which is adversely affected during the construction phase of the Red Line. When have you ever seen this done? Were grants awarded to businesses that struggled during the I-31 construction in Hamilton County? Were grants awarded to businesses adversely affected by the drawn out construction of the Cultural Trail. Absolutely not. Low or no-interest loans are the most adversely affected business owners ever receive under such circumstances. Not here in Indianapolis.

None of this should come as a surprise. Do you know what phony non-profit has been awarded a contract by IndyGo to help develop the BRT's plan to use electric buses? That would be the same phony non-profit behind Vision Fleet, Blue Indy and other public thefts that took place under the Ballard administration. Paul Mitchell's Energy Systems Network, which is located on the same floor of the Chase Tower with all of those inter-connected racketeering non-profit organizations that collude with the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce to screw Indianapolis taxpayers any which they can. The Chamber's lobbyist, Mark Fisher, has been allowed to serve as a member of IndyGo's board by our City-County Council. Do you know of any other city in America where the chamber of commerce supports every tax increase imaginable because it has a handful of members who have figured out how to pay off our crooked politicians to steer all of the spoils of any new spending to a handful of their chosen members? Remember all of the huffing and puffing our City-County Council did over the Vision Fleet, Blue Indy and other illegal corrupt deals entered into by the Ballard administration the Chamber was behind? Yeah, it was all phony bluster. They don't give a damn how much these crooks rob the public blind.

On the tax increase itself, committee members finally figured out that the quarter percent increase isn't a take-it or leave-it proposition. Council members have authority to lower the proposed tax rate that will appear on this November's ballot. IndyGo knows its cost estimates are way off from outset so it naturally wants the maximum tax rate of a quarter percent, which will generate about $56 million a year, more than doubling the taxes that Indianapolis residents currently pay to support IndyGo. IndyGo says it will not move forward with the construction of BRTs if the referendum is voted down, but they've already been assured by the PTB that if it goes on the ballot, the electronic voting equipment that will count the referendum ballots implemented by agreement of the corrupt leaders of the two major political parties, ensures the referendum question will receive the requisite number of votes. How would the public ever know if an algorithm is placed in the voting software to rig the outcome of the referendum? And the public will hear throughout the months leading up to the election nothing but propaganda in favor of the referendum funded with your taxpayer dollars, and the management of the Indianapolis Star, IBJ, Fox 59, WTHR, WRTV and WISH-TV have all agreed to propagandize voters non-stop in exchange for the paid advertisement the proponents have already committed to spend at each of their business organizations promoting its passage.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I participated in a phone poll last night obviously sponsored by the City and/or IndyGo, largely about the Red Line. It was conducted by a gentleman whose native language was not English and who could barely make himself understood, resulting in my repeating answers several times, and correcting him when he read back two answers of mine that he represented as completely opposite of what I had said. I was on the phone with him for over 15 minutes, and from the long delays between questions and answers, it's entirely possible this poll had been outsourced to a foreign company.

The poll was relatively neutral, asking questions on both sides of the issue, until the end, when he repeated several long pro BRT statements, and then asked if any of them had changed my mind and made me feel suddenly in favor of the proposed tax hike. It's clear the city is getting nervous about their pet project and see that big pot of federal dollars slipping away from them. I guess it's not REALLY costing taxpayers because it's FEDERAL money...

Instead of wasting this money on the Red Line's big electric, WiFi-equipped buses and lane-robbing stations, it should go to the parts of the city where bus service is really needed all day long, like 38th Street and Washington Street, and other under-served neighborhoods. The folks in Broad Ripple and Fountain Square have cars and driveways and jobs that pay well enough for them to live there. But the folks on the East and West sides of town are stuck in crumbling neighborhoods where jobs are scarce, and services like groceries and drug stores are few and far between. Those folks rely on the bus all day long for the necessities of their lives, not just during peak ridership times. Put the money where it's needed (if Congress even approves it in the first place).

Anonymous said...


One day the reality is going to be admitted: Marion County is a hollowed out, dead county full of non-producers and an infrastructure that just cannot be revitalized at a realistic cost. Marion County is the new Detroit just as Castleton is the new Lafayette Square. Both political parties, more so the uber-corrupt attorney bigwigs of the Marion County/Indiana GOP, prostituted ethics and laws to create this failure. The downtown Disneyland of hideously clad cheap structures, clutter, and congestion is only sustainable by continual taxpayer dollar injections. The Indianapolis City County Council could not even stop the overt in-your-face lawlessness of the super corrupt Republican Greg Ballard, politically propped up by Jennifer Hallowell Walker and her little hubby Kyle. The naked truth is that the Indianapolis CC Council is a useless body comprised of mostly low information politicians.

Vitality, families, businesses, quality of life, are now often found far more outside Marion County than are contained in it. Don't believe me? Go drive through those counties and learn the truth for yourself. And learn also how the corrupt politicians of the suburbs (can you say "As in Westfield?" or "As in Fishers?" or "As in Carmel?") have learned how to steal from and lie to the voting taxpayers.

And now comes this new boondoggle to the Hoosier taxpayers called "Bus Rapid Transit Lines". We can all screech the truth on Advance Indiana until the Hoosier cows come home but the lying, dishonest, self-interested career politicos [many of them politically connected ATTORNEYS WHO PROSTITUTE THE VERY LAWS THEY ARE SWORN TO UPHOLD] will ram this steaming pile through. NOTHING in politics [like this rapid bus line scam] occurs that has not been privately schemed and planned out in advance.

Anonymous said...

In the 1950s, the population of the city (Center Township) was 330,000. Today it is 145,000. Smart people have been telling Indy "leadership" where to stick it for decades. Those who remain deserve what they get. There are lots of really great places to live, not only in central Indiana, but elsewhere. Follow the lead of the 60% who have abandoned Indianapolis over the last 60 years. Tell Indy's leaders what you think of them. Move out now.

sjudge said...

Horses - we need more horses

Anonymous said...

It is unclear how much the cost of this project will be assumed by the Department of Public Works. Designers have touted the construction of new sidewalks, wait stations, and of course there will be additional roadwork the cost of which may escape IndyGo's budget. And as far as IndyGo's budget, IndyGo representatives stated that $290,000 is now available to be spent on providing information to the public or in other words lobbying public opinion which is illegal to do.

As discussed, the 25% ridership threshold pertains solely to the Red Line and is not influenced by IndyGo's other operations. The pie-in-the-sky view is that the dramatic increase in passengers along the Red route will achieve this number. This view is still held despite College Avenue residents testifying as to current lack of ridership. Can those with so much time and energy invested in the project see the forest for the trees?

As far as the proposed grants to affected businesses, these would be awarded by contributions from the Chamber of Commerce business community. Yes, the same ones who lobbied their 10% out of Red Line SB 176.


Gary R. Welsh said...

As one lady testified at the hearing, most of the riders along College Avenue jump aboard south of 38th Street. The Red Line turns onto 38th Street and heads over to Meridian, completely bypassing the lower-income residents entirely who would be more likely to ride it. The Red Line is a party bus for choice riders, not transportation of necessity for transit-dependent riders.

Anonymous said...

Has everyone forgotten about the Clarian Health People Mover? It cost $40 million to build a 1.8 mile long elevated electric train. Virtually no hospital employees, let alone members of the public, use this monstrosity to travel between the Methodist and the IU campus hospitals.

Anonymous said...

The IndyGo College Avenue Passenger service revenue levels reported 12/31/15 were down 7.2% . There's going to have to be a lot of making up to do to reach their increased ridership goals for the RedLine.
How is it not a gross conflict of interest for Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce"s V.P of Government Relations and Public Policy, Mark Fisher, to also serve on boards that award grant money to, and publicly endorse each other's projects-CICP, CICF, MIBOR, IndyGo, LISC,Midtown Indy, Indy Connect, Regional Transportation Alliance, and Steering Committee for Indianapolis Public Transportation Group

Anonymous said...

Gary, Meridian Street from I-65 to 38th might possibly have the highest ridership outside of downtown. This area is full of apartments with transit dependent riders. It is far denser than College south of 38th. It sounds like you are not telling the whole story with that argument.

Gary R. Welsh said...

No, I'm not misleading 12:15. That was my point about Scales' argument about other preferred routes. Keystone was a preferred route in the earlier study. Now they say it's a horrible choice. The jog over to Meridian was added to make sure it passed by Ivy Tech's campus.

Anonymous said...

It's a waste of time talking to these city council members. Other than Scales there aren't any others even willing to hear what people have to say unless you've got something to rub between their palms.

Anonymous said...


ANON 12:56 --> Right On, Brother! I know you're talking right about all that. I can't tell you how many times I contacted and personally spoke to Indianapolis City County Councilors. They do not give a shit about anything you have to say other than to whine that they are powerless to do this or that. I spoke to both Democrats AND Republicans on the Council. Both parties are the same group working left or right aisles. Worthless.

Who needs these useless, taxpayer financed clowns? DISBAND THE INDIANAPOLIS CITY COUNTY COUNCIL, SAVE $$$ ON A BUNCHA NOTHING.

Pete Boggs said...

Indeed- disband the Sh*tty Counters!