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Have you ever visited other large cities such as San Francisco or Chicago, and marveled at how well you get around without needing to own a car. Then you hop on a plane and return to Indiana, the land of lackluster public transportation. Indianapolis invests less than a third of what similarly sized metropolitan areas spend for public transportation.
Enter CIRTA and Indy Connect, two organizations who are working to connect Indianapolis in ways it has never been connected before. Their ambitious plan calls for efficient public transportation to connect Indianapolis and the outlying counties. They would do this through a network of rapid transit busses, light rail, pedestrian walkways, and carpooling initiatives. Indiana Living Green has signed their petition letting our legislators know that this is important. We recommend you visit their website, become informed, and do the same (before the apocalypse preferably).
If a person with a 20-mile round trip commute switches to mass transportation they cut their CO2 emissions by an average of 4,800 lbs annually. Studies show a positive relationship between transit options and property values, just look at the Monon Trail for example. Young Americans are demanding alternative ways of traveling from point A to B. DOT statistics show that Americans in their 20s drove 7.7 percent fewer miles in the last decade. The American dream no longer includes a car for many young people. Gas prices are unpredictable, and generally always on the rise, repair costs and insurance can be crippling, and then you have traffic to contend with. Many people would rather skip the headache.
