Good evening, everybody.

I'm Chairman Derrick Evans, and we're going to begin tonight's municipal corporations committee.

Um, we're gonna begin with introductions from my colleagues, and then do I need to uh in USAF on the in here, we're gonna be interested as well.

Introduce yourselves okay, all right.

We'll begin with introductions to our left.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Brian, district 25.

Good evening, everyone, thank you, Mr.

Chair Key Grace, District 9 on the East, not very far from here.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Kristen Jones, District 18.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Good evening, all Dr.

Carlos Perkins, District Six, my township.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, you do number one, Jesse Brown, District 13.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman, District 18.

This is my district.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, colleagues.

Really excited.

Um, first, I want to thank you all for coming.

I know there was quite a bit of traffic.

It took in an hour and five minutes to get here from the West side.

So this is a part of the initiative that the council does in trying to move our committee meetings out into the public.

It's getting it out of that city county building, which can be oftentimes difficult for people to get into and find parking.

Um, so we're excited to be here at Indigo hosting us this evening.

And um, with that said, I will uh open up for our new or for our new our CEO of Indigo, a lot of you in your presentation.

Great, good evening, everybody.

Thank you for being here, and welcome to Indigo.

We are so pleased to host you for your meeting tonight.

Um my name is Jennifer Pierce.

I'm president and CEO of Indigo.

Um, my executive team is here with me tonight.

Um, many of them are familiar to you.

Bob uh Fry is not here tonight, but the rest of the group is.

He's on well-deserved vacation.

I'm gonna do a quick introduction, first of the faces that you are familiar with, and then a couple new members.

Um, so our chief public affairs officer Carrie Black is here.

Our Chief Information Officer Marcus Burnside is behind me.

I think you all know Chief Government Affairs Officer Cam Radford and Chief Development Officer for Thomas.

And then within the past year, I had the very great pleasure of promoting several internal staff to the leadership team.

Uh Annette Darrow took on the role of Chief Operations Officer last fall, so she she may have been involved in some of the budgeting stuff with you at the end of last year, but um she is new to the team in the past year.

Um she's been with Indigo for more than 30 years and focusing and working every day to optimize our service.

So we're really glad um to have her in that COO role.

She's in charge of the biggest part of our workforce, about two-thirds of our staff, or maybe even more than that report up to her.

Um, Justin Burko behind me stepped into the role of chief financial officer first in the interim basis in February, and then appointed officially by the board just last month to be our next CFO.

He recently celebrated his 10-year anniversary at IndieGo, and just before stepping into this role was our director of budgeting.

So he has a really deep understanding of our budget and what we're trying to achieve.

And then finally, I'd like to introduce Kelly Woods, who is our new chief people officer.

Am I still there?

Yep.

Um, she was another internal promotion, and most recently led our benefits and compensation team.

Did that just go mic stock?

You can hear me?

Okay, um, so I'm super thrilled to have um Annette and Justin and Kelly added to an already amazing team.

We are aligned on three strategic priorities.

Um, we've identified these care priorities as an intent to help us most successfully achieve our mission of providing safe and accessible and reliable transportation mobility to Indianapolis.

Those priorities are number one, frontline worker safety and well-being, which we know if our frontline workers are safe and feeling well cared for, our customers will feel that and they will be safe and well cared for.

Um, growing ridership is number two, and then financial sus financial sustainability is number three.

So the information that we want to share today is focused largely on our most visual visible projects and initiatives, but all of them are aligned with our strategic priorities.

So besides myself, you'll be hearing tonight from our COO, Annette Darrow.

You're gonna hear about the projects and initiatives that we're implementing as we get closer to that full implementation of the Marion County transit plan and the deliberate phasing that we're using to tie that implementation with things like operator hiring and construction progress, including construction of local route accessibility improvements.

I'm pleased to report that even with that dollar fare increase that went into effect at the beginning of this year.

Our ridership has increased over 2025 every single month so far, and with that, accordingly, our revenue is up every single month.

So we're really pleased with that progress, and we are committed to investing those additional resources in our service and in the things that matter most to our customers.

So putting those resources back into the system in meaningful ways, and I think you'll see through the presentations what that looks like specifically.

So I am going to we have our director of capital projects is stuck in traffic.

So I'm gonna skip a few steps forward.

Carrie, we're gonna pull in Annette Darrow, and then once she gets through with her presentation, I may stand up and play Matt Duffy for a little bit.

So Annette.

Thank you, Jenny.

Good evening.

Annette Darrow, Chief Operations Officer.

There you go.

And in uh keeping with the Marion County Transit Plan and the service changes that we had laid out with that, we are getting ready to implement some changes in June or later, this I guess it's June in a few weeks that will further this plan along.

A lot of uh the plan that we had laid out has uh gone a little slower than anticipated due to staffing challenges and getting enough operators to provide the service.

So as we get enough operators on, we are moving that plan forward and putting uh the service out there.

So some of the big changes we haven't had this significant probably since the purple line launched, and um, so a lot of these changes are either increasing frequency, improving connections to the BRT lines, which are forming the spine of our system, and so we are with those frequency and some route structure changes.

We have had a lot of public outreach at the transit center on the buses, handing out flyers, anyone who wants to talk to us about it.

We're reaching out our transit ambassador.

So we've done a big push to make sure that everybody is aware of the changes and what they mean, and how hopefully their trips can be uh quicker or more efficient or less wait time.

So we're very excited about that.

So, just to highlight a few of the of the changes.

Um, our current Route 4 we have out there now is going to be retired, but most of that route will be picked up by portions of other routes so that we don't have those redundancies in certain corridors.

So we're uh that'll be happening as well as the route three on the east side currently goes to Stoughton and Arlington.

We're gonna bring it all the way up to uh community hospital north where it'll pick up the part of the Route 4 that is doing that now.

So you'll have a direct trip from you could have a direct trip from community to downtown or through the neighborhoods on Route Three.

Uh Route 21 in Route 5, we'll see an increase, and they're gonna be instead of coming downtown, they're gonna be serving or connecting to the rest of the system through the red line station or red and purple stations at 22nd Street.

And uh so it'll provide more frequent trips along from Sherman on West.

For route three on the west side, because of the change on the east side, it's uh we're gonna have to change just the route number.

So the service will stay the same, but you'll now see a Route 7 out there, which we haven't had for about 20 years, so we'll bring in the difference back.

Um all routes will now have at least one connection or transfer opportunity with BRT line.

So we're really trying to build out this network so that it's better and easier for people to move about through the community.

And next, I want to talk about safety and security.

So we've been working hard with our team and IMPD in chief or Commander Foley and his team with the transit policing in the downtown with us at the transit center and our resources, and then them across the street with Luger Plaza.

We've had a lot of collaboration as far as I mean, we know incidents have made the news and other issues, so we've tried to leverage each other in helping with reporting or responding where we can.

So that's been very well received, and we appreciate all the support we get from them and the support we can provide to them as well.

We have a you may have seen this news uh clip we've had a while ago about our social um service outreach coordinator uh Wardy Ward.

So he is out there actively working with riders or people in the community who may need services or in crisis or whatever, and directing them to places where they can get help.

So that has been a very positive step forward in trying to meet people where they're at as we come across them.

Um for our we are also very involved in security planning for major events around the city just to be at the table so they can help us move through difficult traffic and situations and events, but um also as you know an emergency resource as needed.

So that's been very positive, as well as uh we'd launched a transit security officer program, which a lot of it's centered around fare enforcement and helping people understand fares, how to pay fares, um trying to resolve conflict around fares that often happen and just educating customers and providing customer service.

So we have four positions for that.

So they have uh different uniforms so people can identify them, drivers can as well.

But you know, to be friendly faces in the community when they because a lot of people don't are not as adept with some technology at times, or they're they don't know what to do when they get to the bus.

So by having them out there to help, it's just another resource to uh make transit easier to use.

Another big initiative is we've had issues at the transit center that you people may be aware of, and so in order to combat those, whether it's drug overdoses or other issues that have happened in the last year or earlier.

Uh, we've uh put up some new signage, making the rules clear of what can and can't happen at the transit center.

We ended up uh cutting the power to the power outlets around the property, which IMPD was very much in support of because as soon as we cut the power, we saw a huge drop in issues for people that were just coming there.

I mean, the transit center is a place to catch a bus, it's a place to transfer or wait.

Um so we had a lot of people that were trying to congregate there that weren't there to catch the bus, and so they were causing safety and security issues for other uh passengers who were trying to catch the bus.

So our focus is making it safe and comfortable for those who are there to use the service.

So, with that, we also uh turned off the public Wi-Fi.

We're in a pilot phase right now, we're in the second month of it, so we're evaluating to see how this has worked out, and so far it's been very positive.

I'm in the lobby of the transit center.

I every time I am there or I hear about it, it's just amazing how quiet and orderly it is.

We also uh have ish had issues with trespassers.

We you know they cause an issue, they're trespassed, they come back, and so now if they repeatedly come back, we are um you know arresting them or you know, having them removed from the property because whatever they did rose to the occasion that they needed to be trespassed, and then also we instituted a bad policy at the restrooms in order to help cut down on people doing what they do in public restrooms.

So those have all been very positive, and uh once the pilot is and over at the end of the month, we'll evaluate.

And it seems that at this point that most things will probably stay as they are, but we'll keep we'll just keep an eye on it and adapt as we need to.

So that's um, mine if you want to jump in to fear enforcement.

Colleagues, any questions, comments?

Council Gibson.

Thank you for the update and uh thank you, Madam President, for allowing us to be here.

Always uh a joy to be uh at Indigo and uh really proud of the significant value that you're adding to public transportation and love how the um your your approvements also have improved on communities as well, so it's just a really good partnership and really happy uh HLP to ship is uh at the handle and uh making sure that making those kind of changes.

So I'm very proud of that.

Uh, in regards to the cars and transit center, um I I um I guess probably kind of any improvements expected for SNC.

Improvements as in structure, like, yes.

So we are um actually just kicking off an RFP right now to do renovations down there.

So we are planning on um hoping to make improvements uh to the furniture and maybe some other structural changes, a better place for operators to wait.

Um the their space is too small for the number of operators that bus operators who have to come through there as well.

We're looking at upgrading the signs, they're over 10 years old, so the real-time signs, things like that.

So, yes, we're taking a hard look at um all those areas and maybe even adjusting the public restrooms if it's there's a feasible solution to do that.

I appreciate that, and I I uh like the commitment.

Uh I think my colleagues say you know, I'm constantly pushing on municipal corporations to improve our facilities, you know, across across the line, especially as they continue to age, and um the cars and center is is significant in a lot of different ways, uh, but there's so much new development occurring around there.

So I'm glad to hear that you were uh looking to that raise well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Councillor Reports.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Again, thank you for for the presentation.

Um glad to hear that from this point forward that all routes will have at least one transfer point.

Um just had this conversation with uh residents yesterday.

Anything in the future to decentralize the transit center.

This is that, okay.

So these route changes to the five and the 21 and some of the other ones, so they will not be coming downtown anymore, which is a huge shift, and I'm not sure everyone's gonna love it, but in order to, but it's sometimes you know it needs to happen so that we can provide more efficient service, and we can bring maybe people further or farther than they can go now, but it's just an agenda, it's just a little different.

But yes, so we are looking to um do that.

So we also we have added in the past few years other routes we've adjusted them so they don't come downtown as well.

So by providing the spine with all of the BRTs like blue, purple, and red by connecting into those it just allows more opportunities because the frequency is higher to once you get on one of those routes as well.

Awesome, awesome.

Any plans.

I feel like we've had this conversation before.

Any plans to expand uh into the Northwestern quadrant with the city?

Well, you know, we're always evaluating, right?

So we had this plan, and so we have to evaluate the changes that happen in this plan and growth patterns.

The northwest area of Indianapolis just to be honest is a very tough area to serve net from a transit perspective from a street network and turning buses around and how it's set up, but we are always willing to listen to ideas and entertain what what they are, but um there are more changes still slated for um 38th Street, Eagle Creek, that area.

So those that's like the last batch of local routes that are haven't been implemented yet, so it is northwest, but maybe I'm not sure we meant northwest, but those are still on the table.

We just haven't, we just need that's probably in the next phase.

Okay, hopefully.

We'll afford to see what that looks like for the books.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor.

Speaking of eagle, I was um north of the day.

There's no routes on 56th Street in front of Eagle Creek at all.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that seemed kind of odd to me in the states.

But there's not general, there's not daily built-in ridership to support it either.

Because a lot of those trips are just kind of like, oh, I'm going to the park today.

You know, like for us, we need those built-in folks who are going to ride it every day.

And so it would be nice to go to the park, but as far as sustainability, um, we just look we haven't moved in that direction.

Just a follow-up on that.

I would love to see um kind of the research around kind of the increase in terms of residence in that area, um, because I live in that community and I'm seeing more and more uh one polls moving into the community, but also a greater meaningful public transportation that we don't have that part of the city.

So let's see what research we want to do.

Thank you, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Council Brown.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, thanks for the presentation.

I want to be sure to say thank you for the upgrades, a whole lot of upgrades in my district coming uh mid-June.

Uh, specifically on a personal note, I'm like one block away from the 21, and so increased frequency is like a lifesaver.

I think I do it from the council meetings most ways.

Um, so thanks for that.

I did want to say I have some concerns about um you know some of the transit center changes you mentioned.

I definitely understand you know, there's people just hanging out all day.

That's a staff morale issue that causes other people to not feel comfortable around the transit center.

But I can say it's a freeway that you go rider.

Uh the lobby often does not feel like it's encouraging riders to enter the door either.

You know, you can't walk in without a bunch of signs warning you what you're not supposed to be doing.

You better not, I mean, I feel like a criminal every time as a city councilor or passenger, uh, I think this these signs make that much worse.

Uh I understand again the problem you're trying to solve, and it's like trying to remove the people you don't want, but I you know, humbly suggest if you made it a place that other people who are actual passengers would want to go inside, that might also help activate the space and make other people not feel as comfortable there.

Um, you know, I've needed to charge my phone and the other transit center, and so it's an honor to hear.

Um, that's just because of bad actors.

You can't have nice things, so I'm good.

Um, I've said before, and I'll say again while I'm on this topic that it's unfair for any go to have to shoulder so much of a burden from unhouse people, addicts, and uh public safety issues, and so I'm saying they're in a tough spot, but just didn't want to let this go without finishing that.

Um one last point I did send an email forward to the email just this afternoon, but I got last night.

I got this uh very long detailed eloquent email from a recent writer who's been a long time um Indianapolis resident who just switched to predominantly riding public transit every day, and she noticed how difficult it is to go to the grocery store on an Indigo bus.

And part of that is the way stores are designed.

I think in my district, there's a Kruger on 10th Street.

But you get off of the bus stop, you have to walk clear across a really unhospitable, like almost impassable for pedestrians parking lot just to go to the front door of the grocery store because cars get stolen.

You know, you can't take your cart all the way to the bus stop or anywhere close to it, and so it's a really miserable experience to try to do daily errands or weekly errands as a bus rider.

Again, this isn't your fault, you know, it's the ecosystem you're in.

But I I wish that as a city we did a better job about urban planning to let people who ride the bus because it's their primary form of transit have the same level of um consumer rate experience that the rest of us would expect, right?

So thank you.

I will say um, yes, we can't control that, but we uh do have uh a grocery store on every route.

So we did purposefully make uh plans in the last few years and have implemented them that uh people have access, not that we can control how they get there, but the fact that it is there, and we didn't have that before, so counselor Allen.

So, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, just to piggyback a little bit off of uh uh counselors brown's um comment about the uh transit gentleman, Julia Carson Transit Center, um, and the steps and the approaches that you all had taken.

Have you had any feedback?

Whether it's good or bad for the approach that you had taken.

And I understand, you know, as Councillor Brian said, that your hands is tied, right?

You know, and I get it, you know, because it's too many overdoses that is happening right there.

I get you know, and it makes the news, right?

You do one, then the next one you say might this another one.

And so I'm just kind of curious to know have you gotten any feedback off of that?

Yes, very positive from staff from customers, they have very much appreciated the changes because they the stress level down there has gone down quite a bit because the drug dealing, all those things.

IMPD is very happy as well.

Um, so with all of those synergies, uh there's there's very little negative we've heard about except maybe from not all that, but you know, but also making it clear because when it wasn't clear with the signs or the rules, then people are like, Well, you can't make me do this, and now it's like, okay, well, we're clearly stating you can be here, but you can't do drugs, you can't, you know, these things.

So and and and again, I totally get it.

Your hands is tied, and you know, we don't do anything, we have to try something, right?

And whether it's downtown, whether it's happening on the party side, we have to try something to save our people.

Um, the other thing, um, the other question I have is um the ridership for the far east side.

Um, I know Madam President, you know, you and I talked briefly.

Uh Cameron and I have talked briefly about you know the ridership.

Um now I want to bring it publicly for the for the conversation that we had prior.

And so for me for my constituents that may be listening, uh the general since I've academic counselor, I've been advocating to you know about putting stop signs on German church road, as I mentioned.

Um, you know, we have houses that are being built, um, there's businesses that's as uh Carroll Road, and also um, Madam President Jennifer and Cameron didn't even know John Marshall had been sold, and that's gonna increase traffic for the far east side as well as which I'm in conversation with DPW, just had conversation with the engineering department for German Church Road itself, because it's congested traffic on there.

So are there any plans in the future as all of this economic development is happening, businesses that's coming, and even tomorrow, um, I'm having a meeting with the parts department of architecture to see what that park is going to look like at the Grassy Creek regional regional park because with the sell of John Marshall, that park is going to be expanded, and so with all of that traffic happening, are we gonna see more uh bus stops or have we looked at ridership increasing?

Um, and then one more thing, I'm sorry, and then someone got killed by a hit and run that happened recently on German Church Road, too.

And so sidewalks is a big uh a big one that I'm gonna be pushing for and have been pushing for, and we can increase that as well on the bright side.

Well that was a lot.

Sorry.

So I just think at a high level I would say, and in my tenure here, which is long, we do uh comprehensive operational analysis every five years or so, and that's where we take a very uh high level and deep dive into the services that we're providing, also changes in the city, um, you know, the social vulnerability index we look at, we look at census data, all kinds of in development.

So that's a process that's just a routine thing we do, so yes, we will, and we do.

It's just it takes time, but yes, so that is all stuff that we do consider when we look at the whole service and the network.

But you know, for us since the tax was passed, and then that you know, we're just and we've revisited the current plan, so that's why we're continuing on, and you know, gonna launch the blue line, and then um, you know, I don't say we start over again, but we just keep looking, right?

I mean we're always looking every year, but um, those those bigger ones where we go out and we canvass the community and you know, sort of gathered that kind of feedback um at a at a much deeper level, is where a lot of this will come out, and we'll evaluate it all.

So, thank you.

Um, just for a quick couple of comments, um CEO Darrow.

Earlier this year, there have been multiple incidents of um individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues in other cities and states who have injured and or killed people on public transit.

So I have a little bit of a different perspective.

I don't think we do far enough in making sure that our stations, the Julia Carson Center, are safe and welcome for everyone.

I don't look at those who are already on the bus services as much as I hear from the people who I would love to do this, but I'm not going to because of a B and C issue, and most often it is related to some of the individuals who are on there.

And while you may not be able to answer this, you're not the police department, but I understand you guys have your own private uh off-duty officers and things there.

What I can't understand is how there can be multiple incidents of um uh drug abuse taking place.

I think we've had two or three incidents of four plus people overdosing at some point.

Why, and I know the amount of money that we we allocate to this entity for resources and giving people help and trying to prevent this.

So at some point when you have bad actors who refuse to have the help, the law enforcement part of it has to come into play, unfortunately, because the state of Indiana has essentially risked itself away from the this particular issue.

How is it possible that individuals could be out there doing drugs on multiple occasions and not get arrested?

They are now.

I mean, this is that all of this has brought us to this point where with trespassing we did trespassing, they come back for some of that, and so now they're being arrested when they come back.

Like there's the tolerance is dropped.

This is what we've also got there should be no tolerance.

Yes, I'm just saying that's why we're doing that.

Too much taxpayer dollars, just through your entity alone.

But alone the other entities such as OPHS, public health department, other things trying to combat this as best we can as a city.

Again, I don't want to blame the city of Indianapolis.

I think we spend a lot of our local taxpayer dollars on this.

Uh, the state of Indiana has essentially let this part of it go, and we can't take on the burden by ourselves.

So I'm at least glad to hear that.

Uh any final questions, comments on this part?

All right.

Just a comment.

Oh, go ahead, Council Grace.

Thanks for the presentation, and thank you guys so much for being such gracious host.

Um, just to tag on to Mr.

Chair, um, is there perhaps a need for a bigger public safety presence, maybe in your internal public safety presence, maybe your own team that and it's certainly less time to get to IMPD.

I know you mentioned uh Chief Foley, uh Commander Foley, but um across the network kind of being heavily present uh to lower some of the some of the activity that we talked about today.

So we do have a contract with Nolan Security Services, so they do provide off-duty officers, uh a lot of them at the transit center.

Some are out along the lines or the BRT line, so they do make they do respond to situations, and then other times IMPD like they just recently did a fair blitz with us.

So when they have extra officers or availability, they will be out on the line as well, or at the transit center helping us with those uh blitzes so that you know people feel the presence.

So I mean, the big thing since I've been in this role too is making sure the presence is there so that uh anyone wants to go there and doesn't feel like they're uncomfortable, and so um the team has worked really hard to uh do that.

We have uh a director of security enforcement, Tony Craig, who is a former police chief and police officer, so he really knows how to speak the language and get a lot of that energy going with them, and so uh we've we've really tried to capitalize on that.

Awesome, thank you, buddy.

Thank you.

All right, you guys can do one.

I think you're uh other presenter maybe just yes, I will introduce our director of capital projects, Kerry.

If we can go back to the blue line stuff, or I guess it's uh local stuff first.

So Matt Duffy, Director of Capital Projects.

Thank you.

All right, Director Duffy, you're on the hot spot here.

Yes, thank you.

Hi, everybody.

Apologies for my targeting city county building.

And uh, before the meeting.

I am not right.

That's okay.

No, I understand.

Uh Matt Duffy, director of capital projects here at Indigo.

Um, here to talk about local bus stop improvement projects as well as the blue line.

So I'll start with local bus stops.

Umigo has an ongoing effort to uh meet ADA compliance across the entire network.

Uh so this started back in 2021 where there was an ADA transition plan that was completed.

Uh currently in the system, there are over 2300 local bus stops.

Uh these are non-BRT stops and they range uh in compliance from uh a signpost uh in the grass uh on the side of the street with no sidewalks, uh, that's no compliance to fully compliance stop uh that meets federal regulations, and we are uh every year working towards that.

And some of the projects consist of indigo-led projects, uh, and some of them are city-led projects where uh Indigo uh has a route on that street.

In those cases, we partner with the city uh to improve the uh the stops on that street.

Um right now we're at 41.8% uh compliance across the whole network and um that will uh continue to improve as these projects are built.

Uh this slide shows uh, well, the previous slide, sorry.

Uh a couple of the before and after shots of some of the indigo-led projects, so you can see what the transformation looks like uh to be fully compliant.

And when Indy goes in goes in and does one of the projects, uh, they will they are fully compliant.

Um the challenge with some of the locations are that uh because of the lack of sidewalk network in a lot of areas, it's compliant within the immediate bus stop, but indigo can only go so far uh where the trans agency can't necessarily build sidewalks.

I think we do what we can uh in that effort and work with the city to find ways to um give a continuous sidewalk network uh to the transit stops because we know that the transit trip doesn't begin and end on the bus, it begins and ends uh on some complex, usually uh accessing the bus.

Next slide, ideally.

Uh this is an example of a DBW led project.

This is West Michigan Street uh showing uh the bus stop improvements there.

This is a floating bus stop where there's a bike lane uh behind that stop itself.

And um we have worked really hard to improve the coordination between the city and indigo, uh, where if they have a resurfacing project or they have a project where it makes sense to include stops.

Uh, we're working to have that conversation early in the scoping phase, and that sometimes includes financial contributions to the project, right?

If Indigo has stops that need to be improved, uh it doesn't make sense to go out and do a separate project.

Maybe it's a financial contribution to the city in some cases, but in other cases they they do that uh incorporated the project on their own.

Next slide.

This slide uh shows the uh one of the projects that Indigo led on the west side, Lafayette Road, uh between 16th and 30th.

And this one wanted to highlight because it included a lot of pedestrian infrastructure associated with it.

So I mentioned um the stop itself is compliant, getting the stop is also a challenge.

So this one included uh pedestrian pedestrian crossings, uh safe crossings, and um refuge island as well.

That's a priority of mine and a focus area of mine.

So as much as we can include that to access the stops, we do and partner with the city in that.

Uh, any questions on local bus stop improvements before I move on to blue line?

No.

Thanks, Mr.

Chair.

Thanks for the uh information thus far as we take a look at some of the improvement projects.

So I'm a fan of before and after pictures.

Uh but how do you guys work with uh do you guys work with uh office of women and Model Business Development to identify uh a big picture of uh participants in your process?

Yeah, so that's that's right.

So it's different if it's federally funded or locally funded.

Uh if it's locally funded, then yes, we meet the city's XPD requirements uh in every solicitation.

Uh supplier diversity does that across the board for Indigo, including the design uh professional services and construction contracts.

Um certainly striving to meet the city's XP goals.

Is most of the projects that you guys are doing on the major uh lines, the purple and our blue, are those federal, so those won't those will fly outside of the radar of the office limited minority business development.

Yeah, those are uh federal contracts, and so that's a DEP certification program that is managed by the state of Indiana.

Um, and so we uh we set our own goals for that, uh, and then uh each entity that's associated with the project needs to meet those goals.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you.

All right.

So on the blue line, a quick review of the route itself.

Uh the west end goes uh to the airport, and then express on I 70 to Holt Road through the near west side on Washington Street, downtown, uh east side, uh through Irvington, and then all the way to Cumberland.

It includes 30 BRT stations.

Uh 28 of them are center stations that are all very similar in look and feel to red and purple line.

And if you've seen either of those stations, you've seen the changes that have been incorporated between red and purple.

So there were some uh design changes uh to improve the overall aesthetic and maintenance of the stations themselves.

Uh next slide, please.

So the construction on the O line started in early 2025, uh, and it is uh I looked this up this week.

Uh it's the third largest transportation project in Metro Indianapolis right now.

Um I don't think that we talk about that enough.

How significant of a project that is.

Uh, the other two projects are in that projects, uh, ClearPath and 69.

Um so it's a major major construction project that uh is obviously impactful to residents uh during construction.

Uh the the slide shows the overall phasing in different areas throughout town, and a lot of these you'll see they go through 2027 or 2028, and that's because that encompasses when the stations are largely finished construction.

And um those stations uh we don't finish them up until the very end of the project usually.

Um get them foundation done and then station canopy and then the finishing work.

So we're 18 months into about the four-year construction phase.

Uh plan to start uh service in October 2028.

The work is split into three different packages, uh, roadway work, the BRT stations, and then the east side mobility hub, which is an off-site transfer facility on the east end of the project.

Right now, uh both the roadway work and BRT stations are about 30% complete construction, and the east side mobility hub is 14% complete.

Slide please.

So the roadway constructions, and I'll kind of focus on each of those three different packages.

Uh the roadway construction is the large bulk of the project, it's heavy on infrastructure, stormwater pavement, sidewalks, traffic signals.

Uh the utility relocations are about 50% complete on the project, those uh there have been significant relocations.

Uh that's been challenging to manage.

It's uh some of the oldest infrastructure in the city.

Um, it's been amazing to uncover some of the streetcar ties and some of the uh the old brick pavement that in some cases was maybe an inch below the asphalt.

Um, and um yeah, so that's that's the utility side, uh stormwater infrastructure, it's about half of the construction budgets that includes uh updating the undersize and outdated combined sewer system on especially on the east side, but but also on the west side of downtown.

Um there's been lots of unforeseen conditions.

Uh we knew that was uh going to happen in the project.

I didn't know exactly where or when but accounting for it than the project itself.

Uh so there's different closures.

Uh generally it's one direction closure at a time, um, and then once that directional closure is done, then we switch it to two directions of traffic.

Um, but some of those unforeseen have caused delays in the individual milestones, but we do have in the contract set dates with the contractor where if you start this phase, it needs to be done within 90 days or 120 days.

Um we are trying to stick to that as best we can know how impactful it is for residents.

Um people to drive to the bus and walk along the corridor.

So we appreciate everybody's patience during the construction phase.

Next slide, please.

Uh BRT station construction uh of the 28 stations, 25 are center, two are curbside pairs.

I mentioned 30 earlier, it's because two are not a part of the project, so one being at the transit center, and then the other one on the west end is the airport.

Um, is uh improving an area for the blue line to dock separate from this project.

So they uh 10 of them have foundations set right now, uh, eight of them have the roof structures and they they work in an assembly line.

Uh so they you know they'll start with foundation, maybe they have two crews doing foundations and then move along station to station.

So uh you'll see uh almost finished grade products as we get into this year, next year, and then all the finishes will kind of come in into last year and 2028.

Um wait until the end real-time screens and signage things like that that you don't want to get vandalized uh until the line becomes operational in 2028 next slide.

The East Side Mobility Hub is the last package on the project.

Uh, it is an off-site transfer facility in the very east end uh in Cumberland.

So the on the slide here, Meyer is just to the east of the property.

The red box shows uh where that is being built right now.

So this is a transfer for uh the Route 8, 10, 21, 87, the Route 8 will become the blue line, and this is scheduled to open for service in early 2027.

Uh so it'll serve uh the Route 8 until that's replaced by the blue line.

Next slide, please.

So shows some details of what that east side mobility hub looks like.

Uh there's six different bays, uh, two of them for for VRT, and the other ones for local route service, and then a small building for operator restrooms and a break room for operators as well.

Uh that's the end of my updates for blue line.

Uh, are there any questions that you might have?

Council Brown.

I think Mr.

Jimmy's that's Mr.

Chair.

Um, it is good to get the context of third biggest construction project in Indianapolis and all of it parts, especially like you said, in that projects are not going right next to businesses and homes, and so uh giant caveat for that.

I have had several constituents living just north uh district, but it's along the blue line path, who have been surprised by the specific water cutoffs.

Um, so not just the road closures, but um, there's one example where there was a daycare that had to close down suddenly and set a bunch of kids home because legally they couldn't operate without water on, and then have no notification at a time.

So that was like 150 parents ruined today, you know.

Um, heard as many you know horse words recently, so to the extent that you've uh helped with that.

Uh I appreciate it.

And knowing that again it's complex with contractors, CDG, all these different uh people involved.

Can you talk a little bit about what your outreach is like and how you try to communicate about these kind of severe quality of life temporary problems that's gonna be worth it, but we're doing the stop that kind of uh surprise.

Yeah, thank you for that.

I hadn't heard that.

Um, and Citizens is doing uh lead uh water service line replacements along the corridor uh before we get through there for construction.

So that's uh where they're replacing the water service lines to uh individual properties uh separate from the project.

So that's again long-term benefit.

And I hadn't heard that issue.

Thank you for for letting me know.

Um, I can look into that, and um, yeah, and Citizens is, I think it's uh 12-hour maximum water uh where they can have the water off for before they have to notify the state and face penalties for that.

But that might have fallen under that 12-hour window, right where you can't uh maintain your business, then um you're forced to do something about that.

But but yeah, I can look into that.

As far as outreach goes.

Um we have state weekly stakeholder outreach meetings uh where we talk with the contractor on and talk with talk about the next upcoming three weeks of work.

What is going on right now, what can be anticipated.

And then we've got a team of two individuals that are going door to door when there are upcoming closures that will affect anyone on the corridor, which I'm really proud of that effort.

And we don't always reach everybody, and there's always social media where when there's impactful closures, we're using that as well.

And the last point is a stakeholder weekly newsletter.

So you can sign up for that.

It comes into your inbox around when you're on Friday, and that gives you updated information as well.

Thank you very much for all that.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Alright, final stretch.

I want to share some information about our fair enhancement project, and that's the last thing on our list.

I think we talked about a little bit when we were with you for budget stuff last year.

But we are working really hard to really look at everything we do and look for ways to be more efficient, better for our customers, more fiscally sustainable, all of that.

But we started looking into the spare stuff.

It's probably been two years now.

We completed a study to look not just at what we were charging for fares, which of course is the increase that you saw at the beginning of this year, but we looked at every aspect of our fare collection system, and that included the equipment that we used to collect our fares.

We believe that collect the system, the process for collecting fares should be simple enough for everybody to understand.

It should be comprehensive enough to cover all the ways that people want to pay.

It should be efficient, so not only does it not burden the people getting on the bus, but it doesn't burden us administratively or our operators.

It should be secure, and we're obviously handing handling the transactions, so that's important, and then it needs to be reliable.

We want our customers to have confidence in our ability to collect fares.

We had heard, we had experienced ourselves that our system that we are getting rid of now was not achieving really many of those objectives.

It was causing frustration, it was a source of frustration for our customers, and then that became challenging for our operators.

And so this really hits all three CR3 strategic priorities up there.

Of course, we think it's going to increase ridership too because we're going to be adding new ways to pay.

We're going to make it easier to pay.

And then from a fiscal sustainability, we'll be able to ensure that we are reliably collecting fares, and we're going to make changes that ensure that people are paying and that we can check that they have paid, and then we can enforce it.

So I'll just want to get into some details.

So we're about to get really busy on the fair end of things, and that period from July 1st to August 30th is our transition period.

And it's going to be a lot of changes for those for those riders that choose to pay with a mobile app.

There aren't any changes to the paper passes right away.

There aren't any changes to people using cash.

But the mobile app is kind of the area where people will need to really pay attention and make some tweaks.

So customers will begin to transition to a new app.

We're going from my key to my key plus.

That will start July 1st, and we've got a two-month period where we will help people and make sure that they they understand what needs to happen and then we'll get their new cards.

They'll need to either download the new app or they'll need to get a new MyKey Plus card.

Those again, those are going to start becoming available on July 1st, the app also, and then the cards, and we're going to start actively distributing those cards at the Carson Transit Center.

Also, beginning July 1st, I'm really excited.

Customers are going to have a new option for reloading the cards.

Not the existing cards, but the new My Key Plus cards will all have UPC codes on the back, and people will be able to take those.

There's more than a hundred stores, CDS, Walgreens, Dollar General, where they can go and just go up to the checkout counter and the person will scan the UPC and they can load money just like you do your gift card, right?

That you pick up at the store now.

They can use hash.

So this greatly expands the ability for those who use cash to reload their cards, but they can also reload with a credit or debit card.

Another thing we're doing July 1st, you may have seen if you've ridden with us recently the new fair validators have gone on to all the buses now.

A new feature is on the BRT vehicles.

We've added validators at those back doors.

So that is new.

Those will go live July 1st.

It's going to help us make sure that people know that they need to pay, and it's going to help us like actually have this visual verification that people are paying as they get on the bus.

I think not only for our operators and our transit safety officers, but also just for the other passengers that you know, somebody might be tapping at the platform and paying, but when you see somebody walking on the bus, you didn't see them tap.

There's you kind of lose confidence in the system.

So there'll be that visual cue there.

So over a 60-day period from July 1st to the end of August, we're going to have both both validators operating at the same time, and that's so that we can give everyone a chance to spend on the balance on the Mikey card.

So we're going to work really hard to make it as clear as possible, but we are giving people a chance to use up the Mikey card, transition over to Mike Key Plus, we'll be helping them through that.

So over to the next slide.

Talk about once we get through those 60 days of transition period.

Phase two is underway, and it's actually already underway, but we really jump into it here after July 1st.

We have a go live date in November for our phase two, and I'm excited we're going to be adding one more way to pay on that equipment.

So the equipment that starts operation on July 1st in November, we'll start taking tap to pay.

They will be able to tap to pay.

So credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Cash App, those kind of things.

They don't need to download an app, they don't need to understand, even frankly, how much it costs.

The staff the car, you can.

So cash will still still be accepted, so that is not changing.

This is just a change, right?

That adds one more way for people to pay.

I've got pictures of the new fare cards, just for reference.

This is what the new My Key fare cards look, the full fare card on the left, the reduced fare card on the right, and that's for folks who specifically qualify for that program.

And then new paper passes.

They're going to receive a fresh look too, which besides looking great, helps us with the transition as people move over to those new cards.

So in summary, beginning July 1st, our riders who use mobile payments will begin to transfer from My Key to My Key Plus.

Those new fare cards are going to start coming into circulation.

We will have lots of information.

We've got a website that is specific to My Key Plus, it's going to help riders through the transition.

We also are going to be holding open houses at the Julia Carson Transit Center where people can swap out their old Mikey cards for new My Key Plus cards, including those who have a specialized fare.

So veterans, students, folks who pay half fare that qualify for those programs, they'll be able to come in and get their specialized fare cards also at that time.

And then our transit ambassadors are already out on the buses sharing information and answering questions.

Some additional outreach information.

We're going to continue that all the way through September.

And also this month, we're going to be working with those retail partners to make sure they have information, and they're not surprised when somebody comes to them with a My Key Plus card.

So we're going on those frequent routes.

We won't be able to hit all 100 plus that we're going to hit the ones that are on the most frequent routes.

Make sure that they know how the system is going to work.

We will have on that website when it when the retailers go live, they go live July 1st.

Once they go live, that information and the list of the retailers will be on our site.

Finally, I want to share the days and times of our My Key Plus open houses.

This will be staffed by our Indigo teammates who will be there on hand to swap out the cards, including those personalized cards, and then we are doing some expanded hours at the retail desk.

The retail desks are the ones that will actually be able to load money on it.

You can load money under your My Key card through the app on website or by going to the retail desk with cash or card.

So hopefully lots of lots of opportunities.

But we do have flexibility, so if we're not seeing enough people moving over, and we can reevaluate that, but the goal is to get everybody transition quickly so that we don't have the confusion of multiple validators.

So with that, I am happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Committee members, last one, question.

Chairman Perkins.

Just a follow-up question, but first of presentation.

And you mentioned when you hire the operator, then you can expand around.

Can you talk a little bit about your needs in terms of uh hiring staff and what plans do you have?

Sure, we've been actively um hiring since uh we put the plan out there, but with COVID uh and the challenges of hiring operators who can go to Amazon or other places or even diesel mechanics or other positions, it's been challenging.

So we're um always actively hiring and trying to uh get folks in to help us further the plan.

So it's the biggest uh competition around salary benefits, some of it some of it's just the work, the hours.

Um, you know, we're not you know, uh, some of the other businesses may have more traditional hours or set shifts, but when you're a transit driver, um the schedules that we put out for the public are different, so some operators may need to be in at 4 15 in the morning, and then they work till you know noon, one o'clock, but then others may not come in till seven, or some come in at one o'clock, and so um, and then the way transit operates uh, you know, we have the set shifts, right?

And you pick they have to pick every four months their work, and so they're locked into that.

But then there's also uh what we call an extra board, which is meaning um they cover any open shifts.

So we have like a 15% of our driver workforce is that so when you're on that, your shift changes every day.

So finding people who can fit into the you know culture of how transit operates can be challenging.

Um the garage, it's a little easier because those shifts are more set, and but we have buses out all day, so we need more people on third ships.

So we're gonna be in the other businesses who can have their mechanics on first or second shift.

And just quick follow, do you find that your current shift schedule is the most effective way of operating the bus system?

We need to be there when people need to get to work.

So our bus drivers have to be there before so that they can get on the bus, they may have to come transfer and then go somewhere else.

So we are have to be out there earlier and later to get people to and from their ships.

So, yes.

Thank you.

Councilor Gibson.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh, along with the same question about hiring.

Um, do we hire uh those who uh need a second chance at life?

Yes, good.

That's gonna be here because I think um always looking for employers who really want to invest in our community, especially those who really change their life and make it a real big difference to put that packs behind them and looking for opportunities.

So I'm gonna hear that.

Well, we do thank you for that.

Counselor Allen, uh thank you.

Uh councillor Ron, for bringing that up because when you all did that new uh growth the news on that, I was very excited and just having to come and speak on Friday.

I considered Andy Bill probably one of the best places to work for a second chances and up under your leadership, Madam Jennifer.

I you know I command you because I didn't realize that it was only two years since they you have been in this role.

So thank you and congratulations on the time around that you have done.

But um Annette, I have a question.

I know earlier you said that you ought to look at the ridership every five years.

Have that change.

I'm asking that because the last two times I was told it was three years.

So has that has that change from three to five years?

So we look at ridership all the time.

Well, I a comprehensive operational analysis is the sort of the bigger deep dive of the search.

So uh yes, they and they're you know you have to pay for them, right?

So to have them done.

So we try to um plus you after you implement them, you need to have a certain amount of time to sort of see what those changes do.

So um it's generally a five-year increment.

Um, I think in the middle after we launched the red line, we did one a little sooner because um all the changes that COVID brought, so there was kind of uh anomaly in there, I'd say, um, just to make sure what we were putting out there was what we could what we wanted to do is um once you get into things like at a high level lines on a map look great, but when you get into the weeds of where you can actually turn the bus around in that intersection, you know, that becomes more challenging.

So we were able to take another look at some of those things um after we launched the red line.

Okay.

Uh just another statement and um the blue line.

I am very excited about everything that's taken place um on the east side coming to the far east side, right?

Because you know, we the east side and the far exact kind of have a bad name, but I'm glad that we're moving from blight to hope and we're giving people something to talk about.

So just having this project with the blue line coming here, and you know, even though it's this in I think Michael uh Councilor Michael Powell Hart's district, and then it coincides with um Counselor Nielsen's district, and then my district and councillor Greg's district.

I'm glad for all the work that you all are currently doing, and congratulations, and I look forward to continuing this partnership.

Thank you, Councilor Brown.

Just very briefly want to say, thank you for all the obvious intentionality and thoughtfulness you put into the my key class upgrade.

I think I was a person who probably needed more feedback about the old system, and I think you have every single one of my wish list items, and I'm glad you know some people are just gonna use cash, I wish they wouldn't have been silly, but you know, they're going to use a gladly working in that.

Um, I have no criticism of that.

That's very community, right?

So thank you very much for these off.

Thank you.

Councilor Greggs, we have five minutes past six thirty.

I will only ask ten of the questions that I have to take.

Uh no, I I do have some some questions here.

Just real quickly.

Um, we see some some global challenges or material and which has an impact on cost.

We take a look at 2028 as completion, or what we're line.

Do we anticipate any higher costs coming out of that that we might have to face?

I'll take a go at it now.

Uh yeah, sure.

Go for it.

The other thing that I think for that is where we can do that timeline at 2028.

Yes, as of right now, not on what we are still targeting fall of 2028.

Awesome.

Um, there's been like I mentioned some understanding challenges uh that might push that out, but we are working really hard to keep that fall 2028.

Um, as far as material price increases go.

The good thing is that you lock in unit prices at the beginning of the contract.

Um so as of uh almost two years ago now, um, we have those prices locked in.

And so what needs to happen is the contractor needs to build a case for why those prices might need to change, and they build in inflation and rights.

It's volatile, so um, there's a chance that could uh they could bring something in the go that we need to evaluate it and we would decide whether we accept that price increase or not.

Awesome, thank you guys.

And it's charged as the end of the story.

Um, it's very important to me and my family.

Um I've been CEO of Pierce has heard this story many times.

Um, as a high school student, I uh had a wonderful job that was on the other side of town from where I live.

Um, and so each day I had to catch the indigo, plus at that time it's called Nitro.

Um, and that's great.

I would have asked my mom to take me, but unfortunately, we didn't have a house in the house.

So not only was I on the bus stop, every morning going to my job, so was my mom.

So every day when I see indigo buses, I think back to our whole beginnings, and I want to say that's what you do.

Uh and all the great services, you do more than transport people, you really helped transform us, and I think it's a shirt.

Thank you.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you to everyone here at Indigo for hosting us and allowing us to be here today.

Hopefully, it made it a little bit easier on you, other than you.

But we look forward to seeing you in ours for your budget presentation.

All right, we are here.

I think I'm going to be late.