GPTC Board Meeting -- David Wright (l-r), Kendra Johnson, Teresa Torres, Marcus Hare, and David Lampkins

GPTC pressures local communities to help fund bus route

Contributed By:The 411 News

With some reduction in services to customers in Hammond, Highland and Munster last month, Gary Public Transit Corporation is signaling that those users may soon see the services completely eliminated.

To keep the transit system operating within its budget, GPTC General Manager Daryl Lampkins said the burden of bearing the costs alone is no longer sustainable.

In 2014, the bus company added the new route, Lakeshore South, expanding its service area into Hammond, Highland, and Munster after the Regional Bus Authority folded. At that time GPTC was also considering adding service to north Hammond and Whiting, but that was not implemented.

To cover the costs, GPTC paid half and a federal grant covered the remainder.

The new Lakeshore South route complemented an existing GPTC bus service from downtown Gary to downtown Hammond. Traveling south from downtown Hammond, GPTC gave riders access to St. Margaret Hospital and the Federal Court on Hohman Avenue, Hammond’s City Hall on Calumet Avenue, shopping along the 165th Street corridor, and Purdue University.

From Purdue, the route travels Indianapolis Blvd. accessing Highland’s shopping malls near I-80/94 – Ultra Foods, Walmart, and Cabela’s – then onto Ridge Road into Munster. In Munster, the route added access to the Target shopping plaza and the Hammond Clinic medical complex along Calumet Avenue.

Since financial support hasn’t materialized from the new communities served, the agency is beginning an appeal to the public on how to continue those services. “We have had conversation with committees and organizations, including Lake County, RDA, and the City of Hammond – the need is agreed upon but no financial support has been offered,” Lampkins said. “Gary citizens cannot remain the only local support for services that extend over nine communities.”

At a public hearing Thursday held before the transit company’s board meeting, GPTC’s Planning & Marketing Manager David Wright said, “We have notified the communities we will hold meetings to discuss service reductions and start petition drives seeking support.”

On June 19th, GPTC halted mid-day service on Lakeshore South. On weekdays, no buses leave downtown Hammond between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. and after 6:30 p.m. Saturday service on the route was discontinued. And bus entrance into the Ultra Foods plaza was stopped.

Proposed for September are changes in GPTC’s door-to-door services to the disabled along the Lakeshore South route. It will delay the start of para-transit service from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Saturdays. Weekday para-transit hours of 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. won’t be affected.

Also in September, GPTC will go back to a two-hour headway between downtown Gary and downtown Hammond. Wright said the addition of a second bus resulted in a 40% increase in operational costs but only a 5% increase in ridership.

A minimum commitment of $73,000 is needed to maintain full service on the Lakeshore South route, says Lampkins, otherwise the route will be eliminated in December.

Already voicing support for GPTC’s continued service on the Lakeshore South route are disability rights activists. Renae Jackson, vice president of the Gary Human Relations Commission and chair of the Lake County Council on Accessible Transportation (CAT) said she urges everyone to get behind GPTC. “People don’t just need a ride to the doctor,” she said, “it’s the way that we access life. There’s really no excuse for the failure by elected officials to recognize this need, particularly when the solution is relatively inexpensive.”

Teresa Torres heads Everybody Counts, which operates independent living centers for the disabled in Hammond and Merrillville. “We wrote a letter to Hammond’s Mayor Tom McDermott and asked him to set a tone of support for GPTC. We haven’t heard from him.”

At the public hearing, Hammond school board member George Janiec urged the board to use their influence to mobilize some of the elected officials in Hammond who recognize the need for the bus services even though the mayor hasn’t offered support. He asked them to “Develop strategies necessary to leverage not only their influence in Gary, but to bring this to the citizens in Hammond and to Hammond elected officials who don’t have much of a choice but to either support it or deny it in the court of public opinion.”

GPTC board member Marcus Hare said the transit company has an even larger funding issue. “We have access to a $25-million federal grant, but can’t use it because our local communities won’t commit to the $1.6 million matching portion.” He pointed to a promise by the Lake County Council to provide funding from the county option income tax. Ware said GPTC is still waiting, “It’s time to put their money where their mouth is.”

Now, Wright said, Whiting wants to come onboard if more local funding can be found for the proposed north Hammond route.

When GPTC launches the Broadway Metro Express later this year, it will be with the support of Merrillville said Lampkins.

Metro Express service from downtown Gary to Merrillville and Crown Point will reduce current travel time by 12-30% and increase Broadway trips by 50 percent. A feeder route in Merrillville will connect with the Metro Express.

“This feeder service would not exist without a funding agreement with the Town of Merrillville, which will bear the local cost of the service and work with GPTC on monitoring and improvements,” Lampkins said. “It is examples like the Merrillville partnership and the South Shore Transit Alliance with East Chicago Transit and North Township that show glimpses of our future.”

Story Posted:07/10/2017