Building a bus system that works – with Jerome Horne

In this episode, we speak with Jerome Horne, ridership experience specialist for IndyGo, about Indianapolis's ongoing transit transformation and some of the key elements in building a reliable and effective bus system. Indianapolis makes a great case study for car-dependent cities looking to overhaul under-performing transit systems or even start from scratch.Some of the topics we cover in this episode include:Reasons to prioritize the bus over the trainThe ridership vs. coverage dilemmaWhy frequency means freedomGetting the details right: bus stop spacing, amenities, and schedulesWhy grids are better than hub-and-spoke systemsHow to do public engagement that actually reaches the people who use (or would use) transit (and how Indianapolis did it)Why it matters who you send to public meetings in different neighborhoodsHow this transit makeover got funded (and why it succeeded where other cities' transit measures failed)The Red Line, Indy's first BRT (bus rapid transit) line that launched in September 2019: what has gone well and what hasn'tChallenges so far, relating to: running the US's first-ever all-electric BRT fleet, introducing a new fare system, and finding enough drivers to staff the expanded systemShould transit be free to use?IndyGo's new CEO, transit agency culture, and why it's important for transit decision-makers to use they system they runTransit-related book recommendations!Find Jerome on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Check out the incredible International Micro Museum of Transit, curated entirely by Jerome. And if you're up to it, take a peek inside New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens (you don't have to be a teen to join).*Note: We had some issues with the audio files on this episode. You might notice the occasional brief skipping. :( We think it's still very listenable, but we apologize for the less-than-ideal sound on this one!--The Go Cultivate! podcast is a project of Verdunity. Find more about this and other episodes (and our blog) at verdunity.com/go-cultivate.You can also find us on social media. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedInAnd if you haven't yet, sign up for our weekly email digest. It's not lame! (Each week we collectively curate a list of the things we read that caught our attention. Then we hand-package your copy, spank a first-class stamp on that baby, and drop it right in your email inbox.) Sign up here!Join us (and your peers!) in the Community Cultivators Network.--(Music in this episode is from No Money & Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.)https://www.verdunity.com/podcast/episode-51