IndyGo announces upcoming bus stop balancing efforts

IndyGo announced its upcoming plans to balance bus stops throughout the entire IndyGo system, as well as the rollout of an interactive map tool to help impacted riders find their new stop.

Though IndyGo has postponed the network change planned for June 2020 due to COVID-19 impacts, the agency is moving forward with bus stop balancing to bring the system into alignment with its service standards.

IndyGo’s service standards recommend that, on average, bus stops along frequent routes should be placed about a quarter of a mile apart, and that bus stops along less frequent routes should be placed between four and six times per mile. As part of bus stop balancing, stops may be removed or moved to a new location, and new bus stops may be added.

The agency says many factors were considered by IndyGo staff when making bus stop balancing decisions, including existing pedestrian infrastructure and accessibility, opportunities to transfer to other routes and land use and zoning, as well as average daily ridership. More than 60 percent of impacted stops that are planned to be removed had fewer than two boardings per day, on average.

Riders will begin seeing stickers on affected bus stops on or after Aug. 31. Stop removals, as well as the installation of new stops, will begin on or after Sept. 14. Even after a bus stop has been stickered, bus operators will continue to pick up and drop off passengers until the bus stop sign has been physically removed. There will be no service removals or route changes associated with this bus stop balancing effort.

While crews are in the process of removing stops, stop locations may not be accurately reflected in rider tools such as the MyStop app.

Riders can use the interactive map tool on IndyGo’s website to see which stops will be affected and where their new bus stop will be, and if their current stop is affected. Riders may also call IndyGo’s Customer Service for assistance.