After the Purple Line launches Oct. 13, James Ertmer is looking forward to riding the bus downtown from his Lawrence home, especially to Indianapolis Indians games.
“I get a little nervous (driving), especially at night,” said Ertmer, 69. “I have trouble seeing in the dark, and that’s when most of the ball games are going.”
Officials anticipate the Purple Line will draw many new bus riders like Ertmer because of the expected convenience and safety of the $188-million bus line. Running 15.2 miles, IndyGo’s second bus rapid transit line will connect Lawrence to downtown Indianapolis. Its arrival comes with several route changes, including the replacement of the Route 39 and Route 4 trips to Lawrence.
From Lawrence, the Purple Line will run from Ivy Tech Community College at 59th Street, south to Post Road and then west along 38th Street. Then it will meet the Red Line at 38th and Park Avenue as the line heads to the Julia M. Carson Transit Center downtown.
IndyGo says electric buses will arrive at stations every 15 to 20 minutes. When the Purple Line merges with the Red Line, pick-up frequencies will increase to every five to seven minutes.
Ertmer thinks the Purple Line will be convenient and open the door for people like him to attend more activities downtown, including eating at different restaurants with his wife. He admits he is hesitant about the route’s journey down 38th Street — he believes it’s a “rough section of town.”
“My wife and I, we go, you know… What about going through there at 10 o’clock at night? Who’s gonna hop on the bus?”
Carrie Black, chief public affairs officer at IndyGo, acknowledged that there is a negative narrative surrounding the safety of public transportation. She told Mirror Indy there is not a lot of evidence that supports the claim buses are unsafe.
“When we look at the information and the reports that we have, the level of dangerous or threatening situations is very low by comparison,” Black said.
Ertmer doesn’t travel 38th Street often, but is interested in seeing what development the Purple Line could bring to the corridor.
A safer and faster experience
In addition to route changes, the Purple Line comes with upgrades to bus stops and new safety measures. Traditional bus stops, which in much of Indianapolis are in grassy or gravelly patches on the side of the road, have been replaced with platform stations in the middle of the street. These boarding areas are well lit, have security cameras and emergency call buttons that connect riders straight to emergency services.
Those safety measures are what makes eastside resident Corrine Prock excited about the Purple Line. Her teenage daughter uses public transportation to get from the east side to her high school near downtown Indianapolis. The Purple Line seems easier to navigate, Prock said.
“They’re teenagers, they don’t know what they’re doing,” she said. “Now, they got to wait and it’s 42 minutes. If it really comes every 15 minutes, then we’re good.”
Bus rapid transit lines like the Purple Line are able to move more frequently, in part, because of how riders pay, said Jordan Patterson, the manager of special programs at IndyGo. Instead of paying when a rider gets on the bus or using a paper pass, riders prepay — speeding up the board process.
“That will be probably one of the biggest changes for Route 39 riders,” Patterson said. “Many of them still have paper passes. We’re asking them to update or upgrade their paper pass to a MyKey card or use the app.”
MyKey is IndyGo’s account-based fare system where riders can load money to an account and choose how to pay. Riders can pay either with the MyKey app or with a MyKey card. Patterson said MyKey accounts also include fare capping, which means riders will never spend more than $4 a day or $15.75 a week.
An enhanced ride experience
At a recent Purple Line informational meeting at the Fort Ben Library branch, Patterson said many people were excited.
“People tell me about where they catch the bus today and how they’ll be able to get to certain places that they didn’t get to go before efficiently,” Patterson said.
He said overall, people appreciate the enhanced ride experience bus rapid transit lines like the Purple Line promise to provide.
“So yes, you have new bigger buses, Wi-Fi and charging ports,” Patterson said. “But you also have ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant sidewalks that didn’t exist before. You also have economic development that is spurring because of bus rapid transit’s connectivity. It’s having a rippling effect on their quality of life.”
But some aren’t sold on the new system. At a Route 39 stop near 38th Street and Arlington Avenue, 62-year-old Lisa Detrayon told Mirror Indy she wishes information about the route changes was easier to access. She’s not entirely sure how the Purple Line will affect her commute and how she rides the bus.
“It’s a little confusing,” she said. “If they kind of let people know, it wouldn’t be so bad. Especially seniors like myself. I don’t have the energy to go searching for a bus stop.”
IndyGo said each Purple Line station is intentionally spaced about a half mile apart.
“We definitely wanted to make sure that the stations were located conveniently near opportunities,” Black said. “Whether that’s a grocery store or whether that’s a medical facility or whether that’s an area where there’s a concentration of places that would provide jobs.”
At the library meeting, 75-year-old Beverly Lang was happy to learn about IndyGo’s goal of better connecting people with services. A retired teacher, she had hoped there would be a Purple Line stop near the East 38th Street Library branch.
“It’s a nice library,” Lang said. “I hoped they had a station close enough that families could pick up books easily.”
She was happy to learn there is a stop near the library at Layman Street.
Lang lives in Castleton, but plans to park her car in Lawrence and take the Purple Line downtown. That’s what she did in Broad Ripple when the Red Line first opened.
Parking could be an issue. IndyGo said there are no official park-and-ride locations for riders along the Purple Line.
Despite this, Lang is looking forward to taking a bus ride through the city. She was born in Indianapolis and enjoys looking at how the city has changed.
“There are times where I think I would just enjoy not having to drive and just being able to go around and see what is going on,” Lang said. “Looking out the window and looking at the buildings and the people and the changes.”
Mirror Indy reporter Darian Benson covers east Indianapolis. Contact her at 317-397-7262 or darian.benson@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @HelloImDarian.
How to ride the Purple Line
The Purple Line runs 15.2 miles and connects Lawrence to downtown Indianapolis.
From Lawrence, the Purple line will run from Ivy Tech Community College at 59th Street, south to Post Road and then west along 38th Street. The Purple Line will meet the Red Line at 38th and Park Avenue as the line heads to the Julia M. Carson Transit Center downtown.
The buses will run every 15 to 20 minutes — increasing to five to seven minutes when it merges with the Red Line — from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.
To pay, load fares to a MyKey account with the app or to a reusable MyKey card at a ticket station vending machine or at the transit center. Tap the card or scan the QR code from the mobile app to validate bus fare before the bus arrives.
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