Marion County Voters Approve Mass Transit Plan
The referendum passed with 59 percent of the vote.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMarion County voters have approved a potential .25 percent income tax increase to fund expanded mass transit. Indy Chamber Vice President Mark Fisher calls the approval a "monumental step toward improving talent retention, enhancing economic development and growing our tax base."
Fisher says he hopes the City-County Council will enact the full increase to fully fund the transit plan so "our city will benefit from this improved transit access as soon as possible." The council voted 18-6 in May to put the funding plan on the ballot.
IndyGo, the city’s bus agency, says the ambitious plan will increase hours of service by 70 percent. In May, Director of Marketing and Customer Information Bryan Luellen said that would encourage more people to use mass transit, saying, "The frequency, hours of service, the reliability of the system, those are all issues that we have focused on in developing the plan."
?Advocates also pointed to economic benefits, citing FedEx saying it had trouble filling about 200 jobs at its massive hub near Indianapolis International Airport, in part because potential employees don’t have a way to get to work.
The referendum passed with 59 percent of the vote.
