In September 2019, IndyGo opened the Red Line and began operating every route every day of the week. IndyGo

IndyGo announced its January 2020 ridership was 8% higher than the same time last year. Additionally, Red Line BRT ridership was 6% higher in January than in December.

While lower transit ridership is typical in winter months, IndyGo is seeing an upward trend in systemwide winter ridership from year to year. This is the second consecutive January that ridership has increased following service improvements. In addition to the 8% increase between 2019 and 2020, January 2019 system ridership was 4.2% higher than in January 2018. 

Improving service hours and frequency makes transit a convenient option, even in colder weather.

“Between 2018 and 2020, we made our routes more frequent and reliable, and riders have responded,” said IndyGo President/CEO Inez Evans. “We’re making these improvements to make transit an accessible option for riders. Now that our routes come more often and on every day of the week, more riders are choosing transit.”

In 2018, IndyGo implemented the first local route improvements as part of the Marion County Transit Plan. The improvements included additional trips, increased weekend service, new or improved Sunday service, and increased trip frequencies.

In September 2019, IndyGo opened the Red Line and began operating every route every day of the week. In October 2019, additional improvements to route timing were implemented, and some routes’ weekend operating hours were extended. This month, IndyGo again improved the frequency of two high ridership routes, Route 8 and Route 10.

IndyGo will continue to make systemwide improvements through a new bus network, planned to go into effect in June 2020.