People We Meet on the Bus is a celebration of the everyday, and the connection we find moving through our community.
What We Do
People We Meet on the Bus collects and shares stories of community interaction. We believe in the power of neighborhood infrastructure and active transportation to uplift and engage communities. Made in, by, and for Indianapolis.
(But always open to aligned collaboration!)
Our Projects
People We Meet on the Bus, Volume 1
Pop-Up Poetry Events (Tea’s Me Sip & Shop, E 38th St. Library, IndyGo Volunteer Appreciation Night, IUI Multicultural Center)
People We Meet on the Bus, Volume 1.5
Neighbor Power Indy 2025 Workshop, “Better Together: Partnering with Grassroots Projects” and Appreciation Station Pop-Up
Stay up to date with our latest projects and pop-ups on our Instagram.
Gratitudes
Volume 1 was made possible with the support of the Poetic Justice Program. Volume 1.5 is possible because of Mirror Indy. Our Zine Launch Party & Open Mic were supported by our donors, tablers, and volunteers, plus the generosity of 10 E Arts HUB. We have a lot of gratitude for all our contributing artists and the ways they observe our community.
Could your name be on this list next? Find ways to support PWMOTB here.
Stay in the loop
Want to be the first to know about People We Meet on the Bus updates? Add your email to be notified when submissions open or when there are other project updates:
How Did People We Meet on the Bus begin?
People who use active transportation (think walking, rolling, biking, and busing) face a lot of stress on their daily commutes. We’ll spare you the details of dodging behind-the-wheel texters, close-passers, and other general unpleasantness, because these
experiences tend to be turn-offs for people who want to try a different way of getting around. Learning how to safely commute by bike or navigate the city’s bus system can be intimidating at first. We’ve been there! And in spite of this, people keep using active transportation for all sorts of reasons: to save money, to protect the environment, to stay active, because they can’t get a driver’s license for various reasons, or for some lucky folks because it’s just more convenient to get around this way.
With so many good motives to take active transportation, it makes sense for our communities to make the shift from driving as easy, safe, and joyful as possible. Yet in Indianapolis we are faced with a narrative issue. As two people who like to walk, bike,
and ride the bus, we noticed that all of the heartfelt interactions we experience on our commutes just don’t add up with the testimonies we see in the news. When folks don’t want rapid transit in their part of town or a bus stop near their business, they’re snipping threads in our social fabric that make light-hearted, serendipitous, face-to-face sidewalk interactions possible.
People We Meet on the Bus started as most good things do: a conversation between two people while out for a walk, discussing the community we were meeting and witnessing on the bus. We wanted more spirit, more celebration for people who use active transportation. A walk led to a conversation which led to an idea: to create a collaborative zine about the moments of solidarity we all get to experience via active transportation. We asked Indianapolis for works of poetry, prose, photography, and visual art describing interactions with our transportation system and the people encountered there. We reached out digitally, we invited friends, we passed out flyers all over town and on the bus. Indianapolis delivered.
But we still wanted more! More togetherness. We hosted several “poetry pop-ups”, and thanks to Tea’s Me and the East 38th St Public Library, co-created poems and artwork with community members that became part of the project. At the time that all of our submissions were coming together, one of us was in an intensive writing program for people impacted by the justice system, Poetic Justice, co-led by Januarie York and Mark Latta. The “community joy allowance” from the program allowed us to print physical copies of the zines, share them locally, and deliver them to readers around the country. Just the togetherness we were searching for. The icing on the cake was our Zine Release & Open Mic at 10 East Arts Hub. If you missed the event, no worries. You can check out Mirror Indy’s Documenter notes and photography capturing what went on.
This project is by neighbors, for neighbors. We’re grateful from our heads to our toes that Mirror Indy has supported the project by making it available to a wider audience, spreading a little extra sidewalk joy in the process.
Throughout the zine, neighbors share stories of friendship, new motherhood, solidarity with strangers, and the freedom and possibility that active transportation offers them. The work also stays real about the challenges our city faces for making these systems truly convenient, safe, and accessible. Our hope is that when we know how vital this infrastructure is for the thriving, connected community we want to live in, we can face the bumps in the road ahead with heart.
How can you peruse People We Meet on the Bus? We’re glad you asked. You can explore the digital version 1.5 for free here, thanks to the support of Mirror Indy. Or, see if you can find the copy that’s in the Zine Collection at the East 38th Street branch of the
Indianapolis Public Library. If you’re into print media, you can grab an original, physical copy for yourself.
Thanks for being along for the ride.
People We Meet on the Bus 