People We Meet on the Bus

Indianapolis is a city of care-ers.

People who care a little extra, who strive to be good neighbors, who want to lift each other up. We know, because we meet you at the bike rack, along the sidewalk, at the bus stop, in our Instagram polls. We know, because you’ve told us you organize repair cafes, call your representatives, pick up trash along trails, share resources, or plant flowers along the sidewalk for others to see. You’re all the People We Meet on the Bus: Teachers, artists, students, cashiers, cooks, downtown commuters, you-name-its!, and neighbors.

A new IndyGo policy could make that community connection harder, raising fares from $1.75 to $2.75 on January 1, 2026. We believe that increased transit funding is vital, but it shouldn’t be a burden placed on riders.

Since you’re care-ers, you likely already know that raising fares raises a barrier to our neighbors who already cannot afford it. In a time where affordability, inclusion, and sustainability are all in crisis, we need it to be easier, not harder, to get where we need to go with public transportation.

In the midst of these crises, we rely on transit and know the people at IndyGo are doing their best to sustain Indianapolis public transportation. We also know that transit is underfunded across the nation, and Indiana in particular struggles with funding for this vital service.

During the public comment period, People We Meet on the Bus asked that IndyGo:

1. Amend the proposal to a smaller (25 cent) or gradual fare increase, instead of one dollar immediately. The fare proposal should also include a higher age cap for free child fare to empower families and develop lifelong riders.
2. *Adopt a more dignified and streamlined fare payment experience that still includes convenient options for cash users.
3. *Introduce a Rider Rewards program (like Cincinnati’s Metro) to create incentives and benefits for regular riders, employers, and downtown Indy tourism.

*IndyGo will be upgrading the electronic fare collection system next year, so there is an opportunity for 2 and 3 to still be accomplished in 2026.

And we asked that our community support us in this petition!

The Result

Even with ~40 of these asks submitted (out of 220 public comments received), the IndyGo Board of Directors unanimously approved the fare increase policy. Here’s what we’re wondering after the IndyGo fare increase was approved at last week’s board meeting:

Ten Questions About the Fare Increase But Also About The State of Our World (A List and A Poem):

1. Well for starters, why is a fiscal sustainability study happening AFTER a fare increase instead of before?
   
   
2. When consultant contracts for the new policy implementation are voted into place during the same meeting as the public hearing for that policy, what is the point of holding a public comment period at all? What will it take for listening to riders to be more than a box to check?
   
   
3. What is lost when people making decisions about a service do not use it?
   
   
4. What is lost when our decisions are based on equations and not experiences?
   
   
5. How do we uplift movement and mobility as forms of justice?
   
   
6. How do we keep reminding each other that we matter in a world that consistently tells us that we don’t?
   
   
7. How do we build connected and connecting systems of care? Here, in Indiana, beyond?
   
   
8. Whose story is not being told? Is it yours?
   
   
9. What story will we be telling about this place and how we move 20 years from now?
   
   
10. What next? Always, what next?

And What Happens Next:

• The IndyGo Foundation provides Bus Fare Grants and Nonprofit Discounts for organizations to purchase fare in bulk and distribute passes. Applications for these open Sept. 15th if your organization wants to spread some bus love with riders in need as rates go up.
  
  
• (Individuals can also help out by keeping extra bus passes on hand to share with people who might need them!)
  
  
• You can take our rider priority survey to help shape continued local transportation conversations.
  
  
• People We Meet on the Bus and several other Indy groups are hosting a local Week Without Driving challenge Sept. 29-Oct. 5. This experience helps us notice the ways our city design makes it easy or difficult to get around, and who benefits or is harmed by those patterns. Stay tuned for updates as we’ll have a Neighborhood Exploration Bingo to offer some Week Without Driving prompts and ideas!
  
  
• People We Meet on the Bus will be accepting submissions for Volume 2 of the zine starting early October. Now might be a good time to start thinking about your transit stories, or spread the word to friends who may want to be involved! We’re expanding to other Indiana communities this year, so we appreciate connections to other cities.
  
  
• Lastly, if you’d like to be involved with People We Meet on the Bus, there are plenty of ways to volunteer – graphic design, art pop-up facilitation, co-creation, and building up our city/state advocacy work are all opportunities. Just let us know if you’d like to connect!

Our gratitude to the National Campaign for Transit Justice and the Better Bus Coalition for their campaign support!