Column: Mass transit in Fishers

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By Larry Lannan

Believers in mass transit have waited a long time for the Indiana General Assembly to act. Now that a law has finally passed both houses of the state legislature, we ask the question, what does the new law mean for the future of mass transit in Fishers?

The answer is not simple or easy because the law passed by state lawmakers is anything but simple and easy. Anytime a compromise must be reached between very different House and Senate versions, the final language can be difficult to sort out.

At the March 17th Fishers Town Council Work Session, Sean Northrup, Assistant Executive Director of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, briefed council members on the new law. The good news is we finally have a Central Indiana mass transit law. The bad news is there are many unanswered questions.

Once the law is officially enacted, legal guidance will be issued on how the statute will be interpreted and administered. One item the law does not address is the establishment of a regional transit authority.  No one knows how local governments will be able to work with each other in order to establish mass transit service in several different cities, towns and counties.

A referendum will determine whether voters in that locality will approve an increase in the local option income tax partially funding the new system. A referendum could be held in places like Fishers as early as 2016.

It should be noted that the Fishers Town Council has taken no position on mass transit. This is largely because all seven council members have differing ideas on what a mass transit system would look like. In fairness to the council, no one system has ever been proposed where members could make a yes or no judgment on that plan.

I don’t know whether Fishers and other localities will vote in favor of a tax increase to partially fund a regional mass transit system. But I do think it is fair to have that plebiscite and measure how much or how little support mass transit has in this area.

We do not have a perfect law for mass transit in Central Indiana, but at least we have a law, and that is movement in the right direction. Voters in Fishers should start thinking about whether a new mass transit system is worth a tax increase.


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