Bloomington Transit rolls out broader on-demand service, now includes even Griffy Lake

Bloomington Transit’s service updates starting June 1 include a new bus line, free fares for Passenger Appreciation Week, and probably the most exciting change—a BLink microtransit upgrade that expands coverage to every corner of the city.

One corner of Bloomington that now gets service through Bloomington Transit for Everyone is Griffy Lake, even though there is no fixed-route bus that serves the location.

Despite the fact that the big park on the northeast side is nowhere near a bus line, BT’s promise is that for places inaccessible by BT’s network of bus lines, a vehicle will be available on-demand through the BLink mobile app (Apple Store or Google Play).

As defined by BT, a place is not accessible by its regular buses if it’s more than 5 minutes walking distance from a bus stop. The BLink on-demand service, which can also be booked up to 24 hours in advance, is now available, if either origin or destination (or both) are more than 5 minutes walking distance from a bus stop.

The BLink on-demand services already existed, but the comprehensive service area is new—it replaces a collection of specific zones. There’s a carveout for a region around the Indiana University campus where no BLink service is offered—the idea is that campus buses already serve that area. The BLink services is offered Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

To test out the new approach to BLink on-demand service, The B Square planned a round-trip that would be solely dependent on the availability of a BLink vehicle. So on Monday afternoon (June 1), The B Square’s self-defined mission was to find a nice destination in Bloomington that was not being served by big fixed-route BT buses.

The search wasn’t easy, which points to the fact that there aren’t many places downtown or even among the residential pockets around town that are more than 5 minutes away from a bus stop. But Griffy Lake, with its popular summer boating attractions emerged as a prime candidate for a test ride.

The BLink app itself is adequate. It doesn’t perform as smoothly or look as sleek as other ride-sharing apps that users may be more familiar with, but it gets the job done.

There were some minor discomforts. When choosing the point of origin, users have to pick the current location, when the app could make it the default. The departure time gets locked a couple of minutes after the app is opened, instead of defaulting to something like “leave now.” The app lacks a little arrow around the user’s GPS beacon to indicate which way they are facing. There was also an instance or two of getting logged out of the app unprompted.

However, the map has a clear display of where city limits end, which means the app can function as a trip planning tool. If neither the origin or the destination are eligible for BLink microtransit, the app provides information about the fixed-route bus connection between them, and gives users the ability to save that trip in the app.

But Griffy Lake is definitely eligible for BLink microtransit. So The B Square booked a ride from City Hall on North Morton Street and waited around 10 minutes before the driver showed up in a white Chrysler with BLink branding.

The car itself was spacious and wheelchair accessible. William, the driver, helped out with a seatbelt issue, and then drove smoothly across town into the winding roads leading to Griffy Lake.

The conversation during the 40-minute drive was also lively, and William talked about how the response has been on Day One for the new and improved BLink microtransit. “I’ve driven a few people around so far today, and it’s all over town,” he said.

For a Monday afternoon, there were quite a few visitors at Griffy Lake. It’s destinations like the lake, which are necessarily outside the core downtown urban area and a fair distance away, where BLink microtransit can fill a transportation gap.

On Monday afternoon, the lake was calm with a spattering of visitors on canoes, while some were standing on the shores with fishing lines.

The only thing left for the test ride was to make sure we could use the same mode of transportation to get back into town—the only thing worse than not being able to go to a place as nice as Griffy would be getting stuck there with no way back!

But the return ride on BLink was as easy to book and as smooth an experience as the first one. The wait was a bit shorter this time, but again accurate, and the app still worked even in patchy network coverage around the lake.

On Day One at least, Bloomington Transit for Everyone looks like a successful addition to city transportation services.

Photos: BLink expedition to Griffy Lake (June 1, 2026)