Tag: Monroe County government

Public bus notebook: Bloomington could see fixed-route service outside city limits as soon as fall 2024

Bloomington city council members, from near to far: Matt Flaherty, Sydney Zulich, Dave Rollo, Andy Ruff, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Hopi Stosberg, Isak Asare, Kate Rosenbarger, and Courtney Daily.
Bloomington Transit general manager, John Connell.
A route going outside the city limits was included in a set of recommendations by a BT consultant in 2019. The new route would not necessarily follow the same alignment shown here.

As soon as fall of this year (2024), Bloomington Transit (BT) hopes to offer a fixed-route bus that offers service to the area outside of the current city limits on the western edge of town.

That is one one big takeaway from BT general manager John Connell’s report to Bloomington’s city council on Wednesday.

The area that the route would serve includes big employers west of the current city boundaries like Cook Medical, Simtra BioPharma (Baxter), and Ivy Tech Community College.

Until last year, when the city council enacted an ordinance allowing it, BT could not operate anywhere outside the city boundaries.

Connell told city councilmembers that one of the challenges will be to identify a funding source for the new route. Continue reading “Public bus notebook: Bloomington could see fixed-route service outside city limits as soon as fall 2024” →

Bloomington city council OKs convention center interlocal accord, but not unanimously

Bloomington city councilmember Kate Rosenbarger.
Monroe County capital improvement board president John Whikehart.
Downtown Bloomington, Inc. executive director Talisha Coppock.
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson.
Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce director of advocacy Christopher Emge.
Bloomington corporation counsel Margie Rice.

The governance structure for the expansion of the Monroe Convention center, which currently stands at 3rd Street and College Avenue, is now settled.

On Wednesday night, Bloomington’s city council approved its side of a four-way interlocal agreement about the way the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) will interact with other local units, to handle the convention center expansion project.

The vote on the nine-member city council was 7–1. Dissenting was Kate Rosenbarger.

The tally does not add to 9, because the District 5 seat is currently vacant, pending the selection of a replacement at Saturday’s (March 2) vacancy caucus to be held by the Democratic Party.

Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson attended Wednesday’s meeting, but did not address the council. After the council’s vote, Thomson responded to a B Square question by saying she would be signing the agreement as soon as it is presented to her.

The city council’s approval came after the Monroe County commissioners approved the agreement last week,  and the county council adopted it the week before. Continue reading “Bloomington city council OKs convention center interlocal accord, but not unanimously” →

Public buses outside Bloomington: City council goes on record in support, if county govt pays extra cost

Winning unanimous approval from Bloomington’s city council on Wednesday night was a resolution  that expresses support for the extension of Bloomington Transit (BT) bus service outside the city limits, to Daniels Way.

The route shown in purple was proposed as part of the recommendations from Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning in June 2019 to optimize Bloomington Transit’s routes.

The turn off 3rd Street to Daniels Way is about three quarters of a mile west of the city limits. New bus service north on Daniels Way, to make a loop around Ivy Tech, Cook Medical, and other employers, would mean extending the route something like a mile and a half.

Wednesday’s resolution expresses intent for the council eventually to make the necessary approvals for service outside the city, but itself has no legal impact.

The resolution’s sole sponsor on the city council, Steve Volan, sees the resolution as “removing a source of doubt for the mayor and for all of our county colleagues” about the city council’s willingness to do “its part” to make public bus service outside the city limits possible.

Under state law, to do “its part,” the city council would have to approve any extension of public bus service outside of city limits. Continue reading “Public buses outside Bloomington: City council goes on record in support, if county govt pays extra cost” →