I took a Civic to catch IndyGo today

I missed the bus today. On my way to the stop, I saw it zoom by. To be fair, it was earlier than normal by about 4-5 minutes. I walked past my neighbor on the way to the stop, then walked past him the other way a minute later.

“I missed my bus,” I said.
“Really? Well get in. Let’s catch it,” he said.
“No, it’s OK. I’ll just drive,” I answer.
“Really, get in. Let’s catch the bus,” he said with such conviction. I got in his Civic, and we drove to catch the bus. On the way downtown, we passed several stops with people at them, people usually on my bus. We knew the bus was early, and they had missed it. The story may have been better if we stopped to pick them up, but remember, I don’t really know these folks, I just recognize them from the bus. And, we’re in a Civic.

Finally, halfway to downtown, we pull up in front of the IndyGo, and I hop out of the Civic, and hop on the IndyGo. People on my IndyGo route recognize and me, know I get on much earlier in the route, and one even asks, “Did you just take a car to catch the bus?” a little laughing, a little believing this is not far-fetched for the IndyGo girl.

“Yes, that just happened,” I said loudly enough for other people to notice.

And then I stepped on my soapbox, and announced to the riders of IndyGo that this is why we need the bus tracking system. If you are new to my blog or don’t know about the tracking system, link to www.ctabustracker.com. It shows you, in real time, where your bus is along the route, and how soon it will be at the next stop. I found out yesterday that IndyGo has this technology, but lacks funding to work out the challenges and implement. This small improvement would make such a big impact to IndyGo.

If you want to share your support, log on to www.indygo.net/feedback.asp and say you want the bus tracker system. Seriously, I took a Civic to catch the IndyGo this morning. Stayed tuned, this is just the beginning…