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Julia Moffitt/Eyewitness News
Fishers, May 19 - Stop and go traffic, a typical morning drive for downtown workers. But not for many northsiders Monday.
IndyGo estimates that just over 100 people parked their cars and climbed on board one of 18 buses for a kinder, gentler ride to work.
Erin Acquire says, "I'd rather take the bus than sit in traffic for two hours. It's one less thing that I have to worry about. I don't have to worry about driving, parking or traffic this way."
It's a luxury that will only last until mid-August in Indianapolis.
An estimated 14 million Americans ride public transportation each weekday in other cities. Indygo official Gilbert Holmes says it's time the Circle City falls in line with progress. "This is a service that we've needed for a long time, opportune time for us to introduce it to help get some of the traffic off the streets of the city and introduce people to a way of getting to work that they haven't used before in the city."
All of the buses are equipped with priority signal hardware, which means the buses can extend green lights at certain intersections. But many of the passengers say they're just looking forward to leaving the driving to someone else.
Lisa Ahrbecker is one of those passengers. "I really don't get a lot of time to myself and I figured I'd get some time to read half an hour to myself in the morning and in the afternoon."
Passengers did just that, they talked, worked on computers, sipped coffee and read newspapers and books.
Bernard Lally believes, "Even if it wasn't Hyperfix, we've been needing this for years and years and thank you very much if you had anything to do with it."
It looks like this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship between humans and highways in Indianapolis.
The Fishers Target pickup point was by far the busiest location Monday with 90 of the passengers versus 12 at Glendale.
From Fishers to downtown the trip took 31 minutes, 24 from Glendale.
IndyGo officials are brainstorming to find a solution to potential overcrowding considering the surprising demand in Fishers.
