BlueIndy: We Answer the Questions the Owner’s Manual Doesn’t

This article is part of Indianapolis Monthly’s The New Downtown package, which includes a guide to five hotspots, a few big city problems, and a look at what’s next for the city. For more content on navigating the new downtown, click here.

Will I save money?

That depends on how many trips you need to make a day. We did the math.

Cost of new-car ownership in Indy: $665/month

=

140 trips (based on $10/month annual membership, 20-minute trips for $4, and 17% tax)

=

4.6 trips per day

Sources: Bankrate.com and Edmunds.com

Where can’t I go?

Of BlueIndy’s 200 planned stations, 70 are open. But you don’t need to be a cartographer to see service holes, like The Fashion Mall and, ironically, Speedway. Of all the gaps, Eagle Creek and Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park seem the most unfortunate. It would be nice to reach those fantastic trail systems in a more eco-friendly manner.

What’s with the airport surcharge?

The forthcoming IND station will carry a $6 per-trip fee, which is an “airport usage” surcharge assessed to basically any company doing business there. You might not notice it when the fee is built into an airfare or food cost, but the BlueIndy extra can exceed the price of the service. Flyer beware.

Is driving in the wind scary?

Surprisingly, no. The cars are sturdy. But there are a few things you’ll have to sacrifice for the efficiency—like not being able to hit 60 mph in two seconds … or 20. The cars are small and maneuverable, thus extremely practical for city streets. Laying down on the gas feels a little bit like a go-cart, but no one designed an urban road for V-8 engines in the first place, no matter what car commercials show you.