How the Purple Line changed east side transit in Indianapolis

Axios

17-07-2025

In less than a year of operating, the Purple Line has transformed public transportation on Indianapolis' far east side.
Why it matters: The $188 million bus line that started rolling last October has already overtaken IndyGo's Red Line as the most popular route, boasting monthly ridership figures that eclipse 100,000.
Driving the news: I spent my Tuesday afternoon riding the 15.2-mile route from end to end, catching it at Ivy Tech in Lawrence, taking it downtown to the Julia M. Carson Transit Center and back again to get a feel for what it's like ahead of WNBA All-Star Weekend, when anyone can ride the line for free.
The big picture: What I discovered during the more than three-hour adventure was how many marquee Indy attractions sit on the line and the general sense of positivity around it from regular riders.
For example, I hopped off to snap a photo of the dinos at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis and had quick access to the Indiana State Fairgrounds without worrying about where I'd park my car.
Yes, but: The trip also illustrated how quickly quality of life rises and falls along the 38th Street corridor — one stop after the children's museum, two homeless men were lying unconscious in the hot sun on the front steps of a building.
State of play: According to IndyGo, the Purple Line is within walking distance of more than 134,000 jobs and 58,000 people, more than 30% of whom are identified as low income.
Flashback: When I first moved to Indianapolis from Lafayette 12 years ago, IndyGo was a lifesaver.
Just days after settling into my place on the far northwest side, my not-so-trusty 2000 Camaro decided to park itself indefinitely, and I needed to get downtown every day for work.
Catching a bus in the parking lot of the St. Vincent Women's Hospital near West 86th Street and Township Line Road was the most cost-effective option.
The latest: The process has gotten a lot sleeker and safer since then.
How it works: Everything I needed to start my trip was available at the Fort Harrison Station.
A map makes the locations of all 31 Purple Line stops easy to identify.
I used my debit card at the MyKey kiosk to grab a one-day, full fare pass for $4. I also had the option to use the app or pay with cash.
By comparison, an Uber from Fort Ben to downtown would have cost me about $27 one-way.
Zoom in: As my ride started at 12:48pm, I had the bus pretty much to myself. That changed at 1:06pm when people piled on at Post Road, the first of 16 stops along 38th Street.
Laughing children playing outside the Far East Side Neighborhood Center and the public art installed outside the new-ish Eskenazi Health Center at 38th and Arlington caught my attention.
Energy on the bus grew tense when a homeless woman wearing a white bed sheet wrapped around her like a gown and carrying all her belongings in four large trash bags boarded at 38th and Keystone.
Some riders hurled insults and profanity her way.
But the driver treated her with kindness and respect, only asking her to move her bags from in front of the doors and warning that the shopping cart she pushed at the station platform couldn't board with her.
She exited just a few stops later at 38th and Meridian, shouting "I appreciate your hospitality" multiple times in the direction of the bus driver as she frantically collected her bags.
We arrived downtown at 1:58pm, three minutes behind Google Maps' prediction of the trip length and about 10 minutes behind IndyGo's predicted arrival time, which was longer than usual because of ongoing construction detours near Fort Ben.
After a few laps around downtown to see how All-Star prep was progressing, I hopped a bus back to Lawrence at 2:47pm just as Tuesday's rain began coming down the hardest.
Zoom out: The rain stopped long enough for me to get out at 38th and Keystone to make a short walk to Taco & Burrito Place, a hidden gem on North Keystone that makes incredible (you guessed it) tacos and burritos.
I reboarded with Indy resident Roland Hayes who walked about a mile to the bus after donating at CSL Plasma.
What he's saying: " All I know is we didn't have nothing before. Now we got this," Hayes, who says he hasn't owned a car in about five years due to financial circumstances, said. "It's safe. It's clean. It's on time. People can get to work and get to the doctor."
"I'm thankful for that … Just don't take it away. They always taking sh*t away from the east side."
What's next: A potential 57% fare increase for all IndyGo routes, which low-income and disabled riders are protesting.
The proposed hike includes an increase from $1.75 to $2.75 for fixed route service effective Jan. 1, pending approval from IndyGo's Board of Directors next month.
Under the new policy, the cost of the day pass I used for my trip would go from $4 to $6.