GPTC delays cooperation pledge, wants details

The Gary Public Transportation Corp. board continues to study a regional transit cooperation pledge as another General Assembly session enters the home stretch with little prospect of increased support for mass transit.

The pledge was approved by the board of the Northwest Indiana Regional Bus Authority at its Jan. 25 meeting and was on the agenda for GPTC's meeting Feb. 2.

However, the GPTC board wanted more clarification on several points and it was not acted on, according to GPTC Planning and Marketing Director David Wright. He said GPTC General Manager Daryl Lampkins could offer further comment but he was not available.

The pledge is just one sentence in length and commits signers to "diligently work together to accomplish the goal of producing a seamless and recognizable regional bus system that delivers consistent, dependable and efficient service throughout the region."

That compares to a series of memorandums of understanding rejected by the GPTC board in 2010 that would have committed it to fully consolidating its operations with the RBA. It dealt with some details such as how fare box revenues would be split and what would happen if the RBA had to cut services in Gary. It laid out a roadmap for resolving others.

Since then, the RBA has said it wants to provide a united front on transit issues with other agencies in order to garner support for a new revenue source for local transit. The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority has stopped funding RBA operations and the bus agency is preparing to shut down by mid-year.

The delay in agreeing to the current cooperation pledge comes as some transit officials still maintain hope that the General Assembly could give local transit a financial boost. The most recent proposal would take funds from a Lake County low-income household tax credit and redirect it to transit.

RBA Executive Director Tim Brown said RBA officials met with GPTC officials just after last Thursday's meeting in an effort to clarify the impact of the cooperation pledge.

"It's just a slight glitch," Brown said. "They want some more clarity on things. We provided that. Hopefully it will move forward."