The Broadway Metro Express or BMX operated by

Gary Public Transportation Corporation The Gary Public Transportation Corporation (GPTC) is a commuter bus system in Gary, Indiana that offers service to numerous stops throughout the city and neighboring suburbs. GPTC is a public corporation owned but not directly controlled by the ...

is a bus rapid transit line serving the cities of

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...

Merrillville Merrillville ( , ) is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 36,444 at the 2020 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville be ...

, and Crown Point in Indiana. The route entered service on February 19, 2018, replacing the previous routes 17 and 18. The Broadway Metro Express connects riders to the

South Shore Line The South Shore Line is an electrically powered commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois and the South Bend Airport station in Sout ...

, to

Downtown Gary Downtown Gary is split by Broadway into two separate neighborhoods in north-central Gary, Indiana, United States. Emerson (Gary), Emerson and Downtown West (Gary), Downtown West combine to form what is known as Downtown Gary. It was part of the ...

and to

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana Ivy Tech Community College (Ivy Tech) is a public community college system in the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the state's public community college system and it has more than 40 locations. It is also the state's largest public postsecondary in ...

History

BMX service launched on February 19, 2018, through Gary, Merrillville and Crown Point with limited stops, upgraded bus shelters and more frequent service compared to the previous route. This led to it being the first rapid bus service in Indiana. Upon opening, the line ran 11 miles from Gary Metro Center to

Methodist Hospitals Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christian tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significa ...

Southlake Campus in Merrillville, with service every 20 minutes. It included 17 stops, short sections of bus lanes and new connecting feeder lines. South of 53rd Street, traffic signals are equipped with

transit signal priority Bus priority or transit signal priority (TSP) is a name for various techniques to improve service and reduce delay for mass transit vehicles at intersections (or junctions) controlled by traffic signals. TSP techniques are most commonly associa ...

. As of 2022, GPTC was looking to add the feature to the entire corridor. The $9.5 million project was funded by Gary, Merrillville, the Gary Stormwater District, Legacy Foundation and

INDOT The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with maintaining and regulating transportation and transportation related infrastructure such as state owned airports, state highways ...

. At the same time as BMX was launched, GPTC introduced the Token Transit app, to pay fares. Through the end of the year, BMX carried 214,455 passengers, a 33 percent increase over 2017's ridership on the previous conventional service, and over twice the 16.3 percent anticipated ridership increase. The route is the second busiest line in

Northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed "The Region" after the Calumet Region, is an unofficial region of Northern Indiana, northern Indiana, United States that is located at the northwestern corner of the state. Though there is no official definition of th ...

after the

, and serves approximately a quarter of all GPTC riders. On September 8, 2020, three new stops were added, including the Lake County Government Building, the Adam Benjamin Jr. VA Outpatient Clinic, and the Purdue Research Park/ Ivy Tech Campus. In Spring 2022, four

battery-electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. Battery electric buses offer the potential for z ...

es joined the GPTC fleet, plying the Broadway Metro Express route. The BMX route was chosen due to it having the highest ridership in the system. As of June 2023, service runs every 30 minutes, with plans to increase service to every 20 minutes as ridership grows.

References

External links

GPTC Broadway Metro Express home page
{{USBRT Transportation in Gary, Indiana Bus rapid transit in Indiana 2018 establishments in Indiana Transport infrastructure completed in 2018

History

See also

References

External links