History of Transit in Indiana

1864
Public transit service begins in Indianapolis on October 3 rd with a mule car line. The first electric cars start service in 1890.

1868
The Ball Street Railway Company operates horse cars in Lafayette until the early 1870s. The Lafayette Street Railway starts business in 1883.

1871
The Citizens Street Railway begins mule car service in Fort Wayne . The system is electrified in 1893.

1881
The Vincennes Traction Company starts horse car services in Vincennes on a 6.1-mile line. At its peak, it operated 22 cars over an 8.25-mile line. The line was electrified in the 1890s.

1885
The South Bend Railway Company starts streetcar service on Washington Street in South Bend.

1891
City operations begin in Kokomo and last until 1932.

1892
The Madison mule car line carried 158,688 passengers (about 500 per day) over its two and a half-mile line. Service started in the 1880s, and the line was electrified in 1898.

1893
The Marion Electric Railway begins service. Horse car service had preceded this by at least three years.

1901
The Chicago and Indiana Air Line (later known as the South Shore Railroad and eventually operating as the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District) was formed. Services from South Bend to Gary did not begin until 1908. NICTD has the distinction of being the only surviving electric interurban railroad to remain in continuous service.

1935
The Indiana Bus Association (later known as the Indiana Transportation Association) is incorporated and begins serving as the trade association for the bus industry in Indiana .

1967
Legislation was passed in Indiana that allows government to own and operate public transit service. This also allows for the creation of a public transportation corporation (PTC) that has property taxing authority.

1969
Professor George M. Smerk founds the Institute for Urban Transportation as part of the Indiana University School of Business.

1975
State Senator Adam Benjamin successfully convinces the Indiana General Assembly to put $2.5 million into a fund to be used for matching federal transit funds. The Institute for Urban Transportation is assigned by the Governor's Office to administer this fund.

1980
The Indiana General Assembly creates a dedicated fund to be used exclusively for promoting and funding public transportation. This fund, the Public Mass Transportation Fund (PMTF), was funded with .95% of the gross sales and use tax revenue. When the sales tax was raised from $.04 to $.05 per dollar, the PMTF's share was lowered to .76%. In the first year, this raised $9.5 million for public transit. In FY2002, the fund raised $28.3 million.

1982
Bloomington City Council votes to create a PTC. This is the 8th and final (at least for now) PTC to be created in Indiana .

1992
Indiana receives it first ever statewide discretionary federal capital grant. Fifteen city and county-wide systems receive a Congressional earmark for over $9 million in Federal Transit Administration Section 3 funds.

Prepared by:
Kent McDaniel, Executive Director
Indiana Transportation Association
1900 E. 10th St., Rm. 235
Bloomington, IN 47406-7512
(812) 855-8143