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Council schedules March follow‑up after Bloomington Transit warns Route 13 could end without county match
Summary
Councilor Decker asked the council to commit a county match (roughly $178K–$184K) to continue Bloomington Transit Route 13, which connects West Side employment centers and Ivy Tech; council agreed to place the request on the March agenda and asked staff for documentation and correspondence.
Councilor Michael Decker pressed the Monroe County Council Tuesday to move swiftly to support Bloomington Transit’s Route 13, saying the county’s match is needed to sustain a route that has carried thousands of trips in its first year.
Decker said Arlington‑area and West‑Side employers, Ivy Tech students and residents rely on the route and that transit officials told him the service could stop in early March unless Monroe County commits to a local match. He cited 12,857 passenger trips on the route during its first year as evidence of demand. "We certainly cannot do that tonight, but I think this is an example where council needs to lead," Decker said.
Council members asked for and received clarifications: some emails from Bloomington Transit and partner institutions exist and were shared with council staff; legal staff said the ARPA edit plan includes transit as an eligible use in the current edit and commissioners may have authority to make an adjustment. Council asked highway and finance staff for the written correspondence and for a March packet item that specifies the requested amount, proposed funding source (ED‑Lit/ARPA or another fund), and a recommended implementation timeline.
Next steps: The council will place a dedicated transit funding item on the March 10 agenda (subject to required public‑notice deadlines). Staff and the county administrator were asked to gather and distribute Bloomington Transit correspondence and to specify whether ARPA funds or another source would be proposed to cover the county’s share for Route 13.
