A step was taken at Monday’s Boone County Commissioners meeting to allow Marion County residents who work in the Lebanon Business Park to ride a bus to their jobs.
The commissioners gave approval for Sue Ritz to make a state grant request. Ritz is the executive director of Boone County Senior Services, which operates the Boone Area Transit System.
The Job Access Reverse Commute grant would help fund a bus company to take Marion County residents to their jobs at the business park, and also allow some Boone County residents to ride to their jobs in Marion County.
This state grant, funded by the Indiana Department of Transportation, would fund some parts of the program 50/50 and some at 80/20, Ritz said. The application is due Aug. 17, and a decision isn’t likely to be received until November.
Hachette Book Group and Grander Mountain, which both have distribution centers in the Lebanon Business Park, told Ritz they have 150 temporary employees whom they would like to make full-time, but can’t because the workers have transportation issues.
“So instead, different employees come every time because of transportation issues,” she told the commissioners.
If the grant is approved, a bus would leave from downtown Indianapolis and stop somewhere in the business park. Ritz said local transit vehicles could take the employees from there. She would like to have a morning and an afternoon commute.
Commissioner Marc Applegate asked if the companies in the business park could help with the grant dollars, to which Ritz responded, “That would be nice.”