Editor's Note: The News and Tribune was informed before press time that J.P. had lost his job at QRS Recycling in New Albany.
JEFFERSONVILLE — J.P. can see the end of the road to his journey out of homelessness.
The 42-year-old Jeffersonville resident lives in a shipping container near some railroad tracks. He’s been on the streets for years. But a few weeks ago, J.P. — who asked the News and Tribune not to use his last name — found a third-shift job in New Albany where he earns $10 an hour.
Now each evening, J.P. catches a bus a little before 9 p.m. It drops him off at about 9:40 more than a mile from his place of employment, where he works until 6 a.m. and then hitches a ride on another bus home.
It’s tough, but it’s worth it, J.P. said.
“It’s kind of hard to get there and back,” J.P. said. “The bus runs there, but once you get off the bus, you’ve got a 15-, 20-minute walk to the actual place. That ain’t bad — it’s just when it’s raining, snowing and stuff.”
J.P. was able to ride public transportation thanks to Jesus Cares at Exit 0, a local organization that assists area homeless. Bus tickets are something Exit 0 doesn’t always have available.
For much of the area’s homeless, getting around isn’t just a challenge — it’s a major barrier to improving their lot in life. That’s doesn’t mean just finding a job or keeping it, said Paul Stensrud, director of Exit 0. The needs include seeking basic medical treatment, psychiatric care and dental care, among other things, Stensrud said.
“If [a homeless person] needs his ID, we go to another part of town,” Stensrud said. “If he needs a Social Security card? That’s in New Albany. How do you get from point A to point B?”
Some homeless people own bikes, but bikes cost money and are targets for theft. The Transit Authority of River City runs four bus lines through Southern Indiana, but that’s not nearly enough, said Barbara Anderson, executive director of Haven House Services Inc., which runs the only homeless shelter in Clark and Floyd counties.
The homeless of Southern Indiana aren’t conveniently located near bus lines, Anderson said, with some stranded in places like Memphis, Henryville and other places far off the TARC routes.
“TARC does a yeoman’s job for the limited amount of service it provides over here,” Anderson said. “But we have people in Henryville and Sellersburg — I get calls from people all the time that are stuck out in the hinterlands, and they cannot get in. They just can’t.”
And that’s not to mention the homeless of neighboring Indiana communities without the means to attend to their needs, Anderson said.
“Remember, there are no [homeless] shelters in 14 counties in Southern Indiana,” Anderson said. “So I’ll get a call from Salem, and they’ll say, ‘What can we do? We’ve got no way to get them down there.’”
Sometimes law enforcement officials will lend an assist with homeless transport, Anderson said. But it’s never a given.
TARC TAPPED
TARC’s four Southern Indiana bus routes provide access to the main roads in Jeffersonville, Clarksville and New Albany, along with access to River Ridge Commerce Center and, at times, the Clark Maritime Center.
To those that say that’s not enough, TARC Executive Director J. Barry Barker has a response: “They’re absolutely right.”
“We simply don’t have the budget to provide the services that are needed,” Barker said. “If you do some math, the Southern Indiana service is about 6.9 percent of our total cost, and about 4 percent of the ridership. Southern Indiana is less dense, if you will, than Jefferson County, [Ky.] which makes it difficult.”
TARC received $1.15 million from the state of Indiana for 2015. With about 1,850 riders per weekday in Southern Indiana paying fares of $1.25 each way, local fares generate about $1.2 million annually.
All Louisville workers, including those from Southern Indiana, pay $2 out of every $1,000 they earn to fund TARC, a tax that generates about $40 million per year. Barker said there’s no way to estimate how much of that $40 million comes from Southern Indiana residents.
TARC estimates put the cost of service to Southern Indiana at about $4.9 million per year. With a gap between revenue and the cost of operating in Southern Indiana, service isn’t likely to expand north of the river.
“Is it as responsive as we’d like it to be in Southern Indiana? No,” Barker said. “But neither is Metro Louisville. These are tough decisions to make.”
One thing that Barker and Anderson do agree on is that extending service to River Ridge has been a winner for both workers and employers like Amazon.
“One of the things we focus on is making sure we’re connecting people to jobs,” Barker said.
NOT A PRIORITY?
Indiana state Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, says he’s a supporter of public transportation.
“I think we need to do a better job of making the case for a better public transportation system, in terms of the positive impact it could have on other areas, whether it be impact on workforce, impact on education [or] health” Clere said. “I mean, there are a lot of areas that benefit from a strong public transportation system.”
Gov. Mike Pence submitted a budget for 2015 that would reduce state funding for public transportation by 3 percent. The state legislature is working on a budget proposal that would increase public transportation funding by 8 percent in 2016 and 6.5 percent in 2017, but the TARC’s funding from Indiana in 2016 would increase by about $10,000, Clere said.
“We keep having these continuation budgets where the funding stays flat, and that leaves us struggling just to run in place, just to run with what we’ve got,” Barker said.
Barker demurred when asked how much money it would take from Indiana to consider expanding service.
“If we talked about doubling the amount of funding, then we could start to do some serious things,” Barker said.
But that’s far from likely to happen. According to Clere, public transportation is a tough sell for representatives and senators from the state’s more rural areas.
“Those of us who represent urban and suburban areas see the need for and the value of a strong public transportation system,” Clere said. “But not all legislators share that view, and there are many legislators, especially legislators from rural areas, that have a completely different view in what the state’s role should be in supporting public transportation.”
A LOCAL SOLUTION?
Local governments will need to step up if they want to see public transportation expand, Clere said.
“I don’t want to suggest that there’s any easy solution in the short term, because I don’t think there is,” Clere said. “Local governments certainly need to play a role — it can’t just be the state, but the state has a role, also.
“It has to be both local and state governments coming to the table to craft solutions.”
Jeffersonville has three trolleys in its fleet, and Anderson would like to see the city offer transportation in areas not served by TARC.
“Why don’t we use our trolleys to relieve this transportation crisis for anyone that needs it downtown, or anywhere in Jeffersonville, for that matter?” Anderson said. “Geographically, it would be very doable. It would be a cost that the city would have to bear, but that would eliminate so many barriers to transportation.”
TARC buses operate at a cost of about $105.50 per hour, or $7.40 per mile, according to estimates provided by TARC. Absorbing that kind of cost to run the trolleys in Jeffersonville would be burdensome, said Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore.
“I want to help and see as much benefit as we possibly can for everybody that lives in Jeffersonville, but I also understand that you have to prioritize your spending,” Moore said. “If somebody comes up with a solution that we can provide public transportation without raising taxes, I’m curious to listen, but I’m not sure that can be done.”
Anderson and Clere expressed interest in exploring a public-private partnership that would address the transportation needs of the area while helping connect employers to workers. But the details of how that would work would need to be fleshed out.
Stensrud’s not sure what the answer is, or even if there is one. But he knows something has to be done to help Southern Indiana’s homeless population get around.
“If you were in their shoes, how frustrated would you be?” Stensrud asked. “It’s nice to jump in a car 10 minutes before work and get there right on time, versus now you have no transportation — what are you going to do?
“It puts a lot of stress in your life, and being on the streets, it’s already there.”