Was heavily involved in construction of the red line BRT. I support the mission of the BRT and mass transit in Indianapolis in general but have a LOT of legitimate criticisms about how it was conducted. For example, BRT is supposed to be a greener method of transit but the bus stations themselves are adorned with hardwoods from South American rainforests (tree is called Ipe). In order to satisfy Buy American federal requirements that wood was shipped from Brazil (in South America not Brazil, IN) to here at 3/4" thickness and then had to be milled down to 1/2". That classified the wood as "American Made" enough. That's 33% of the product just wasted after cutting it down from a rainforest a continent away. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me, but no one did. As I understand it that wood will not be used on the new stations so apparently my constant b*tching at the IndyGo people worked.

Something I found quite ironic about red line construction was that at about half of the bus stations, where the foundations extend down below the frost line, we had to remove the historic trolley tracks that used to hold the Indianapolis Interurban. We even had to remove the last remaining strain pole that held the overhead power lines for that trolley down at Shelby and Pleasant Run. Red line apparently runs almost the same route as a street car did 100+ years ago. Those tracks would be mostly useless to use today as they are a foot or more below road level and in bad shape.

All this to say: It is my opinion that BRT/busses are still preferable to any sort of rail within most of the 465 loop. Some single train lines from maybe Anderson to Castleton, or Avon/airport to downtown would nicely supplement a well-designed bus system but rail through the denser areas would be incredibly disruptive and expensive. in scenarios where people walk from homes to the station the two obvious commuter rail lines to me would be along the Monon and the Nickle Plate which both USED to be rails and have been converted or are in the process of being converted to bike trails. But with all the street crossings of those it would mess up traffic along some busy corridors plus they are right between homes in areas with lots of political clout.

In a park-and-ride train context I think something built in the medians of the Interstates could actually be viable but I am sure there are big obstacles in vertical clearance from overpasses, utility coordination/drainage, and grades which are considered steep in rail context but OK for cars.