Given the tens of billions of dollars that L.A. will spend on transit over the next few decades, it's all the more important to invest it in ways that will be useful and attract riders. But since 2014, ridership has been dropping.
What Indianapolis is doing deserves attention, especially from other spread-out American cities looking to spend their transit dollars as efficiently as possible. The big change is a complete reshaping of bus service, which will be like setting up a brand new transit network.
The suburbanization of jobs in Indianapolis has put more and more entry-level positions far from the urban transit network - out of reach, in other words, for many people without advanced degrees who need those jobs. But to their credit, suburban employers and local governments have been working together to make the best of this situation.
Transit service in Indianapolis is scarce and very few people use the existing system. A key reason for these lackluster outcomes is the city's sprawling pattern of development.
Suffice it to say that it’s simply not convenient for most people to use the Indianapolis transit system. Things are looking up, though: Last fall, Indianapolis residents voted massively in favor of a funding package that should significantly improve service in the coming years.