On Monday, January 8, 2024, GPTC implemented service improvements in the Midtown, Tolleston, and Pulaski neighborhoods.
This effort included:
- Creation of the West Central via Grant Street line: an "enhanced" service on Grant Street with thirty-minute frequency in both directions (doubling current service frequency).This enhanced service is similar to the Broadway Metro Express, connecting residents in Horace Mann, Tolleston, and University Park with another high quality, high frequency mobility option.
- Creation of a Crosstown Connector, serving as a feeder to provide local service from Burr Street to Central Avenue, connecting travelers to Burr Street/Lake Ridge, to the new West Central line and the Broadway Metro Express without having to make a long, connecting trip to University Park and downtown.
These services replaced current Routes L1, L3, and L5 - but the new transit lines:
- Maintain service to over 90% of existing bus stops from Burr Street to Marshalltown.
- Focus service at County Market Plaza, near shopping and housing communities
- Increasing service to almost forty stops - in some cases tripling service
- Reduce unproductive miles.
- With this change in service, the West Central line was designated L1, and the Crosstown Connector was designated L3.
In addition to these improvements, two additional "tweaks" were implemented to improve service as well:
- Route R3 (Burr/Lake Ridge) was re-aligned to 15th Avenue from Chase St. to Burr St.
- Route L4 (University Park) was connect to the new West Central and Crosstown lines at County Market Plaza.
Revised schedules are live on www.GaryTransit.com and will also be available in the main office at the Metro Center. Trip planning apps (like Google Transit and Moovit) will be updated soon after.
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History
When GPTC operated as Gary Railways, four car-houses (or garages) joined interurban streetcar lines throughout Northwest Indiana, connecting neighborhoods, work sites, & other surrounding areas.
Three still stand today and are used for other purposes, one of which is the Gary Hobart & Eastern Traction Co. car-house in Hobart. It now houses Krull-Abonmarche, a design, architecture, engineering, and surveying firm.
The Hobart car-house was just west of the downtown Hobart portion of the service. The streetcar line ran along the median of 3rd Street, heading into downtown Hobart. Going back towards Gary, the line paralleled the Pennsy railroad line to 37th Avenue, then along 37th to Broadway in Glen Park.
