Can you live in Indianapolis without a car? (Columbus, Fishers: 2013, hotel)

[Toxic Toast]

I live on the near east side, and I have used the bus to get to work, the library, restaurants, around town.

The bus has never left me stranded, it is generally reliable. I do also have two cars; so I am not fully dependent on the bus.

Routes 8, 10, and 39 have new "frequent" service, meaning they run at worst 20 minutes apart. The 8 bus will get you anywhere along Washington Street, all the way out to Meijer in Cumberland. I've never used the bus for grocery shopping, but people do. Would I? If I was in a pinch, yes.

If you want to live in Indianapolis without a car, you can look downtown; but you can also consider places like Irvington or Broad Ripple or Fountain Square. It might be a strectch in those areas, but it can be done.

[msamhunter]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

I live on the near east side, and I have used the bus to get to work, the library, restaurants, around town.

The bus has never left me stranded, it is generally reliable. I do also have two cars; so I am not fully dependent on the bus.

Routes 8, 10, and 39 have new "frequent" service, meaning they run at worst 20 minutes apart. The 8 bus will get you anywhere along Washington Street, all the way out to Meijer in Cumberland. I've never used the bus for grocery shopping, but people do. Would I? If I was in a pinch, yes.

If you want to live in Indianapolis without a car, you can look downtown; but you can also consider places like Irvington or Broad Ripple or Fountain Square. It might be a strectch in those areas, but it can be done.

People with cars generally do not study bus routes or schedules so most probably esp. on here would not know how to adequately get around this city on the bus.

Real life situation, two kids, 22 and 21, grab the Access Johnson County (yep Johnson County) head north and meet up with IndyGo at the K-Mart at Smith Valley and 31. That allows them to traverse into all parts of the city (and yes they have) North, South, East and West all by IndyGo and somehow manage to grab IndyGo and meet back up at Access Johnson County at Smith Valley and 31 and then head south and walk home. Granted that is extreme as AJC is like $4 a trip but you should get the gist of what I'm saying. IndyGo is bad esp. for the population base it has, but it's not undoable as thousands actually do it every single day and sometimes from different counties.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by msamhunter

People with cars generally do not study bus routes or schedules so most probably esp. on here would not know how to adequately get around this city on the bus.

Granted that is extreme as AJC is like $4 a trip but you should get the gist of what I'm saying. IndyGo is bad esp. for the population base it has, but it's not undoable as thousands actually do it every single day and sometimes from different counties.

I am not sure I do get the gist..............OP was looking for pedestrian friendly areas that she could live without a car. That's not Johnson County. IndyGo has served me well when I've used it, but I've never tried to leave Marion County on it.

[msamhunter]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

I am not sure I do get the gist..............OP was looking for pedestrian friendly areas that she could live without a car. That's not Johnson County. IndyGo has served me well when I've used it, but I've never tried to leave Marion County on it.

Op asked about ped areas yes, but also asked if it were possible to get around the city without a car. The answer is yes. Odds are OP wouldn't live very close to their doctor so public transportation would be a necessity. BTW, you can live in Franklin without a car depending on where you live within it and still get to the city and back and do your daily routines like grocery shopping. The gist was doing public transportation in Indianapolis is more doable than people think it is. You just have to know what you're doing and how to schedule. Thousands do it daily so to read post after post of people saying you can't is a lie. You can, it can just be difficult for the novice and location of residence within the city.

[W & C]

I can't think of another big city in the entire world that is more car-centric than Indianapolis.

Honestly, I couldn't even imagine living downtown w/out a car.

Btw, walkscore.com is a very good resource to finding out how pedestrian-friendly an area is. You can look up an entire city, or a neighborhood or a particular address.

[A2DAC1985]

Originally Posted by W & C

I can't think of another big city in the entire world that is more car-centric than Indianapolis.

How about Jacksonville, FL???
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Survey says: ...

Jacksonville is worse!

Do I get money... or a new washer and dryer... or a ferret?

[W & C]

Originally Posted by A2DAC1985

How about Jacksonville, FL???
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Survey says: ...

Jacksonville is worse!

Do I get money... or a new washer and dryer... or a ferret?

Oh yeah.. that place is so dead.

I remember, me and my friend were driving back from Miami and stopped by downtown Jax to watch a football game. We figured it'd be easy to find a bar since we were in downtown.

Well, downtown was completely dead. About the only thing we found was some drunk homeless guy on a bike offering to take us to a place that's open where we could watch the game if we gave him $5

[doulike2]

Indianapolis' public transportation system is horrible but it has improved over the years.

[bertrandandjules]

Originally Posted by W & C

Oh yeah.. that place is so dead.

I remember, me and my friend were driving back from Miami and stopped by downtown Jax to watch a football game. We figured it'd be easy to find a bar since we were in downtown.

Well, downtown was completely dead. About the only thing we found was some drunk homeless guy on a bike offering to take us to a place that's open where we could watch the game if we gave him $5

I don't know if Nashville's public transportation is worse than Indy's (it probably isn't), but the overall layout of the city made it seem significantly less walkable. Just awful. Even a walk from Vanderbilt to downtown felt uncomfortable and unsafe--completely designed for cars.

I've heard that Oklahoma City has even worse mass transit than Indy--not that that is any consolation. Never been there though.

Kansas City has a good bus system, but if it weren't for that, it would be pretty darn car-dependent in terms of the layout of things. And the biking culture doesn't seem nearly as good as in Indy (which, granted, is a very new thing--but still pretty good for such a car-dependent city).

[W & C]

Originally Posted by bertrandandjules

I don't know if Nashville's public transportation is worse than Indy's (it probably isn't), but the overall layout of the city made it seem significantly less walkable. Just awful. Even a walk from Vanderbilt to downtown felt uncomfortable and unsafe--completely designed for cars.

I've heard that Oklahoma City has even worse mass transit than Indy--not that that is any consolation. Never been there though.

Kansas City has a good bus system, but if it weren't for that, it would be pretty darn car-dependent in terms of the layout of things. And the biking culture doesn't seem nearly as good as in Indy (which, granted, is a very new thing--but still pretty good for such a car-dependent city).

Walkscore.com agrees with your assertions.

Indianapolis' walkscore - 37, pretty poor. But both Nashville and OKC score a 36, one point worse than Indy. Jacksonville - 33, really bad. Kansas City, MO - 38.