Can Transit Reverse Indianapolis’ Center-City Slide?

At the Indiana statehouse today, a committee is discussing a transit plan that could revolutionize Indianapolis. The proposal would drastically expand transit investment, and add a rapid transit element, in an attempt to make this relatively auto-centric city a more authentically urban place.

But changing the transportation culture of a city is hard. And some of the state's top opinionators have dismissed the whole idea, most recently Andrea Neal, a columnist at the Indianapolis Star. Since Indianapolis is so low-density and oriented around the car, according to Neal, it's foolish to devote more resources to transit.

Aaron Renn of Network blog the Urbanophile says Neal may be right about the current transportation dynamic, but argues there are important reasons to support transit anyway. Like the future of the region's economy:

Renn points out that Center Township -- the centermost portion of Indianpolis' Marion County -- experienced pretty significant population loss over the last decade: 14.5 percent, a statistic that puts it in league with cities like Buffalo and Cleveland. Meanwhile, as shown in the above chart, residential growth in the city's downtown areas has been anemic and the city has been hemorrhaging jobs to suburban locations.