Providing transportation for daily commutes and destinations in northwest Indiana

Buses, routes, and lots more were on the table when the Gary Public Transportation Corp. rolled into J’s Breakfast Club for its Fall Summit.

GPTC, northwest Indiana’s only inter-city public transportation provider, brought its board of directors, department heads and bus drivers to the club’s weekly Silver Monday’s Breakfast where the focus is dialogue and discussion on issues affecting Gary residents.

For GPTC, transportation is not an issue that impacts just Gary, but beyond, from the Indiana-Illinois state line to the eastern edge of Lake County.

GPTC has 4 routes in Gary and 6 routes serving communities in Hammond, Whiting, Highland, Munster, Merrillville, Crown Point, and Hobart,

People are back to riding the bus, nearing the pace that it was back before the Covid-19 pandemic, said GPTC’s Planning and Marketing Director David Wright.

“The Broadway Metro Xpress, the feeder route, is meeting or exceeding its previous ridership goals, and at this point has about a similar, if not higher ridership per revenue mile than the South Shore,” Wright said. “So people are getting up and down Broadway, from downtown Gary all the way to Crown Point.”

Successful service on the north end of Hammond turned into service in Whiting.

“Earlier this year, we executed an agreement with Calumet College, requesting that we increase service. And on top of that, they would pay for it,” Wright said.

Crucial to that partnership were the expansion of mobile fare payments and the Cycle219 Bike Share program. Since August, ridership has doubled in north Hammond and Whiting. The schedule from downtown Gary to Hammond and Whiting was increased to hourly, where it had been every two hours.

The departure schedule on the BM Xpress from the downtown Metro Station to Crown Point returns to 3 times an hour instead of every half hour.

Adjustments on the U.S. 30 shuttle will add stops at the Lake County Public Library and Denmark College.

The Merrillville and University Park shuttle routes will be combined. Wright said those routes have suffered from service disruptions “and we don’t want to lose those customers. Some areas where there is no ridership on those routes will be removed. This will allow us to maintain an hourly frequency.”

In 2026, Cycle219 Mobility Hubs will be added at the South Shore rail stations in Hammond, downtown Gary and Miller. Other locations for the mobility hubs include Methodist Hospitals, IU Northwest, downtown Miller, and along the BM Xpress.

More fare collection options are coming in 2026. GPTC will be accepting debit and credit card transactions. “In addition, we’re going to be rolling out a new mobile app for fare collection, called Quick Fare,” Wright said.

Along with the daily commutes of getting people to and from work, “We want people to know that we are a reliable mobility option to get you to destinations,” Wright said.

GPTC connects to Whihala Beach in Hammond and Whiting, Marquette Park in Gary; all of Gary and northwest Indiana’s colleges; and the Hard Rock and Horseshoe casinos.

“We are going to be doing another version of the Holiday Lights tour in downtown and Miller. This time it will be on a separate bus with better capacity,” Wright said. “Over the last few years, we got a huge response from the public. And it’s free.”