South Shore Line riders can expect schedule adjustments and a fare hike in the coming months. Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) President Mike Noland reviewed the railroad's 2025 business plan with the NICTD board Monday.
A new schedule set to take effect February 18 will add a round-trip on the weekends, but remove an early morning eastbound train during the week. Noland said off-peak and weekend ridership have had a stronger recovery from the COVID pandemic.
"Really excited to be able to add another round-trip opportunity on the weekends, to really go after some additional discretionary ridership," Noland told board members.
The new schedule is also expected to include dozens of minor adjustments to try to improve on-time performance. Noland said the railroad continues monitoring shifts in remote work policies in both the private and public sectors, as part of its ridership and revenue projections.
Meanwhile, the South Shore Line is also proposing a fare increase of about 10 percent. Commuter railroads largely put fare hikes on hold during the pandemic, but Noland said now that things have stabilized, a 10-percent hike seems reasonable.
"There certainly have been inflationary pressures that are far exceeding the ticket price that we have been charging for our riders," Noland said.
NICTD will hold public hearings on the proposed fare hike, before bringing it to the board for approval around May.
Noland said the railroad is also asking the Indiana General Assembly for more funding, to avoid a fiscal cliff caused by the pandemic's decrease in ridership. "If we were back at 2019 ridership, we wouldn't be going down to the state to get the additional funding," Noland added.
Also as part of the business plan, the NICTD board agreed to commit $6 million dollars of the railroad's capital funds toward a shorter route to the South Bend Airport. The estimated construction cost is $112 million dollars, and Noland hopes the federal government will cover half. He said he will work with the state, St. Joseph County, the Northern Indiana Regional Development Authority and the private sector to cover the rest.
Noland said the University of Notre Dame and 1st Source Bank have expressed interest. "They have leaned in hard and thrown their full weight behind moving the project and said they'll work on getting private-sector dollars, which has never before, in my existence, happened," Noland said.
He said engineering on the South Bend realignment is 60- to 70-percent complete.
A public open house on the project will be held Tuesday, January 28 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST at Dickinson Academy in South Bend.
