I just visited Chicago this weekend and one of the things that made me appreciate Indy the most was the fact I couldn't just drive where I wanted to. Parking and traffic was ridiculous in Chicago, and taxi's weren't much cheaper. I love being able to drive from spot to spot with minimal traffic and no parking fees (on weekends). With gas prices rising, I can see the concern with transportation costs, but I prefer driving and parking at my leisure to waiting for buses or trains to arrive then walking from there.

But I do agree a decent rail transit system or better bus system wouldn't hurt us. Something that could take you from the north side to downtown and the south side...because those are the worst traffic areas. A train from Fishers through downtown to Greenwood would be a great thing and would cut down 465 traffic for the most part.

Space...That is the problem. From downtown what is there? Ghetto in all directions. We don't have enough space to put in a rail system and we're not big enough right now to need one. If the city did decide to put one in regardless, after the logistics nightmare i think it'd be worth it.

Yeah we are a lot smaller than Chicago. Sure it'd be nice but only major cities have things like metros and trains. Even if we had one we aren't going to grow in to a city the size of Chicago. Seriously, this is Indianapolis we are never going to have the transportation, "arts", "culture", and "diversity" of NY/LA/Chicago/DC...ever.

The city was laid out so that we wouldn't need mass transit. Our street and interstate systems just make too much sense. I heard some talk about streetcars running downtown, but that was a few months ago. Anyone hear about that? Personally I would love to be able to motor around the city on a streetcar, especially for a bar crawl.

I think we should have a mass transit system more like the ones in bigger cities. When I first moved up here I was shocked that we didn't! I saw the tram downtown that goes from IUPUI to Whiteriver Park and then to the hospital and rode on that one day but it was not the same!

I believe as far as land mass goes, we're the 12th largest city in the country. Then there's all the suburbs like Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Avon, Plainfield, Greenwood, Brownburg, etc. It would be nice to have, at the very least, express trains from all the suburbs to downtown and back. This way people would have the option of commuting via train rather than having tens of thousands of people driving into the city every day.

I know I'd rather sit on the train and read the paper rather than drive, even if it took me a little longer to get to work.

"Ghetto in all directions." Huh? So up on North Meridian street - that's all ghetto? Irvington? And the solid and, yes, working class neighborhood of Hawthorne? The rest of center township, too? This city's core is pretty diverse, and contains a diverse set of road ways that once upon a time accommodated tracks for public transportation.

For everyone to consider public transportation "worth" the transition and price, we're probably going to have to stop dismissing huge swaths of our community as ghettos.

St. Louis has a terrific light rail system. This is the type of mass transit Indianapolis should plan for.

You know what was really nice? My nephew who moved from here for a job (not enough here) can use the e. He doesn't need a car, insurance, etc. He had them because when he lived and worked here, he had to have them. He paid out the wazoo to park downtown and was pleasantly surprised at how affordable and easy it was to catcha bus, train or subway. ALmost any time, everywhere. He visits sights all over town he could never afford to do here - bacause of the price of gas, etc. For young people starting out it's the best. I'd sure use it if it were as easy as it is there.