In several of The Star’s community editions today, our staff is taking a look at the IndyGo bus system’s commuter express to and from Downtown Indianapolis.

A year ago, two of those routes — to and from Fishers and Carmel — often were running at capacity.

But then, it was also a year ago that gasoline prices were at their highest level ever — at $4 or more a gallon.

These days, the big coaches have quite a few empty seats. A new commuter express that began operating to and from Greenwood earlier this year is drawing particularly low ridership.

As transit officials face delays in the planning of a new express to and from Hendricks County, I think it’s fair to pose the question: Will Downtown commuters still ride the bus when gasoline prices appear to have settled well below $3?

There might be other factors involved.

In Greenwood, there are doubts as to whether the route has been publicized enough.

It’s also possible that the pickup point — on Ind. 135 on the western edge of the Greenwood city limits — might not be the most convenient for the most likely riders.

Fishers — the first community to have an express route — has the healthiest ridership of the three. For July, it stood at more than 6,900 riders.

But that’s still less than half of the ridership in July 2008. And the route from Carmel is reporting a similar decrease from a year ago.

What do you think? Is there a magic number for the price of gasoline — $3 a gallon? $4 a gallon? — that would make you more likely to leave the car at home and ride the bus?

Or are there other reasons why you would or wouldn’t?

I’d like to pick up the conversation on Friday, during my weekly online chat on community issues in the Indianapolis area.

I hope you can join us starting at 1 p.m. at IndyStar.com/communitychat

If you can’t join us then, feel free to give me a call or send me an e-mail, using the contact information below.