Transit advocates have struggled to persuade voters and state officials to fund rapid transportation, but the question seems destined to appear again in Central Indiana.

On Nov. 3, voters in Porter and St. Joseph counties overwhelmingly shot down a proposal to create a regional transportation district that could have increased income taxes to pay for expanded bus and train service.

While the referendums failed, conducting a vote is more headway than local advocates have made.

Legislation to create a transportation district to raise income taxes to expand IndyGo bus service and add a multimillion-dollar light rail line from Noblesville through Fishers to Downtown Indianapolis along the Nickel Plate Road rail line died in the General Assembly this year. The Nickel Plate was to be the first of several rail lines serving Indianapolis and the suburbs.

Ehren Bingaman, executive director of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, might make another attempt and ask the state to create a funding plan in 2011. Next year is an election year, and he worries it would be hard to find support.

He’s not worried the results in Northwest Indiana will foreshadow the outcomes of possible referendums here. He said elected officials and transit supporters in Northwest Indiana did not all agree that the plan they asked voters to approve is the best option.

“There is no impact on Central Indiana from the Northwest Indiana referendum,” Bingaman said.

Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, also believes the outcome of the Northwest Indiana referendums has no bearing locally. Kenley isn’t an advocate, and he opposed transit funding for Central Indiana this year.

Still, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee thinks support could exist in the General Assembly in 2011. Even if the state does approve a funding plan, he said transit advocates still would need to convince voters. He would expect legislation to require every county that wants to fund transit to hold a referendum.

“Central Indiana is a more unified group in terms of attitudes, and (transit) studies have been going on for quite a while,” Kenley said. “I think there is some consensus developing over the long haul for at least a planned transportation system.”

Before Kenley agrees to a funding plan, he said, transit promoters need to show broad support exists at the state level and in each local city, county and town. Advocates also should create a master plan showing where and when lines serving other counties would be built, Kenley said.

In the meantime, plans are moving forward. The Metropolitan Planning Organization has begun an environmental study along the Nickel Plate to determine where land needs to be acquired and the effect on noise, environment and historical properties.

While the General Assembly resisted passing legislation to create a regional transportation district to raise income taxes for Central Indiana transit options, it allowed four Northwest Indiana counties — Porter, St. Joseph, Lake and LaPorte — the option to join in creating a district.

Voters from two of those counties needed to approve referendums to create the district for all four. The votes failed in Porter and St. Joseph, while leaders in Lake and LaPorte never put the question to voters.

Bill Hanna, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, attributes the defeats to poor communication with voters and national anti-tax sentiment.

“Saying no to everything new is just saying yes to the status quo,” said Hanna, who supported the plan. “The status quo is not a very efficient system and does not make an effective use of tax money.”