The V-Line is the local bus operation in Valparaiso, Indiana. Service began on October 1, 2007, making Valparaiso one of the smallest cities in the United States to have its own independent public transit system.V-Line Welcome Aboard!
Operations The V-line was originally operated by McDonald Transit, a national transit operator primarily serving universities. Ride Right took over the operations in Fall 2010. In Valparaiso, the bus mostly serves the elderly and students of Valparaiso University. Commuters within the city also use it, but it is secondary to personal vehicles as a mode of transit.
The system consists of 104 stops along 4 lines. The Green Line, Yellow Line, Red line, and Brown Line operate in the city of Valparaiso on weekdays and weekends. These three lines run as "flexible fixed" routes, meaning they have standard, scheduled stops which can be altered en route to meet the needs of those who cannot otherwise reach the bus. The fourth line, the Orange Line, operates express between downtown, a stop near Valparaiso University, and the Dune Park South Shore rail. The line does not operate when NICTD conducts track and catenary repairs.
The system was started using a $615,000 federal grant. Until early 2008, the system used rented minibuses with a 16–24-person capacity. In January 2008, new buses of similar capacity were delivered.MassTransitMag.com » Article » 'V-Line' Ready to Roll in Valparaiso A standard one-way fare costs $1.00 with one free transfer. Passengers are expressly forbidden from using the transfer on the same route. Senior citizens, students, children 5–18, and disabled persons can ride for half. Young children (under age 4) and Valparaiso University students ride for free.
History of service changes In August 2009, Valparaiso officials announced a series of changes that went into effect at the end of the month. First and foremost, V-Line gained a new Red Line route, which began service August 28, 2009. It is essentially an alternate version of the Orange Line route – the buses that would previously sit idle during the scheduling breaks now travel around the city, overlapping with Green Line, Yellow Line and Brown Line buses. During Sundays, it serves as an alternative to Yellow and Green Line routes, which don't operate on the first days of the week. The Red Line route is added on experimental basis for three months – if it does well, it will be made permanent. Since then, the Red Line has become a permanent route for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It runs in a loop around the city before turning into the Orange Line route and running to the Dune Park NICTD trains station.
In addition to introducing the Red Line, V-Line rearranged the schedules for the other routes. For the Orange Line, the fall-spring Friday and Saturday service was truncated from 1:00 AM to 10:20 PM and 10:00 PM, respectively. As a result, Saturday and Sunday schedules became identical. By contrast, Yellow and Green Line route schedules were extended, running an hour later than before. Brown Line route was expanded, adding service to Ivy Tech and the Valparaiso Walk shopping complex.Summary of the most recent service updates In December 2013, the Brown Line route expanded its hours. It now begins at 12PM.
After South Shore Line adjusted its weekend schedule on November 22, 2009, V-Line adjusted Orange Line and Red Line weekend schedules. Orange Line route's service hours shifted, running between 9:15 AM and 11:05 PM. The wait times at Dune Park station were shifted to allow the bus to connect to both eastbound and westbound trains (something that the previous version of the schedule rarely allowed). Red Line's service hours were shifted and extended - it now started at 8:15 AM rather than 7:45 AM and ended at 11:55 PM rather than 10:35 PM. The decrease in the number of weekend trains allowed Valparaiso officials to increase Red Line's service frequencies during morning and evening hours.
On December 3, 2009, V-Line General Manager Ryan Landers stated that system ridership was down for all lines. He also explained that while Red Line ridership was climbing, it was still significantly below the numbers for other routes, remaining in double digits. Landers explained that he would like to keep the Red Line running for another six months - if the ridership doesn't pick up significantly, he will be forced to shut it down. Finally, he noted that while he would like to buy more vehicles in order to allow for shorter headways, the system can't afford them as of this writing.
On May 15, 2010, the V-Line summer schedule was altered. Whereas before, Brown Line route was shut down while Orange Line route continued operating at reduced hours, this time around Orange, Brown and Red routes were completely shut down for the entire duration of the summer schedule.The announcement on V-Line's official website
In the spring of 2010, the City of Valparaiso expressed its desire to consolidate operations of V-Line and ChicaGo Dash, bringing both systems under the same operator by fall 2010, when the current contracts expire."Bus Lines May Consolidate" by James S. D. Wolf Jr It was hoped that consolidation would save money. Ultimately, though, the city decided to switch to a new contractor for V-Line and leave ChicaGo Dash as is."Bus line costs expected to go down" by James D. Wolf Jr. The city is also considering revamping the current routes, but no clear plans have been announced at this time.2010 V-Line and ChicaGo Dash RFP Proposal Questions (Page 6)
In May 2011, the city of Valparaiso considered altering the schedule the same way as the previous summer. However, the feedback from the riders convinced it to merely cut the Brown Line route for the summer and leave Orange Line and Red Line routes as is. In addition, the Green Line, Yellow Line and Red Line routes were temporarily altered to make up for the gaps in service that resulted from the suspension of the Brown Line route.
In December 2013, the City of Valparaiso began a route study of the V-Line bus service. The study will finish in Spring 2014. The results of the study will aid in determining what changes are needed to the bus service to provide the best service possible with the resources at hand.
Routes Green Line - Ivy Tech to Porter's Vale to Vale Park Rd. Yellow Line - Andover Plaza to Downtown to Bullseye Lake Rd. Brown Line - Ivy Tech to Porter's Vale to Valparaiso Marketplace to Downtown Orange Line - Dune Park Station to Valparaiso University and Downtown GoDash bus station Red Line - Bullseye Lake Road to Downtown to Vale Park Rd. (discontinued) Purple Line - Andover Plaza to Downtown to Valparaiso University to Strong Bow Center to Andover Plaza (discontinued)
Ridership Statistics 2008 + Month Total Yellow Line Green Line Brown Line Orange Line January n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February n/a n/a n/a n/a 377 March 3,133 1,116 1,136 638 243 April V-Line tops 4,000 riders in April 4,085 1,207 1,178 1,405 295 May 3,585 1,350 1,288 769 178 June n/a n/a n/a -- n/a July n/a n/a n/a -- n/a August 4,819 1,843 2,039 734 203 September V-Line seeks VU boost 6,512 1,738 1,543 2,744 487 October V-Line tops 7,000 riders in October 7,023 2,045 1,875 2,527 576 November 5,822 1,745 1,567 1,941 569 December 5,389 1,615 1,727 1,858 189
2009 + Month Total Yellow Line Green Line Brown Line Orange Line Red Line January 6,412 1,801 2,034 2,235 342 -- February 6,307 1,627 1,849 2,383 403 -- March 5,683 2,135 2,104 1,158 285 -- April V-Line ridership down a little in April 6,320 1,956 1,847 2,164 535 -- May 4,964 1,924 1,925 910 205 -- June 4,224 2,090 2,069 -- 65 -- July 4,089 1,896 2,120 -- 73 -- August n/a 1,919 2,119 n/a n/a n/a September 5,570 1,850 1,985 1,421 261 53 October 5,885 app 2,000 app 2,000 1,372 350 44 November 5,030 app 1,900 app 1,900 857 309 56 December 4,640 1,656 1,865 859 211 49
2010 + Month Total Yellow Line Green Line Brown Line Orange Line Red Line January 5,525 1,801 1,789 1,563 234 37 February 5,672 1,890 2,019 1,376 333 54 March 5,741 2,396 2,460 712 148 35 April 5,965 2,356 2,290 1,039 218 62 May 4,323 1,969 1,807 461 61 25 June n/a n/a n/a -- -- -- July n/a n/a n/a -- -- -- August 6,262 2,498 2,578 1,103 51 32 September 7,238 2,356 2,343 2,115 298 126 October 7,486 2,550 2,327 2,108 338 163 November n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a December 6,770 2,621 2,332 1,483 186 148
2011
+ Month Total Yellow Line Green Line Brown Line Orange Line Red Line January 8,136 2,927 2,410 2,290 359 150 February 7,088 2,734 2,203 1,632 341 178 March 7,791 3,131 2,734 1,433 320 173 April 7,162 2,570 2,391 1,582 404 177
See also List of bus transit systems in the United States Valpo Local
References
External links Official website V-Line News archive at Valparaiso University's website Unofficial Google Map