Pryor: “I hope we’ve learned a lesson with BlueIndy”

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis) today issued the following statement on the demise of BlueIndy, the Indianapolis electric car-sharing program:

“This was a bad deal from the start. That's why the Citizens Action Coalition and I fought hard to keep Indianapolis Power and Light Co. (IPL) ratepayers from footing the entire $16 million bill of a private company.  But sadly, its impact will continue to adversely affect the people of Indianapolis after this service shuts down next year.

“Remember that Indianapolis Power and Light Co. ratepayers across this city were forced to pay for the expenses incurred by that utility for BlueIndy, thanks to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC). The final figure still asked non-users to help foot the bill for the service. Bottom line, BlueIndy took our tax dollars and caused our utility rates to go up. Now ratepayers are left on the hook for a business that is bailing out of our city.  

“As I have said from the start, the problem here has been that we were being asked to pay for a program that never had been tested anywhere. As it turned out, few were interested in driving with BlueIndy, and we have seen tax dollars lost, utility rates go up, prime parking spaces removed, and increased inconvenience for drivers throughout the city.

“Now IPL ratepayers and taxpayers need to know how we will be relieved from the burden of funding a failure. Will another company come in to replace BlueIndy?  If not, we need to know what will happen to the stations that take up so much space in front of our homes and businesses. If those spaces are going to be converted back to regular parking, we need to know who will foot the bill and how long it will take.

“I hope we have learned some lessons from this massive mistake. Above all, we need to make sure that whenever the next grand experiment like this is proposed and taxpayer dollars are being used to pay the bill, we make sure that everyone has a seat at the table to understand the impact. We need to make sure we are not asking ratepayers to pay more on their utility bill for a private service they will never use. BlueIndy should serve as a shining example of what happens when we don’t follow the rules.

“And what about BlueIndy itself? I hope you've learned a lesson.”