Mayor Greg Ballard named IndyGo an award recipient in the city’s third annual Indianapolis Sustainability Awards for its aggressive efforts in advancing sustainability throughout the community in 2011.
IndyGo received honors in the award’s air category for its “Community Collaborations Program,” which encourages partnerships by providing in-kind sponsorships. In return, the partners promote IndyGo and route information specific to the events/facilities through ads, signage, brochures and the Web. When the program launched, the main goal was to grow awareness for mass transit, but IndyGo has surpassed this plan and is building credibility within the community by increasing ridership 10.2 percent from 2011. This is the second consecutive win for IndyGo, winning last year with IndyGo’s “Go Green Initiative.”
“IndyGo’s innovative in-kind sponsorship provides access to the communications toolbox through a negotiation template that sparks ideas, creativity and discussion for smaller scale or new collaborations,” said Mayor Ballard. “The reciprocal relationship between IndyGo and its community partners is symbiotic to reach the goal of improved awareness of public transportation and ridership.”
The IndyGo toolbox is funded through the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) program. IndyGo leverages grant dollars to generate sponsorships and increase community awareness through business relationships.
“I am proud of our innovative business development team,” said Mike Terry, president and CEO of IndyGo. “With limited resources, our team has not only sustained local relationships but has found a way to grow successful partnerships across the city and increase transit awareness and ridership.”
IndyGo continues its support of sustainable living by participating again this year at the Earth Day Indiana Festival at White River State Park on April 28. IndyGo will be at Earth Day Indiana to educate the community on transit and will feature one of its 2010 Hybrid Electric buses. For additional information regarding IndyGo’s sustainable initiatives, visit IndyGo.net.
