Case Date:

8/18/2026

This ticket logs a critical safety and infrastructure failure at the downtown transit terminal. The facility functions as an unmanaged space during early mornings, evenings, and Sundays when the building is locked and no staff or active security are present between bus arrivals and departures. This vacuum completely undermines the heavily marketed "Bloomington Transit for Everyone" campaign and the commitment to the "Safe Streets for All" Action Plan. This submission is a constructive, collaborative data point to help the city align its public transit utilities with its economic development goals. As a daily commuter, I strongly support the continuation of Local Income Tax (LIT) funding for Bloomington Transit. However, the direct fallout of reduced staffing and restricted off-peak hours has created an unmanaged environment. This is a critical issue just feet away from the city’s new convention center expansion and hotel project, which will rely heavily on a robust hospitality workforce. Because hospitality wages make public transit a mandatory option for many employees, ensuring a secure central hub is a vital economic requirement.Certain individuals use the unstaffed terminal grounds to engage in long-term surveillance of riders. By tracking commuters carrying work gear or groceries, they openly map out riders' predictable shift routines and when their residences are left unattended, disproportionately targeting some of the solo women. I utilize strict "gray rock" protocols, keeping earbuds in, wearing sunglasses, and looking down, yet I am still approached multiple times a month by men who take rejection personally. Past instances of choosing not to remain friendly resulted in them shouting and intimidating me. It does not happen to everyone, just people they think seem vulnerable, nice, stable, and frequently travel alone. Many passengers have their own mental health concerns and cannot always be responsible for managing an unmanaged day shelter space while just trying to get to a hospitality job. The current setup causes a constant cortisol spike before and after work for the young and middle-aged women who realize they are being targeted. Anyone driving by can see the flashing emergency lights at the transit center for medical issues without having to experience the daily position of a captive commuter. People who are not riding the bus and use the space as an unmonitored day shelter do not all cause problems, but some do and cannot or will not accept other provided services. Sundays are not a place where those social services are available with any kind of supervision or oversight. It is just an unstaffed slab to sit. On Sundays and off-hours, there are longer layovers, a bit of a Transit trap of longer waits or missed opportunities when you need to transfer buses, and no one answers the phone lines at Bloomington Transit. Riders are left with only two unsustainable options. You can tell a bus driver when a bus finally arrives, but they are focused on driving and unable to address terminal grounds safety. Furthermore, some drivers are new, and reporting a harasser out loud to a confused driver who asks questions puts a commuter completely "on blast" to the group watching on the benches. Otherwise, you are forced to follow Police Captain Ryan Pedigo's instruction to simply call 911 every time. This creates a severe retaliation trap. Because the terminal is unstaffed, calling the police inside a fixed space puts a permanent target on a working-class commuter's back who cannot afford alternative transit options. If the harasser leaves before responders arrive, the surrounding group watches, notes who called, and targets them on future commutes. This safety crisis is compounded by a breakdown in basic utility infrastructure. Bloomington Transit’s campaigns encourage riders to use mobile ticketing apps and bring a water bottle. However, on weekends and Sundays, the locked terminal entirely cuts off plumbing and water refills during federal heat advisories, even though passengers need to stick close by the facility to wait for buses in the shade. Furthermore, the outdoor ticketing machines are frequently broken, forcing mobile app reliance, but the terminal provides no charging stations. Commuters cannot safely carry overheating power banks in extreme heat, leaving them vulnerable to dead phone batteries with no way to access bus passes or text for help.Bloomington cannot successfully grow its hospitality sector via the convention center expansion if the essential workers required to run it are left vulnerable and unprotected at its central transit hub. Please allocate LIT transit funding away from glossy marketing and directly into continuous, supervisor-led security monitoring, weekend facility access, and reliable public utility infrastructure. Thank you for all you do to get Bloomington's long term, low wage workforce to work, food, retail, medical, and other services safely.

Case Date:

7/19/2026

Hello! We would love to start using the number 5 bus more often, but the closest bus stop feels a bit dangerous. It only has a sign; no concrete pad or bus stop bench area. Being on the south side of the street with no sidewalk area by it, cars go incredibly fast by us while we are waiting. This photo from today shows that it isn’t well kept; not mowed often and in the winter, often is piled up with snow. We would like to request improvements to this bus stop so we (and others) can use it more regularly and feel safer. Thank you.

Case Date:

2/21/2026

I was recently in Bloomington and saw the giant electric buses driving around. I wanted to point out that you could waste taxpayer money faster by just placing it directly into any toilet and depressing the flush lever.

Case Date:

2/18/2026

At approximately 4:14pm today (2/18/26) I was riding my bicycle in the bike lane on North College across from Square Donuts. Bus #2506, Route #6 (women with black hair) was stopped on the bike lane at the BT bus stop. I went around her into the lane of traffic. As I was going around her, she started pulling out at the time I was just behind her left shoulder. Her window was open, so I alerted her that I was there. I thought she would slow down or stop but instead she accelerated as she looked at me. She could have cared less. I got the look from her that said my bus is bigger you stop. I did stop abruptly almost wrecking in traffic otherwise she would of ran over me or further pushed me into traffic. Please email me what your resolution was as I will follow up.

Case Date:

2/16/2026

This morning at roughly 9:30 am, a public transit B Link bus, number 2469, was headed south on S Highland Avenue and did not stop at the stop sign before proceeding to turn right onto E Winslow Road. The bus whipped out in front of me as I was headed west on East Winslow Road. There was very dense fog this morning, making this failure to stop especially concerning. Please make sure that bus drivers are following traffic laws, particularly when there is adverse weather. Thank you!

Case Date:

12/1/2025

While I'm on the subject of the bus! I am fully in support of BT's decision to remove bus advertising wraps. But please, could you just leave the wraps off of the windows altogether? They make it very difficult to see where one is going and when is the right time to pull the cord. Thank you!

Case Date:

12/1/2025

This is another bus stop that I don't understand! The whole structure is surrounded by some kind of green cage material, except for the door which does not face the street. So if you are standing inside the cage, I don't know how well you can see the bus, but the driver certainly cannot see you. Plus, once you've decided it's time to stand up and go, you've got to hustle out of the back and scoot all the way around the structure. If this is not a complete wackadoo design, I would enjoy an explanation. But if it IS wackadoo, please warn the future bus stop installers and perhaps fix this one. It takes up an awful lot of sidewalk real estate to be wrong.

Case Date:

12/1/2025

BT is supposed to install some new bus shelters, so I wanted to discuss the one near the corner of 14th and College Ave. It's more or less brand new and it's really bad in some remarkable ways! 1) When they built it, they built it at least twice. I'm not kidding. They ripped out the concrete pad and started over. I've always wondered why. 2) I like that there is a garbage can, but they installed in on the side of the shelter that the bus approaches from. If you sit on the bench, you can't see the bus approach and I doubt the driver can see you either. 3) It might help to sit on the end of the bench farthest from the garbage but you can't because a couple of months ago, someone vomited on it and the roof of the structure has done a pretty good job of preventing the rain from washing it away. 4) That roof, incidentally, does not do a whole lot to shade me from the early morning sun OR any kind of rain that falls at any angle. Not, of course, that it's possible for many people to stand under that shelter because of that bench you can't sit on. ANYWAY. I'm not begging for an improvement or anything (though I wouldn't turn one down!) but these are all just sort of design and installation issues that I think BT should think about the next time they install a shelter. Thanks!

Case Date:

11/20/2025

Bus 1777 parks here curb is yellow. This is directly in front of a recreational eating area Ruins lunch for all here

Case Date:

11/20/2025

Bus 1777 parks here curb is yellow. This is directly in front of a recreational eating area Ruins lunch for all here