I got the chance to ride an IndyGo Red Line bus through most of the route.

The verdict? It's pretty nice having your own lane.

I joined a media ride Thursday where we started at the IndyGo headquarters on West Washington Street and made our way to Capitol Avenue before traveling up to Meridian Street and on to College Avenue before taking the U-turn back down.

We only stopped at a station once during the ride, so it didn't really show me what it will be like to ride during regular service. The Red Line buses will stop at every one of the 28 stations once it's up and running Sept. 1.

Here is what the ride was like for me.

Our Red Line journey begins

I've been on the new buses several times, so I've seen the snazzy USB outlets for charging your phone, the real-time screens that show arrival information, and the pivoting joint connecting the two bus sections that looks like some kind of space station corridor from the inside.

New to me were the bike racks at the center of the bus, set up so cyclists can roll their front wheel into a slot instead of having to heave it up vertically as they do in other buses.

Red Line rules: What you should know about Red Line lanes

At 18th Street, we made our first turn on the route. Because the electric buses are so quiet, I was surprised to hear a beeping sound and over a loud speaker: "Caution, bus is turning" over and over again. This warning blares outside of the bus to alert nearby cars and pedestrians.

On Capitol Avenue, a southbound dedicated bus lane runs side by side with a northbound dedicated bus lane on the east side of the street, but for other motorists, the roadway is only one-way going south. So it's kind of a weird layout.

During the trip, motorists and pedestrians stared into the bus and mostly seemed curious about what was going on. One man shook his head at my colleague and gave him the thumbs-down sign. Not sure if that was a reaction to the bus or the media.

Things are pretty tight in Broad Ripple

Turning off 38th Street onto College Avenue was a bit daunting. The Broad Ripple corridor features a dedicated lane in the middle of the road. But a slightly raised median in the center meant to deter motorists from crossing the bus lane to make a turn has raised some confusion. The median gives the illusion of two narrow lanes, and people are wondering how two buses would fit. Well, they won't. Buses traveling in either direction will share the one lane. The buses straddle the median.

I asked how this wouldn't snarl traffic or cause a potential accident. Lauren Day, IndyGo director of public relations, explained that bus operators will rely on their line of sight (stations are about a half-mile apart) and help from dispatchers, who will communicate to them when to wait at the side of a center station for an oncoming bus to pass by.

Emergency vehicles in action

We stopped at the 54th Street station to walk around the platform and could hear the sound of a blaring siren in the distance. Soon a fire truck came into view, speeding north in the dedicated lane.

My heart fluttered as the truck came close to the station; the sound was deafening. It flew around the curve of the station, then continued sprinting up the dedicated lane before turning west.

The emergency vehicle plan calls for cars to pull to the right and buses to stop in their lanes and wait for the first responder to pass. The emergency vehicle can use the dedicated lane as needed, but if a bus is in the way, the first responder can go into either side of traffic to get around. I wondered how this will be handled in rush hour traffic.

Bus operating is a real skill

These articulated electric buses are quite long at 60 feet, so driving one requires some strategic maneuvering. Our bus operator also serves as a trainer, so apparently she's a pro. On the ride we encountered some construction and service vehicles stopped in the dedicated lanes. The operator weaved in and out with ease. Surprisingly, we didn't see any regular cars using the dedicated lanes.

The buses have their own traffic signals. A horizontal white line means stop. A vertical white line means go. I'm glad they are so different from regular traffic signals or it would probably cause quite a bit of confusion.

More bus routes:What's ahead after the Red Line

What will be most interesting to see is the Red Line running next to bumper-to-bumper traffic when there's not a lot of space to move around. On Shelby Street, where we didn't go, buses will share lanes with cars.

Kellie Hwang is a reporter at IndyStar. Contact her at 317-444-6032 or kellie.hwang@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @KellieHwang.