2013 APTA Award Profile: Public support fuels The Rapid's growth
The Rapid is currently focusing on work-related trips by adding more frequent service during commuter hours and more routes running into the evening to provide access to second- and third-shift jobs.
With a history of successful public support, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Interurban Transit Partnership’s (The Rapid) ridership grew from 4.5 million to 11.9 million from 2000 to 2012, which is just one reason why it has been named APTA’s “Outstanding Public Transit System,” carrying more than four million but less than 20 million.
One major contributor for The Rapid’s ridership growth has been expansion as a result of four successful referendums to raise the property millage that is used to partially fund its operations since 2000.
Ad Loading...
“Back in 2000 before we passed the first millage, we had no evening service at all, very little Saturday service and no Sunday service,” explains Jennifer Kalczuk, spokesperson for The Rapid. “A big part of what we have been doing with each millage is building a system that is convenient and gets people to where they want to go, when they want to get there.”
With that in mind, The Rapid is currently focusing on work-related trips by adding more frequent service during commuter hours and more routes running into the evening to provide access to second- and third-shift jobs, as well as steadily increasing weekend service.
The most recent millage raise in 2011 will be used to fund the first phase of the Transit Master Plan approved by The Rapid’s board in 2010, which will aim to reduce the weekday wait for most buses to 15 minutes as well as add new crosstown routes to avoid downtown transfers, enable all routes to run on Sunday and create the first bus rapid transit (BRT) line in the state, which will be known as the Silver Line.
The 9.6-mile BRT system, set to open in August 2014, will serve major employers, including St. Mary’s Medical campus, the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and the Cook-DeVos School of Nursing, which together employ about 29,000 area residents.
In October 2012, the Federal Transit Administration pledged $19 million through its Capital Investment (Small Starts) Program and $13 million through its Bus and Bus Facilities grant program to help fund the project.
What truly drives the cost of a paratransit fleet? Beyond the purchase price, seven operational factors quietly determine maintenance frequency, downtime, and long-term service reliability. This whitepaper explores how these factors shape lifecycle cost and what agencies should evaluate when selecting paratransit vehicles.
In this conversation, TBC’s Executive Director Ed Redfern, President Corey Aldridge, and Washington Representative Joel Rubin outline the coalition’s key policy priorities, the challenges facing transit agencies, and how industry stakeholders can work together to strengthen the voice of bus transit at the federal level.
Originally introduced in 2023 as the Bus Line Redesign, the effort has evolved into a more targeted update that maintains familiar routes while improving reliability, frequency, evening and weekend service, and connections across Allegheny County.
S3 will connect communities along SR 522 with fast, reliable, battery-electric bus service from Shoreline South Station to Bothell via Kenmore and Lake Forest Park.
The configuration uses Ster Seating's Gemini seat platform to create a family-friendly floor layout specifically engineered to accommodate parents traveling with young children.
