rapid

The Rapid's fixed-route ridership increased by 18.1% in February 2024 relative to February 2023. Evening ridership (+19%) continues to lead the recovery; although this may be slightly influenced by some reduced service in the AM schedule due to under-funding by the Democratic trifecta in Lansing. So far it looks like LBO (local bus operating) funding from the state of Michigan to urban transit operators will hit a record low in 2025.

There has been a great deal of mobility news in the past few months; 2024 is shaping up to be a big year.

It has been a long time in the making, riders have been able to feel it coming, and now it's here: the service cuts. DASH service since the launch of the DASH v3.0 routes in May (2023) has not operated Monday or Tuesday, the other days of the week it has been unreliable (not 15 minute headways). Ghost buses have begun appearing across the network, a phenomenon rarely experienced in previous years.

The Rapid's goal for on-time performance of fixed route service is 90%. "On-time" is defined by the industry standard of being less than five (5) minutes late, and less than one (1) minute early. All the vehicles in the Rapid's fixed route fleet are equipped with real-time vehicle location and information systems.

On-time performance since fiscal year 2021:

The 👉2023-05 meeting of the Rapid Planning meeting contained the "Rousing Debate".👈. Truly riveting reading for those of us who are the type of people who read meeting minutes. 🙂 Fortunatley for us, this conversation continued at 👉the 2023-09 Planning meeting (PDF, minutes)👈

The text from the meeting minutes has been edited slightly for readability.

A little known local transit detail is that the Rapid operates a set of route extensions during the GRPS school year. This includes routes #1 (Division/Madison), #4 (Eastern), #7 (West Leonard), #10 (Clyde Park), and #12 (West Fulton). These route extensions operate on weekdays in the ~7am and ~2pm hours.

Route #33

The Rapid will begin operating a weekday express route to the Walker industrial park. The industrial park was previously served by an interline with route #9 (Alpine) - - - which was very confusing.

Route 33 will run hourly from 5:45am - 10:45am and 1:45pm - 5:45pm, Monday through Friday.