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ITP - The Rapid

torgo

By torgo
in Grand Rapids

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
Posted

Not to throw the new bus station under the bus.... but

cut and paste this into the 2006 predictions thread, the rapid staging area has been the scene of

several fights and flat out brawls this past summer... more than I can count on my fingers.

The press is going to catch on to this if something is not done about it, and its going to be a...

black eye. The high school kiddies are doing a modern rendition of West Side Story there

the hour after they get out of school. Local cops refer to it as "babysitting hour".

And Lordy... how on earth do you build a bus terminal with a half dozen parking spaces out front

on the curb? The lot in front is for employees/future tenants. There IS a daily Greyhound schedule out of there. Buy ramps from devlopers, scrutinize parking code, build bus terminals with no parking.

Must be sunspots.

:huh: just :huh:

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

Posted
Posted

Thought I'd share with you some ITP facts I found in their nice little booklet... I think this little thing should be free and mass mailed to the residents in the suburbs, boy this thing would really answer a lot of questions these folks have.

Why do I see empty buses? - Bus usage is a lot like road usage. On weekday mornings, the highways into downtown are extremely crowded while the outbound lanes are nearly empty. This reverses in the afternoon - the outbound lanes become clogged and the inbound lanes have little traffic. Buses have similar patterns. Ridership varies depending on the time of day, day of the week, the route, and the direction the bus is traveling. In general, the closer to the begining or end of a route the bus is, the fewer passengers are on it. As the bus travels its route, passengers get on and off. We average 20 people per hour on the buses.

Why dosen't the Rapid use smaller buses? Our mission is to provide consistent, comprehensive service in the most cost-effective way possible. During peak times, buses are often standing room only and we have to be able to meet this demand. Having smaller buses available for off-peak times when demand is lower would essentially require us to purchase, own, and operate two fleets - not a very cost-effective strategy.

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metrogrkid Hamlet

metrogrkid

Posted
Posted

. . . . I wonder if our GR minorities have the same perception about how the city fathers view their street needs compared to Dick De Vos's needs in front of the Amway and convention center as the minorities of New Orleans have toward their governmental leaders' priorities, lol . . . .

"Our Minorities" along with a "LOL" (READ: Laugh Out Loud) in reference to the travesty of the Katrina disaster, huh? WOW. How Marie Antoinette / Barbara Bush of you? Just say "Those People" or something more insulting so we can continue to prove that certain folks in GR STILL have their heads up their _______ . :yahoo: Isn't it wonderful proving how jacked up you are to the outside world?

:thumbsup: Congratulations. You win the STUPID COMMENT IN THE MIDDLE OF TRYING TO MAKE A GOOD POINT AWARD. <Disgusted Sigh>, just when I think we're starting to think before we type. :blink: Good Grief.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Looks like The Rapid is going to buy five more of the diesel electric hybrid buses like the two it bought last month. No link to the article, but it states:

"The Rapid agreed to seek additional federal funding ($2.1 million) through the Federal Clean Fuels Grant Program, available to areas NOT in compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act. The hybrid busses promise cleaner emissions and fuel savings. The initial two buses are to begin test runs late this year or early next year."

So there ya go.

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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Yah, an it feels like its gettin hot in here. Looks like some folks are putting on the pressure.

Bulkowski says it best, "Any time we try to hold Detroit's transit system accountable, we get labeled as wanting to divide the state of Michigan," he said. "We're not trying to do that, but those transit systems are poor and we've been improving our system for years."

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torgo Town

torgo

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The last paragraph of that article was great:

"She signs legislation every week that affects (only) one part of the state," Kooiman said. "If this was a bill that only provided funding for (Detroit) would she have vetoed it? I will lay money on the line that she would have signed it."

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GaryP Burg

GaryP

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If it is of interest, the 2007 proposed Bush Budget was released yesterday including proposed transit funding for 2007. Funding for Michigan was very light and there were no allotments, unfortunately, for GR. UrbanPlanet.org has published the complete funding list, here.

Does anyone know how long the engineering phase would take before construction could begin? Or if $14M will cover the entire cost of design? I'm guessing that we shouldn't need any more money until around '08 or '09 if we get the fourteen million that was earmarked from last year's transit bill (a big IF).

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GaryP Burg

GaryP

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I wouldn't be too shocked if this federal transit bill is revisited, and is slashed down by a large margin

Not sure which bill you are talking about. Do you mean Bush's proposal that monsoon was talking about or the bill that passed last year and earmarked $14M for GR fixed route transit?

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