Transit Updates for Greater Grand Rapids

[ZAP!]

I'm working on a bus map for The Rapid's system in GR (i.e. not the area out in Allendale yet. It has two parts: a low detail map for the complete(ish) service area and a high detail map for the downtown area.

WIP Here:

The empty space to the left and bottom will be for text-based info --- the route list, service distinctions, etc.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what should be included at each detail level? What do bus riders need to know the locations of? FYI, I've disabled the road label layer for this render because they're kind of all over the place atm.

I know this isn't a transit update per se, but this is the most relevant thread I could think of.

Disclaimer: I am not professionally associated with The Rapid in any way. I just ride it.

Edited September 18, 2021 by ZAP!

[ZAP!]

New WIP here:

I had to make the detail map a little taller to fit DASH North (#52), so the station layout diagrams are a little cramped. I'll fix it later. I notice now the river is also cut short, haha.

I reenabled the label layer despite not adding anything to it, so it's still a mess. I also still have yet to add little indicators along the lines for which number they belong to, to make keeping them straight easier.

As ever, if anyone has any thoughts on improvements they'd be appreciated.

Edited September 21, 2021 by ZAP!

[ZAP!]

Since no one's told me not to yet, I'm just gonna keep posting occasional updates until the diagram is done. I switched up the colors, I'm thinking I'll ultimately end up with two versions -- light and dark theme.

[joeDowntown]

23 hours ago, ZAP! said:

Since no one's told me not to yet, I'm just gonna keep posting occasional updates until the diagram is done. I switched up the colors, I'm thinking I'll ultimately end up with two versions -- light and dark theme.

It looks great. Keep it up!

[ZAP!]

Further updates:

I finally made a trip out to Kentwood Station to record the new platform layout, shown in the lower middle of the artwork. I also added some inoffensive stylistic flair to the corner (to be enhanced later, I'm not super pleased with it), more labels, compasses, etc.

[54equalsunity]

This is awesome!

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[grandrollerz]

whew, i am so glad to finally see students on the Laker Line BRT.  I've been watching it out my office window throughout the last year and it has been empty almost 100% of the time.  It just drove by at 400pm and it was FULL. :-) 

[cstonesparty]

1 hour ago, grandrollerz said:

whew, i am so glad to finally see students on the Laker Line BRT.  I've been watching it out my office window throughout the last year and it has been empty almost 100% of the time.  It just drove by at 400pm and it was FULL. :-) 

I live along the route, and it is definitely operating at a low volume compared to the ridership pre-covid on the line it replaced.  I think it will be a long recovery curve to see ridership at the levels it would have been at otherwise...  

[ZAP!]

Smaller update this time, been swamped lately. I switched up the inoffensive flair in the corner for some little pictographs -- still work to be done on them. I also added my custom "The Rapid" logo, since I can't use the real one. Otherwise, mostly some minor tweaks to the line shapes, line style (to distinguish peak-only service, still need a blurb to explain), and the start of the line number callouts on the detail diagram.

[whitemice]

On 11/6/2021 at 2:34 PM, ZAP! said:

Smaller update this time, been swamped lately. I switched up the inoffensive flair in the corner for some little pictographs -- still work to be done on them. I also added my custom "The Rapid" logo, since I can't use the real one. Otherwise, mostly some minor tweaks to the line shapes, line style (to distinguish peak-only service, still need a blurb to explain), and the start of the line number callouts on the detail diagram.

Any chance you could make a version that someone highlights the 6 frequent routes?  That's 2, 4, 9, 11, 28,  Silver Line.
Maybe a QR code to the schedule book @ https://www.ridetherapid.org/assets/files/166/website-schedule-book-fall-2021.pdf

[ZAP!]

On 11/11/2021 at 9:34 AM, whitemice said:

Any chance you could make a version that someone highlights the 6 frequent routes?  That's 2, 4, 9, 11, 28,  Silver Line.
Maybe a QR code to the schedule book @ https://www.ridetherapid.org/assets/files/166/website-schedule-book-fall-2021.pdf

I can do more to differentiate those routes, but I can't add the QR code — that asset could move at any time, leaving a dead link. The most I could do is add a link to The Rapid's homepage, but that would imply their endorsement of this diagram, which I don't see them giving.

[grandrollerz]

Not sure I've seen this on here yet, but GRATA (lol, The Rapid) is rolling out Rapid Connect.  I think this is great.  Given the low ridership I see on huge busses, it can't be efficient.  This is a step in the right direction.

Details here: https://therapid.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/i/94D170D92DC794482540EF23F30FEDED/021F4DD3AE59ECC56707B176AE29F890?alternativeLink=False 

Now, if we could do something about those HUGE firetrucks that are called out to every little medical "emergency".....maybe we buy some Emergency Bikes to respond instead? :-). Like these: https://electrek.co/2020/11/26/watch-this-cargo-electric-bicycle-ambulance-in-action-slicing-through-traffic/ ???? (half joking/half serious)

[GRDadof3]

Anyone see ridership numbers for the Laker Line yet? It's been running over a year now.

[grandrollerz]

Do we have a thread to dream about railway connections for West Michigan?

I've been shopping for flights to Florida to escape winter for a minute.... and am learning about the Brightline project that is running in Miami, but is being built out to connect to cocoa, then Orlando all the way to St Pete. Conceptually, it's amazing and I am shocked it's happening tbh. Cheap flight to Orlando and then hit either/both coasts by train? Yes please. 

And apparently it's not a civil project?! I'm not sure I'd have a problem with the Devos' trying to privatize rail in Michigan, instead of, say education or healthcare.

The Brightline construction videos are good fun to watch, if that's your thing. 

https://youtu.be/7PS-xatL_A0

 

[ZAP!]

I've finally found time to update the bus map:

This update is mostly road labels for the detail diagram plus a lot more accuracy in road shapes. I've... fixed... the wonky roads up by Leonard on the West Side. It about destroyed every last vestige of sanity I had trying to make those awful, awful skewed roads look consistent. I tried as best I could to approximate them on a square grid, but it just didn't work. C'est la vie.

Next update will probably include a few POIs. For various reasons, I'm on a clock to finish this now, so it shouldn't be long before that update and/or the final polished version comes.

[ZAP!]

Started adding POIs.

I'm all ears if anybody has any good ideas for more, especially in the downtown area. I don't want to crowd out the bigger map too much.

[Guest]

https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/20-million-in-federal-funding-announced-for-west-michigan-public-transportation

I found this interesting.....

"Grand Rapids will receive more than $15 million in funding. Kalamazoo will receive more than $4 million. The funding will allow the two cities to purchase new buses and railcars, address repair backlogs, and transition to more sustainable, climate-friendly technologies."

Railcars?!?  Anyone have any more info?  Monroe Streetcar Version.... wait what version are we up to?  It would be great with the amphitheater, Have it go from Wealthy to Riverside!

[Winston1206]

32 minutes ago, Floyd_Z said:

https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/20-million-in-federal-funding-announced-for-west-michigan-public-transportation

I found this interesting.....

"Grand Rapids will receive more than $15 million in funding. Kalamazoo will receive more than $4 million. The funding will allow the two cities to purchase new buses and railcars, address repair backlogs, and transition to more sustainable, climate-friendly technologies."

Railcars?!?  Anyone have any more info?  Monroe Streetcar Version.... wait what version are we up to?  It would be great with the amphitheater, Have it go from Wealthy to Riverside!

I just want more than one train to Chicago. 

Although railcars would by sick. 

[walker]

3 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/20-million-in-federal-funding-announced-for-west-michigan-public-transportation

I found this interesting.....

"Grand Rapids will receive more than $15 million in funding. Kalamazoo will receive more than $4 million. The funding will allow the two cities to purchase new buses and railcars, address repair backlogs, and transition to more sustainable, climate-friendly technologies."

Railcars?!?  Anyone have any more info?  Monroe Streetcar Version.... wait what version are we up to?  It would be great with the amphitheater, Have it go from Wealthy to Riverside!

I'm guessing neither Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo are getting any railcars.  I think staff members for Senators Peters and  Stabenow just sloppily cut and pasted that particular phrase from the Federal Transit Administration press release for the entire country into their local press release and then both channels 13 and 17 with less thought than I just invested in it just copied it into their local stories.

Press Release where it came from and it says nothing directly about Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo getting railcars

The dollars for the two cities are listed in a a spread sheet buried in the press release that lists in alphabetical order by city the money being doled out to each city in the country.

I'd like to see new railcars for a second train to Chicago too, but I don't think it or any streetcars for the two cities will be coming out of this particular pile of money. 

   

Edited April 13, 2022 by walker
fixed typo

[ZAP!]

2 hours ago, Winston1206 said:

I just want more than one train to Chicago. 

Although railcars would by sick. 

Seems like a good time to bring out my latest half-baked streetcar scheme:

https://goo.gl/maps/4aFPiN7feYWor5uE6

I organized it into very very loose "stages" it could be built in. I tried to avoid impossible grades, and where plainly necessary added tunnels.

[wingbert]

13 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/20-million-in-federal-funding-announced-for-west-michigan-public-transportation

I found this interesting.....

"Grand Rapids will receive more than $15 million in funding. Kalamazoo will receive more than $4 million. The funding will allow the two cities to purchase new buses and railcars, address repair backlogs, and transition to more sustainable, climate-friendly technologies."

Railcars?!?  Anyone have any more info?  Monroe Streetcar Version.... wait what version are we up to?  It would be great with the amphitheater, Have it go from Wealthy to Riverside!

Maybe subway cars for the line that will run from the airport to the amphitheater project?

[ZAP!]

1 hour ago, wingbert said:

Maybe subway cars for the line that will run from the airport to the amphitheater project?

Probably for the secret subway that the local elites don't want us to know about. 

I did actually hear a guy say that we used to have a subway system in GR the other day. He didn't misspeak, he actually meant here. No idea where he got that idea from.

[Khorasaurus1]

It could see this money paying for some new railcars for the QLine in Detroit. They could use a bigger fleet to reduce headways. 

Or maybe for the Detroit-Ann Arbor or Brighton-Ann Arbor commuter lines, but my understanding is that railcars are not the impediment to getting those two projects off the ground. Detroit-Ann Arbor is mostly about not having an entity and long-term funding to operate the system - it literally has stations, tracks, and cars ready to go. Brighton-Ann Arbor needs track upgrades, I think. 

Those are the only railcars I can realistically picture being purchased in Michigan in the short term.  Maybe the People Mover, but I'm pretty sure they don't make the cars the People Mover uses anymore, and the People Mover already has really short headways. 

Meanwhile, in GR, if we're ever going to do rail transit, I think we need to really do it. No mixed-traffic streetcars connecting tourist destinations. If we build rail, it should be grade-separated, efficient, and designed to connect people to work, school, and retail. 

In the meantime, it's fantastic that we're getting more busses with the Federal money. More busses in the fleet means shorter headways, which has an immediate benefit to transit riders.

[whitemice]

20 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

Or maybe for the Detroit-Ann Arbor or Brighton-Ann Arbor commuter lines, but my understanding is that railcars are not the impediment to getting those two projects off the ground.

They weren't the impediment.  MDOT had refurbished - and branded - cars for that service.  They have subsequently been sold; some Republicans had a apoplectic fit about MDOT paying to store unused rail cars.  The RTA is in complete disarray, and hasn't found its footing since narrowly failing at the ballot box in 2018.  Those commuter rail projects are now as dead as a project can be.
There are new railcars on the way for inter-city Amtrak service.  Those were purchased by 2008 Obama funding - and they've been in testing for months now as Amtrak works through a myriad of issues.  Buy American clauses, given America has no real passenger rail industry, means all these products are custom, expensive, buggy, and have l-o-n-g acquisition times.

[Winston1206]

Does anyone remember the GR-Holland commuter rail idea that was floating around pre-COVID? Assuming that is probably dead at this point, right? I recall talk of having a dedicated bus route to test the waters