About The Rapid

• The Rapid’s service area is 185 square miles.
• The Rapid has 28 fixed routes.
• The Rapid has 249 vehicles including 149 fixed-route buses, 10 DASH buses, 67 GO!Bus vehicles, and 23 vanpools.
• In 2019, The Rapid provided 10 million rides.
• The Rapid is home to Michigan’s first bus rapid transit line, the Silver Line.
• Ridership has nearly tripled since 2000. In 2014, The Rapid provided over 12.5 million rides and daily weekday ridership averaged 43,000.
• There were 1.47 million rides taken in October 2014, the highest ridership month ever for The Rapid.
• Based on surveys of riders, 80 percent use public transportation to get to and from work. Lack of reliable, economical transportation is a barrier to many people trying to transition off public assistance. Giving people the tools to be successful is essential to reducing welfare costs.
• Based on an economic model developed for MDOT, the current operating investment in The Rapid creates 754 jobs and returns more than $88 million to the economy. 
• The Rapid’s fixed-route bus cost per passenger is $3.17. The average among peer systems (similar service area and population – 400,000-500,000) is $5.03.* The Rapid’s average revenue-recovery from fares and contracts on regular routes is 26%.
• The Rapid’s current property tax millage rate is 1.47 mills. The current rate in Lansing is 3.79 mills, Ann Arbor is 2.75 mills, and Saginaw is 3.00 mills.
• Since the opening of the Silver Line in August 2014, ridership has been up in the corridor by 34.4 percent. Each weekday there is an average of 4,430 people traveling the Division Avenue corridor.
• The Rapid launched Michigan's second bus rapid transit (BRT) line, the Laker Line, in Aug. 2020. This line enhanced connectivity between Grand Valley State University and downtown Grand Rapids, mitigate traffic and encourage development along the route.
• The Rapid has been awarded American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Mid-Sized Public Transportation System in North America in 2004 and 2013.

*Based on FY2016 NTD data.

Interurban Transit Partnership Bylaws (/var/www/apps/app-18118/docroot/files/assets/files/1444846321_ITP-Board-Bylaws.pdf - File does not exist!, PDF)