The Rapid Compares Favorably with Other Metro Transit Systems

The Following was pulled from a section of the Summer-Fall 2010 Rapid Reporter. Rapid Reporters are located on the right side of The Rapid’s News page

One of the most efficient ways to determine how something performs is to compare it with something like it in a similar environment. To evaluate The Rapid, we compared it with transit systems in 10 U.S. cities, choosing metropolitan areas with similar populations, service areas, and number of service vehicles, ridership, miles traveled, and other criteria.

There is an opportunity to increase service hours on a per-resident basis.
Two years ago The Rapid provided 0.67 annual bus revenue hours of service for every resident in our service area, while the peer average was a slightly higher 0.74. One of the nation’s transit models, Portland, Oregon, provides 1.26 annual bus revenue hours per resident, not counting their light rail and streetcar services. The Rapid clearly has room to grow as a system, if the financial investment is there.

Productivity has increased for eight consecutive years.
Between 2000 and 2008, as residents responded to improved transit service by using it more, our total trips per bushour and bus-mile increased significantly. There’s no denying that more people are getting on board The Rapid.

The Rapid leads the pack in efficiency.
When compared with our 10-city peer group, The Rapid ranked as one of the most cost-efficient systems (cost per unit of service). On operating expenses per vehicle revenue-hour metric, we top the list, delivering on our promise to provide as much service as possible for every dollar invested.

GO!Bus Paratransit service goes above and beyond.
Our GO!Bus paratransit service ranked third in annual passenger trips provided, third in peak vehicles operated, fourth in vehicle revenue hours and fourth in vehicle revenue miles. Despite being one of the most expensive services to provide per unit of service, The Rapid provides more paratransit service than is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “We have a huge volunteer program and we depend on the GO!Bus for a lot of our transportation,” says Rev. Peggy Lawrence Burns. “A lot of volunteers take the The Rapid so I’m really interested in seeing some of the new things they’re going to do with the GO!Bus and very interested in seeing that it stays intact. Our older adults really need that transportation.”