The Rapid: Efficiency and Effectiveness to Keep The Grand Rapids Metro Area Moving
- Ridership has more than doubled since 2000. In 2010, The Rapid provided over 9.7 million rides, and the system is on pace to top 10 million rides in 2011 (in 2000, 4.5 million rides were provided).
- Daily weekday ridership averages 40,000. During the blizzard on February 2, The Rapid’s buses were on the road and gave over 29,000 rides, without the student ridership segment that is usually represented. Essential personnel, such as hospital workers, had options because of our service.
- In September and October of last year, area residents took over 1 million rides each month (In November, they took 992,000).
- Based on surveys of riders, 75% 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 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. If the millage increase passes, these numbers jump to 829 jobs and over $97 million in economic output.
- The Rapid’s cost per passenger is $3.00. The average among peer systems (similar service area and population – 400,000-500,000) is $4.26. The Rapid’s average revenue-recovery from fares and contracts on regular routes is 33%.
- The Rapid’s current property tax millage rate is 1.12 mills. A 0.35 increase brings that to 1.47 mills. The current rate in Lansing is 3.01 mills, Ann Arbor is 2.5 mills, and Saginaw is 3.00 mills.
- Local and municipal governments everywhere are considering consolidation and regionalization to become more efficient with the use of tax payer dollars. The Rapid has been operating as a nationally-recognized, efficient, regionalized system providing public transportation service across 6 different municipalities since the year 2000.
- Due to fiscally conservative budgeting, The Rapid has not had to raise fares or cut service as many transit systems across the country did over the last few years, focusing instead on internal cost savings.
- Major capital projects like Rapid Central Station and the Wealthy Operations Center renovation boost the return of federal dollars to our area and provide both temporary and permanent jobs. The Christman Company reports 350 jobs to date on the Wealthy Center Project. Without these projects, our federal tax dollars would benefit other areas around the country.
- Since The Rapid was created, we have had a balanced budget each year. Various cost cutting measures have been put into place over time, including:
- Switching from a defined benefit to a defined contribution program for administrative employees over 10 years ago
- Reducing the number of managerial positions
- Aggressively managing overtime for bus operators
- Limiting health insurance plans and passing on more costs to employees
- Dramatically reducing workers comp claims
- Contracting with private business to perform security, bus cleaning and fueling, and all of our demand response services
