Agency History: GRTA to (ITP)/The Rapid

A Transit Master Plan or TMP is a comprehensive, 20-year plan that will guide the future development of The Rapid transit system. The following is a section pulled from the approved TMP. Download the full Transit Master Plan from The Rapid's TMP website.

Agency History

Public transportation has been operated in Grand Rapids since 1963 when the City of Grand Rapids formed the Grand Rapids Transit Authority (GRTA). While it was supported by operating assistance from the state and federal governments, the City of Grand Rapids was the only local government that supported GRTA, and it did so for 15 years. By 1978, residents and employees in the surrounding jurisdictions had a sufficient need for transit service so the six cities of East Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Grandville, Kentwood, Walker and Wyoming voluntarily agreed to support a more regional transit service with general fund revenues, rebranded as the Grand Rapids Area Transit Authority (GRATA). Because GRATA’s funding was discretionary in nature, most jurisdictions only paid the bare minimum to keep buses on the street. As one would expect, with limited revenues and rising expenses, the amount and quality of service provided by GRATA deteriorated over time.

Interurban Transit Partnership (ITP)/The Rapid
The most recent Long Range Transportation Plan was adopted in 1998. It identified 5 marquee policies:

1. Use public transportation investments as effective strategic tools to shape urban growth and development consistent with the Metropolitan Development Blueprint.
2. Give funding priority to those projects and programs that improve metropolitan and regional public transportation connections.
3. Establish guidelines for local governments that include pedestrian and transit access features in the design of all major developments and activity centers.
4. Give full consideration to future public transportation design requirements in all major transportation corridor projects.
5. Identify and provide priority funding for those projects which promote economic development and provide access to regional centers of employment & economic activity.

Clear that real progress on the 1998 plan could not be made under GRATA, the six cities worked to establish the Interurban Transit Partnership (ITP) as a State Act 196 authority with dedicated millage funding from those cities. In April 2000, the six cities approved a dedicated millage rate to support the transit agency. In October 2000, the ITP took over as the designated public transit provider and GRATA was dissolved. Shortly after incorporating under Act 196, the ITP chose to rebrand its service under the name, The Rapid, which continues to be used today. This influx of new, stable funding enabled The Rapid to undertake several service improvements, which quickly set the agency on the path to success.As promised in the 2000 millage effort, The Rapid undertook a comprehensive improvement plan which included the following six elements:

- Improved weekday frequencies on four local routes
- Weekday evening service on 9 local routes and GO!Bus
- Sunday service on 7 local routes and GO!Bus
- A crosstown route on 44th Street
- The Passenger Adaptive Suburban Service (PASS) connecting neighborhoods to local routes
- Customized programs for employees needing to travel beyond regular service hours and The
- Rapid service area

See the Full Master Transit Plan