Grand Rapids sells land for Amtrak rail spur to The Rapid Transit Center | MLive.com

Grand Rapids sells land for Amtrak rail spur to The Rapid Transit Center | MLive.com: "GRAND RAPIDS – City officials are clearing the path for a new railroad track that will bring the Pere Marquette Amtrak train to The Rapid Transit Center.
City commissioners this week approved the sale of city-owned land at 150 Logan Street SW to the ITP for $1,050. The land is needed to build the rail spur that will replace the current station used by Amtrak at Wealthy Street and Market Avenue SW."

Transit plans are key to improving region | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Transit plans are key to improving region | freep.com | Detroit Free Press: "Within Oakland County, we are working to implement a vision for a unified linear city along Woodward Avenue -- from 8 Mile up to Maple Road -- to include strategies to integrate Complete Streets, Transit Oriented Development, and future expansion of rapid transit investments beyond 8 Mile Road."

Divorce Your Car!

Divorce Your Car!: "My daily commute to campus is 5.6 miles and takes about 30 minutes using two buses. The timing is perfect: I have almost no wait in the transfer and I arrive on campus at exactly the time I need. SL statistics say the same commute would take about 15 minutes in a car, not including time to find a parking space. However, I usually spend that time on the bus checking my schedule, emails or Facebook on my phone, something I couldn’t do driving a car in city traffic. So really, those 15 extra minutes on the bus are actually 15 minutes I would have spent sitting at my desk anyway."

Part of massive autosprawl subsidy documented

Transportation Riders United (TRU) - Archived Blog: "Highway advocates often claim that roads “pay for themselves,” with gasoline taxes and other charges to motorists covering – or nearly covering – the full cost of highway construction and maintenance. They are wrong."

Free Public Transit attracts business

Real Estate News and Analysis: Downtowns Get a Fresh Lease - WSJ.com: "Like many cities, Detroit offered an incentive package, including giving Blue Cross employees free annual passes to a public-transit system that connects its downtown buildings. Another motivation: to have more people in one place as the insurer adjusts to the health-care overhaul."

The Rapid will ask voters for property tax increase next May or November | MLive.com

Riders board a Rapid bus -- Cory Olsen

The Rapid will ask voters for property tax increase next May or November | MLive.com: "Voters in six Kent County cities will not be asked in a special February 2011 election to increase property taxes for expanded and high speed bus service. But they are likely to see the question on the ballot in the May or November elections."

Here is what you get for $26 a year - (less than one tank of gas)

• Increase weekday bus frequency to 30 minutes on all routes from 5 a.m. To 7:15 p.m.
• Run all routes until 11:15 p.m. weekdays
• Extend weekday evening service to 12:15 a.m. on the seven most productive routes
• Improve weekday peak frequency service to 15 minutes on the six next most productive routes
• Add Bus Rapid Transit on Division Avenue
• Extend Saturday evening service to 10 p.m. on all routes except Woodland Mall/Airport Route 17
• Extend GVSU Campus route to Central Station on weekdays at current frequency
• Increase weekday evening frequency to 30-minutes on six next most productive routes to 11:15 p.m.
• Increase weekday evening frequency to 30-minutes on seven most productive routes to 12:15 a.m.

Ride The Rapid | www.ridetherapid.org

Ride The Rapid | www.ridetherapid.org: "Easy. Convenient. Cheap. Reliable. Safe. Clean. Relaxing. Fun. The smart way to get around Grand Rapids and the suburbs.
Everything you need to become an expert at riding The Rapid is here. Route maps and schedules. Fare information.

You'll be ready to ride in no time—and join the growing numbers of people who are tired of fighting traffic, hunting and paying for parking, burning up gasoline and wasting time driving they could spend reading and relaxing.

Dump the pump. Ride the Rapid."