In another rather humorous demonstration of The Rapid’s track record of not being very good at managing their money, in June of last year the board was informed that when the Silver Line‘s budget was being formulated, they forgot to include the cost of maintaining things. The cost of routine maintenance has grown to around…
If you recall, The Rapid attempted its tax increase in 2010, which failed at the polls, so they tried again in 2011, and the tax increase passed by 136 votes. The tax increase was ostensibly to implement the Silver Line, which we have been critical from the start because of the impossibly absurd promises made…
It’s been nearly a year since the $40 million Rapid Silver Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line opened for business, so we thought it would be a good time to check up on how things are going. In short, it’s a disaster: Since the Silver Line entered service, The Rapid has been losing ridership The…
The Rapid’s Bus Rapid Transit (referred to as BRT), also known as the Silver Line, is completing its $40 million construction through downtown Grand Rapids and south Division. While we constantly hear The Rapid’s talking point that the BRT will potentially save bus riders 40% in reduced travel times, we decided to take a look…
A study released this week by professors from UCLA and the University of Massachusetts shows that low-income households who were given access to a car tended to choose to live in higher-opportunity neighborhoods, and as a result, those households realized greater economic security. One news story on the study summarizes its findings: Families with cars…
Today we noticed that an individual sent a tweet to The Rapid asking “what is your cost per rider to the taxpayer?” In response, The Rapid tweeted back that their cost to transport one passenger was $2.87 in 2010 and that the regular fare is $1.50, therefore the cost to taxpayers is about $1.37 per…
We’ve been hearing that the Interurban Transit Partnership (The Rapid) provides a benefit to the local economy to the tune of $100 million per year.[1] Where does this number come from and does it hold up to scrutiny? As we’ll show you, it’s completely, demonstrably false. At its most basic level, the $100 million number…
TV News Channel 3 reporter David Bailey dealt a heavy blow to The Rapid this week when he started questioning how The Rapid is spending money. Bailey is the first local reporter to critically analyze how The Rapid operates and the result is stunning. Peter Varga, the head bureaucrat at The Rapid, was interviewed for…
Last year we definitively showed, using The Rapid’s own data, that The Rapid’s buses actually add pollution to the environment, contrary to the statements that The Rapid’s staff makes about the bus system being “green.” In the last year, the data The Rapid reports to the federal government has been updated. How much better is…
We have previously pointed out that The Rapid spent $250,000 of public funds on a single piece of art for its headquarters. We recently noticed, when browsing The Rapid’s annual audits (which we post on our site, The Rapid does not make these available on its site), that The Rapid has in fact spent over…