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Transit Updates for Greater Grand Rapids

GRDadof3

By GRDadof3
in Grand Rapids

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WMrapids
WMrapids

All this talk about rail made me find these from the library

GR_Urbanist
GR_Urbanist

Fancy new Laker Line stop at the zoo!

BLUESCRUBS
BLUESCRUBS

Proposal to establish regional bus line gets support from Grand Rapids metro group. https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2019/08/proposal-to-establish-regional-bus-line-gets-support-from-grand

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d8alterego Whistle-Stop

d8alterego

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Something that astounded me:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-1...icaltexas_N.htm

Is it not crazy how Texans (everything's bigger and don't mess with us) are not being themselves Texans? And here we are being Grand Rapidians who are too nervous to take big risks in transit - something us Northerners should be well comfortable with. This amazes me. How can a city such as Dallas, whose planning history revolved around suburbs, be on the leading edge of this trend? It kind of makes me mad. Anyone agree?

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Something that astounded me:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-1...icaltexas_N.htm

Is it not crazy how Texans (everything's bigger and don't mess with us) are not being themselves Texans? And here we are being Grand Rapidians who are too nervous to take big risks in transit - something us Northerners should be well comfortable with. This amazes me. How can a city such as Dallas, whose planning history revolved around suburbs, be on the leading edge of this trend? It kind of makes me mad. Anyone agree?

Not to be a cynic, but despite the article's attempts to paint a booming urban picture, Texas cities are adding people to their suburbs about 20 - 30 to 1 vs. people moving into its downtowns.

Glad to see USAToday reporting on a trend that is about a decade old now though. :P Hey, why is this article in the transit thread?

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d8alterego Whistle-Stop

d8alterego

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Glad to see USAToday reporting on a trend that is about a decade old now though. :P Hey, why is this article in the transit thread?

In various parts of the article it mentions how new transit initiatives are driving development and I thought it could work in this thread. Granted it did talk about high rise buildings, but I found it interesting how Texas (suburb country) was embracing mass transit when us Northerners tend not to.

I promise I'll make more of a habit of staying on topic than off GRDad. ;):offtopic:

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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In various parts of the article it mentions how new transit initiatives are driving development and I thought it could work in this thread. Granted it did talk about high rise buildings, but I found it interesting how Texas (suburb country) was embracing mass transit when us Northerners tend not to.

I promise I'll make more of a habit of staying on topic than off GRDad. ;):offtopic:

Ah, sorry. I started skimming over the article the more I got into it (seemed like a fluff pro-Dallas piece). :)

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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Big transit update:

Kent county ended its task force with some findings regarding county-wide transit. The County found that it should complete a comprehensive study to establish a plan to the issue. To help, ITP will earmark $100,000 of its budget to study where the needs are in the community and how to meet them with their services. However, the crux is that the townships and the county will have to come up with matching funds to continue.

You are encouraged to contact Chairman Roger Morgan and your own commissioner in support of funding this and continued efforts.

Contact your commissioner:

http://www.accesskent.com/YourGovernment/B...mis_members.htm

Edited by Rizzo
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  • 3 weeks later...
DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

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Division avenue's 'enhanced bus' ranked in the Feds top list of projects. It could have implications statewide, especially Detroit -- according to a MLUI article.

Read it here: http://mlui.org/transportation/fullarticle.asp?fileid=17203

Rizzo, that is a great article :good: Thanks for posting it. The end of November/beginning of December is just around the corner to hear results for Federal fundings. As mentioned in the article, I hope support from the State and local governments will give their support in order to get the dollars....

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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This Winter could turn out to be a huge for local transit. The county and townships are being asked to fund a transit study so ITP can identify how to meet the needs of the County.

It can't hurt to encourage your county commissioner that this is the right direction to go.

Edited by Rizzo
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DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

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Some good news on the Amtrak's Pere Marquette line from GR to Chicago.

"For the sixth consecutive year, ridership on Amtrak's Pere Marquette rail line is up."

"It is the second year in a row the Pere Marquette has topped the 100,000-passenger mark."

"MDOT reported a 4.6 percent increase in the number of boardings and deboardings at the Grand Rapids station, and a 2.3 percent increase at Holland."

I hope this trend continues and more people start to notice that we should have alternate transportation options.

The complete article can be read here on Mlive:

Ridership up again on Amtrak's Pere Marquette

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DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

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Just in from the "breaking news" section of Mlive

"The Rapid transit board is expected today to approve spending nearly $360,000 for a consultant's study."

"A preliminary plan shows streetcars resembling bullet trains on a 2.4-mile track through downtown, sharing the roads with cars. They would connect the Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place convention center, museums, bars, hotels and other attractions."

The complete breif article can be read here:

GR streetcar study ready to get green light

I hope there will be an additional article with more information in tomorrow's press.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Just in from the "breaking news" section of Mlive

"The Rapid transit board is expected today to approve spending nearly $360,000 for a consultant's study."

"A preliminary plan shows streetcars resembling bullet trains on a 2.4-mile track through downtown, sharing the roads with cars. They would connect the Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place convention center, museums, bars, hotels and other attractions."

The complete breif article can be read here:

GR streetcar study ready to get green light

I hope there will be an additional article with more information in tomorrow's press.

Nice! That DMJM Harris name sounds familiar. Probably ran into their name in our transit research.

http://www.dmjmharris.com/MarketsAndServices/38/59/index.jsp

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Josh Whistle-Stop

Josh

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Just in from the "breaking news" section of Mlive

"The Rapid transit board is expected today to approve spending nearly $360,000 for a consultant's study."

"A preliminary plan shows streetcars resembling bullet trains on a 2.4-mile track through downtown, sharing the roads with cars. They would connect the Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place convention center, museums, bars, hotels and other attractions."

The complete breif article can be read here:

GR streetcar study ready to get green light

I hope there will be an additional article with more information in tomorrow's press.

Fantastic news! This is very exciting, even thought the timeline is still several years away.

Everyone keep your hopes up :)

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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More info on the streetcar study. A few things mentioned are that the streetcar would possibly link to the BRT line on South Division near Wealthy (bravo for forward thinking :thumbsup: ), and the study would take about 8 months to conduct. It would determine ridership estimates, development opportunities, and possible fares.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ss....xml&coll=6

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

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Wow, it sounds like it might actually be a useful study. It seems like most studies just tell us things we already know, so I'll be curious to see the results of this one. Also interesting is that the Wyoming mayor is a supporter of the streetcars, perhaps because she hopes that they'll connect to her city in the future, but I think it shows that she's thinking about the good of the metro area and not just what bacon she can bring home to her own city.

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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Good to hear news on this!

Think of the ramifications of a streetcar line or the extensions. What about local companies developing the downtown line to keep much of the work local?

Local:

design-architectural firms design the vehicles

manufacturing shops partner to build the vehicles

construction builds the rail infrastructure

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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I know these polls don't mean a whole lot but wzzm 13's website has a poll on wether or not street cars are a good idea for downtown. At 8:30 am the no's are ahead of the yes's by a healthy margin. Go there and vote!!!!!

I think this poll is way premature on WZZM's part. I think once people see plans, projected developments, and everything else that goes along with it, attitudes will shift. When talking about it, I've actually had people compare it to a trolley that used to run in downtown Grand Rapids that was never used by anyone and failed.

As if they were even comparable...

trolley.jpg

alicante-streetcar-tram.JPG

But definitely slam their poll :). We did the same on a streetcar poll that the Business Journal (?) had.

http://www.wzzm13.com/default.aspx

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