LINE-X Of Grand Rapids

Well, here's a video I was planning to make 4 years ago. If you've been watching this channel for a while, there's probably a few things One is that I lived in Grand Rapids, Mic Four years in fact. Another fact is that I do not What's BRT? It'short for Bus Rapid Transit. On paper, it's a bus service that'so good it might as well be a train. But since it's a bus, it's cheaper. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, that's what I t And part of that is probably because of my time in Grand Rapids. Mic The Silver Line, w I'm skeptical because in my experience, a lot of routes labeled as BRT aren't really as good as planners say they will be. That's definitely the case in GR. Well, starting Grand Rapids, the first city that I've lived in that had BRT. Surprising, isn't it? Next week, we'll look at BRT in the city I currently live in, and finally, we'll end with a review of the first BRT I ever rode that truly impressed me. Will it cure my skepticism, or do the bad examples mean my skepticism has some merit to it? Today, we're comparing the Silver Line with the Laker Line. But first, really quick, we need to ask ourselves what makes BRT good? Aside from the obvious factor, frequency, the main strength of BRT is supposed to be its speed. The faster the bus, the better it is. Stop slowdown buses more than anyt People take time to climb a board. They take time to pay their fare. The more stops, the more these delays cascade. So BRT systems have stops that are spaced farther apart from each other, and they have level boarding and payment before you board, all w Traffic is another factor slowing buses down, so BRT should run in dedicated lanes, or better yet, a dedicated right of way. So with that in mind, without further ado, let's ride Grand Rapids' BRT. And we'll start with the Silver Line. Starting open in 2014, this is what a traditional bus stop in Grand Rapids looks 60th Street is a park and ride. Unfortunately, it's not very heavily used. T Over in one corner, a new driver is using the empty space to learn how to drive a bus. So t It definitely has a few advantages over the regular bus stops. I t And I mean, the passenger information is really good. You've got the route maps on the walls. You've got electronic departure displays hanging from the ceiling. Also the platform is a little bit raised, so it creates the opportunity for level boarding, and the stations are spaced farther apart than a traditional bus stop here in Grand Rapids. So that is one way that the bus can speed up the trip a little bit. However, there is one glaring issue with these stops. When the Silver Line opened, you could buy a ticket at the station or tap your wave card on the reader before a bus arrived. Then when the bus came, you could just use any door to get on and the bus could leave quickly. But in 2022, the rapid abolished t From now on, you must board by the front and pay by the driver. And the fair mac So the bus is about to be here. I got to show you one t I mean, the name Silver Line is pretty popular. But you'd t Well, the bus is about to be here. See for yourself what color it is. What color is that? It's green. Oh dear. Here's the interior of the bus. If you've been on a gillig before, you've seen it before. They don't have a court to pull to request your stop though. Because Did Here was approved by West Mic Construction began. The budget was $40 million, and they actually completed the project $3 million under budget. Obviously that's much cheaper than you could build a light rail for. Infrastructure wise, the biggest investments of the Silver Line were the stations. There are a few lanes that are technically bus only on weekdays during rush hour. I'm not really sure what the enforcement of these is I've seen plenty of cars driving in these lanes when they shouldn't. Also they function as turn lanes. There's also no signal priority as far as I can tell, and in fact farther up the line there's the only dedicated bus signal. A funny t MLK Junior Street used to be called Franklin Street, Trinity Health used to be called Mercy Health, and the old names are still on the maps posted at stations. Those haven't been updated yet. The bigger spacing between stops does help speed up the trip a little bit. For the stops in between, the Rapid runs a supplemental bus route, Route 1. But there is a problem. Route 1 uses different stops from the Silver Line. At intersections where both Route 1 and the Silver Line have a stop, the stations will often be on opposite sides of an intersection. They really should have the regular buses stop at the Silver Line stations. It's just confusing. But if you're trying to catch w Another issue with the Silver Line is the schedule. The Silver Line runs every 15-20 minutes on weekdays, and every half hour on the weekends. And it's just not faster than driving, usually. The big empty parking lot at 60th Street speaks for itself. Would you go through the hassle of parking your car changing to a bus when there's little added benefit? It's just not faster. Unfortunately, being in Mic So to make bus rapid transit successful, it needs to serve There was hope that the Silver Line would bring the economic development that would allow for that. Division Avenue goes through many underserved neighborhoods. And remember, BRT is supposed to be just In t Division Avenue is for the most part an entirely unpleasant place. For miles, used car lots and garages are the only businesses. Grand Rapids has many flouris And the Silver Line could not bring the investment that the city was hoping for. T A bus can be rerouted at any time, so it lacks a sense of permanence. Of course, rail could be ripped out, but nevertheless, it signals a much more permanent investment by a city. If I was a businessman, I would much rather invest in a place served by a train than a bus. And so the Silver Line has a lot of missed potential. It's not that's probably why every time I ride it, I'm usually one of the only people. Here we've joined with the Laker Line, the second BRT route that opened in 2020. Several downtown stations are shared between the two, and we'll take a look at those in a minute, but first let's ride to Central Station. The Rapids Central Station is the main hub for all the routes that fan out of downtown Grand Rapids, as well as two express routes, Intercity Buses and the Silver Line. W Central Station's main building includes a waiting area, ticket office, toilets, and a vending mac Now let's go back and check out a stop that'shared between the Silver Line and the Laker Line. So t It has the colors of both the Silver Line and the Laker Line, so green and blue. It has LCD screens instead of LED screens showing the departures. These were renovated in 2020 in time for the opening of the Laker Line. And as you can see, the ticket mac That's because even though the Silver Line went back to pay when you board, the Laker Line still has you pay at the station so you can just board through any door. If you're looking for more ways to interact with our content, then good news, you can find us on Patreon and Instagram. We give you exclusive be And that's not all. Check out the trains are awesome store. To celebrate reac All the links are in the description below. Alright, welcome to the second half of the video. I'm at the Lafayette Laker Line station. Today we're going to ride the Laker Line, w And I thought since we're comparing and contrasting Yes, pretty as the snow might look. I'm not sure if I could go back to t I used to ride the bus, walk or attempt a bike in t So here we are at the Lafayette Laker Line station. T Buses that come from Grand Valley, they go up the street here, there's a little turn around and then they stop at the bus should be here in about five minutes. So until then, let's go look at what a typical Laker Line station looks Lafayette station is next to a hospital run by Grand Valley State University. I'll explain why t Once again, we immediately noticed the fare mac The rapid lets you use a debit or credit card to pay for all buses. So that's what I did. Soon a blue Laker Line bus appears. It uses a turn around just beyond the station and then pulls in. The Laker Line runs about every 10 minutes, making it the most frequent bus route in Grand Rapids. It's also the only route that does not use buses built by Gillig. Instead, the Laker Line uses articulated Excelsior buses built by New Flyer. Between the sizes of these buses and the frequency, you might expect large crowds to use these buses. And you'd be right. All right, so we're on the Laker Line, these articulated New Flyer buses. They are so sweet. In case you're wondering, if you have to pay at the station, how do they know that you actually pay? I just had my fare checked and I used my debit card. So what I had to do was I had to recite the last four digits of my debit card. He checked Isn'that so cool? The Laker Line exists to serve Grand Valley State University. T And their sports team is called the Lakers, hence the Laker Line. One of the campuses, known as Pew Campus, is located downtown, just on the other side of the river. That's why instead of going to Central Station, Our first stop, The Laker Line connects downtown Grand Rapids and the Pew Campus with the main campus of Grand Valley State University, some 12 miles to the west of us in Allendale, Mic Students can have classes at both campuses, so the Laker Line acts as a campus shuttle of sorts. In fact, GVSU students can use their ID to ride for free. But the Laker Line serves more than just students. It has several stops on the west side of Grand Rapids, serving businesses and residential areas. After that, it's full speed ahead as we run non-stop towards Allendale and the main Grand Valley campus. I am much more impressed with the Laker Line than the Silver Line. Despite having opened in the middle of the pandemic, riders I'm not even sure if this is fast and frequent, thanks in part to things The Silver Line shows us that you can't just build BRT next to use car lots and expect people to use it, but build it by schools, apartments, restaurants, Or you could even offer incentives for people to build those t Grand Rapids has been discussing the construction of a downtown streetcar for years now and if they ever do, I would hope that the Silver Line is converted to light rail and made a part of it. But the Laker Line, honestly, it's a great product. More buses should be If only they could get the regular buses to stop at the Laker Line stations, I'd say it's a phenomenal product. Soon we're in Allendale, stopping right in front of the Kirchhoff Center, the Student Union at Grand Valley State University. So we've made it to Grand Valley State University, specifically the Kirchhoff Center station. They also have campus shuttles that are operated by the rapid. Let's take the Laker Line back to downtown Grand Rapids now and then I'll share my final thoughts. Alright, so we're back in downtown Grand Rapids. We just rode the entire Laker Line and the entire Silver Line The big question is, well, I t I would not consider the Silver Line BRT. It's not particularly fast compared to the regular bus and, you know, all those arg None of that was really realized. The Division Avenue still is not a very pleasant place to drive around. A lot of it is just, Now look at the Laker Line and you have It was good to be back in Grand Rapids. I'm sure I'll make another video out here someday, but for now, please subscribe to Trains are Awesome if you enjoyed t We'll