ITP Watch

Rapid Silver Line Tax Increase Retry is Full Speed Ahead

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:18:54 +0000

The ITP’s board meeting in December of 2009 had a discussion about the Rapid Silver Line. It’s clear that they are pressing full speed ahead with coming back to voters to raise taxes, again, for this failed and inefficient project. You can read the meeting’s minutes here.

Mr. Jaiyeoba gave an update on the Silver Line bus rapid transit project and the environmental assessment process. A Power Point presentation was given describing the project, where we are today, potential impacts being considered in the EA, results of the recent traffic analysis and the next steps in the project.

We are working to get a copy of the Power Point presentation referenced in the minutes for more detail. Our guess is that they will try again either this May or in May of 2011.

Rapid Silver Line Vote Fails

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:06:54 +0000

The Rapid’s Silver Line proposal failed at the ballot box on May 5th. The vote was 53% against and 47% in favor. This is the first time in many years that a tax increase request from The Rapid was turned down. More significantly, of the six cities in the ITP region (Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, and Wyoming) only Grand Rapids and East Grand Rapids voted in favor of the tax increase. The votes percentages on a per-city basis are below:

Grand Rapids      – 53% yes, 47% no

East Grand Rapids – 64% yes, 36% no

Grandville        – 36% yes, 64% no

Kentwood          – 46% yes, 54% no

Walker            – 32% yes, 68% no

Wyoming           – 36% yes, 64% no

This is a major victory for fiscal sanity and the taxpayers of the Grand Rapids area. Although the tax increase request failed, we’re already hearing rumblings about The Rapid coming back to taxpayers again to get the Silver Line at all costs, regardless of how inefficient and disruptive it will be. Stay tuned for more updates!

Rapid Silver Line Vote No Flyers – Download and Print

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:45:32 +0000

We now have available “Vote No” flyers available for everyone to download and print. There are four per page, making it easy to leave these reminders with friends and neighbors. The flyer simply states: “Vote NO on the $70 million bus tax increase on Tuesday, May 5th. For more information, visit www.itpwatch.org.”

>> Download the flyer here in PDF format <<

If you have ideas for more ways of getting the word out, please contact us at info@itpwatch.org

The Rapid’s New Silver Line – Another Waste of Taxpayer Money

admin — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:06:59 +0000

We urge the voters of Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming, and Grandville to vote NO on the Tuesday, May 5th ballot. The ITP is asking for another tax increase to fund the so-called “Silver Line” bus route. Why should you vote NO?

The Silver Line will actually increase congestion on Division Avenue because two (of the four) lanes of traffic will be cut off to normal traffic during peak hours, so that the new BRT buses will have priority over all other traffic. That means that during rush hours, traffic will only be allowed one lane each way on Division Avenue.
Rapid buses already travel this “new” route. The new Silver Line will only duplicate efforts and accomplish nothing new.
This new bus route is being called a Bus Rapid Transit line (BRT). However, the length of the route is 9.87 miles and the travel time for that route is 36 minutes. That works out to a little over an average of 16 miles per hour. How do they call this rapid?
Increasing taxes by $70 million during the worst recession since the Great Depression will only serve to kill more jobs in the Grand Rapids area.
Very, very, very few of the residents of the ITP area will see any benefit whatsoever. Residents of Walker, Grandville, and East Grand Rapids will see no benefit at all.
The dedicated lanes for these buses will eliminate crucial parking for the small businesses along Division.

Rapid NTD Fact Sheets

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:48:20 +0000

These fact sheets are compiled by the National Transit Database. These datasheets are a major source of information on the true costs of the operations of the ITP/Rapid. ITP does not publish this information on their web site.

See also The Rapid’s full budgets – the ones that they don’t post on their web site.

The Rapid as Corporate Welfare

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:37:36 +0000

You may not be aware that the RAPID offers a shuttle service to and from the Gerald Ford Airport. If you’re not familiar with the Air Porter service, here are the details. The shuttle goes between the airport and three downtown hotels: The Amway, the Courtyard by Marriott, and the Days Inn. Sounds like a good idea, right?

Well, there’s a snag. The shuttle operates 24 hours a day on a set schedule, leaving the airport every half hour. The one-way fare is $15 and a round trip is $25. The problem is that the shuttle actually loses money. How much? It is estimated to lose $103,000 in fiscal year 2007. Guess who pays the difference. That’s right, you and I, the taxpayers.

This is called corporate welfare. The taxpayers of the Grand Rapids area are subsidizing shuttle service for three private downtown hotels. Do you really think that Amway needs tax dollars to get customers to stay at their hotel? Doubtful. But somehow they convinced the board members of the unelected Interurban Transit Authority (The Rapid) to foot the bill. Taxpayers get soaked again.

Even more interesting is the fact that an average of only about 1 person per hour uses this service. Any business operating like this would be bankrupt faster than you could say “Enron.” However, because the RAPID is just another government bureaucracy, we, the taxpayers, get to pay for their poor financial decisions.