Route 19 - A public transportation partnership campaign

Target Audience: This campaign was intended to reach potential new riders in an area surrounding the new, upgraded service line along the Michigan Street Corridor. We also partnered with businesses along the route to entice people to get out and use the new free service on their lunch break and while attending client meetings downtown or running errands. An awareness and education outreach effort, for example, encourages Spectrum Health staff to use The Rapid to travel between offices and the medical center for meetings versus driving personal vehicles.

Strategy Objective:Grand Rapids is part of a national trend of businesses increasingly drawn to downtown environments where they can attract talent. The Route 19 improvements are part of a broad strategy to alleviate parking and congestion as more businesses and workers locate downtown. The Rapid recognizes that as the community grows, it's vital to adapt to the needs of users, including residents and downtown-area employees. The Rapid identified two Route 19 campaign objectives: - Increase ridership along Route 19 by offering free travel and the convenience of buses coming every 10 minutes on Michigan Street during peak afternoon and evening travel. - Introduce The Rapid's new CEO, Andrew Johnson to the community through a highly publicized news conference.

Situation Challenge: Grand Rapids traffic safety reports show that even with four lanes in each direction, the Michigan Street path can move about 4,000 cars per day ' a volume of traffic that is routinely exceeded at certain times of the day. Projected development by 2035 predicts the corridor will have 15,000 daytime employees arriving and then leaving over two peak hours in addition to the creation of up to 10,000 new residential units. The previous Route 19 had extremely limited usage, serving less than 60 people per day. Parking is also exceedingly scarce along this route, which contains several major hospitals, educational institutions, new multi-unit apartments, bustling retail stores and more.

Results Impact: Prior to the new Route 19 launch, the service ranked as The Rapid's lowest-performing line and was on the verge of elimination. After the kickoff, the fare-free Route 19 line has become The Rapids' sixth best-performing route. Initial estimates anticipated ridership could grow to 600-800 daily riders; The Rapid has far exceeded that forecast. Route 19 now averages 1,169 passengers per day after the service change (through Nov. 12). This average total is up from 53 passengers daily prior to the increase, a 2,200 percent increase in ridership. In addition, the overwhelmingly positive media coverage from the Route 19 press event included statements of support for Johnson's fresh vision and leadership from many of Grand Rapids' key business, civic and government influencers.

Why Submit: The new Route 19 service is inspiring people who have never previously considered public transportation to ride The Rapid and is building acceptance of transit as a viable alternative for getting around Grand Rapids. Equally important, The Rapid successfully highlighted public-private partnerships as a model to spur consideration of additional employer-local government-transit alliances. Discussions are already underway with at least two major Greater Grand Rapids employers for potential new fare-free routes in 2019.