transportation

We last looked at the state of intercity transportation in 2022; sadly, very little has changed ...

The Rapids' ridership is showing steady "recovery"; it is deemed "recovery" as, post-COVID, everything must now be bench-marked against 2019, the last year of the before times. By the raw numbers the Rapid closed October at ~65% of 2019 ridership. That is 703,844 rides, deemed UPT or Unpaired Trips by the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), in October 2024 compared to 1,088,772 in 2019. So far (Jan - Oct) ridership in 2024 is ~63% of comparative 2019 ridership.

There is a lot, very quietly, happening in the transportation space. On the surface not much is changing, other than related to ride-hailing / car-sharing, which I will cover first. Meanwhile, down below in the civic forges the bellows are pumping; we are either shaping the beginnings of a different future, or at least witnessing the death gasps of the status-quo. If voters choose wisely next month the stage is set for change; but we’ve been here before, don’t count those chickens just yet.

It has been a long time in the making, riders have been able to feel it coming, and now it's here: the service cuts. DASH service since the launch of the DASH v3.0 routes in May (2023) has not operated Monday or Tuesday, the other days of the week it has been unreliable (not 15 minute headways). Ghost buses have begun appearing across the network, a phenomenon rarely experienced in previous years.

This is a look at commuting related data from the ACS (American Community Survey) for the most recent available year (2021):

Commute Mode

The Turner Ave bike lane between Leonard and 4th St is under construction.

Route #33

The Rapid will begin operating a weekday express route to the Walker industrial park. The industrial park was previously served by an interline with route #9 (Alpine) - - - which was very confusing.

Route 33 will run hourly from 5:45am - 10:45am and 1:45pm - 5:45pm, Monday through Friday.