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Grand Rapids panel backs trial of shorter, higher-frequency Dash amid rising operating costs
Summary
Mobile GR staff proposed a trial of a consolidated, shorter Dash circulator route to increase frequency and reduce ride times after a 28% operating cost uptick; commissioners approved a Dash working group and asked staff for more engagement results and ridership projections.
Mobile GR commissioners on Monday endorsed creating a working group to study a trial of a shorter, higher-frequency version of the Dash downtown circulator as staff warned the current, city-funded model is financially unsustainable.
Max, the Mobile GR engagement lead, laid out staff’s assessment of the 2023 Dash 3 reroute and said the service currently runs every 15 minutes. He told commissioners the community’s top priorities were shorter trip times and increased frequency and recommended a temporary, consolidated route this year to test whether higher frequency delivers the intended connectivity benefits.
“Current frequency is 15 minutes,” Jessica, Mobile GR director, said when a commissioner asked for a baseline. Jessica later told the panel that keeping the route as it is would require significantly more parking-revenue investment and that, as presented, the program “is not financially sustainable.”
Why it matters: staff said an operational reanalysis by the…
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