Surge in DASH ridership credited to changes
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Mobile GR Commission on Thursday released new data on ridership for the Downtown Area Shuttle — better known as DASH — indicating a 105% increase in year-over-year ridership.
In January 2024, 17,502 people used the free DASH service, compared to 35,875 in January this year.
The Commission credited the surge to two changes to the service: First, midway through January 2024, it per week. It also redesigned the shuttle's route.
'The DASH started back in the 1970s as a way to get people from cheap parking on the West Side to destinations downtown,' Mobile GR Transportation Planning Supervisor Erin Evenhouse told News 8. 'It continued to function that way for a while, but we have seen downtown grow and thrive. We wanted to see it get people to a variety of destinations downtown. So it's not just back and forth, but taking people all around downtown.'
The new route runs clockwise and counterclockwise between the West Side and downtown and has trips later than the rest of the city's buses.
Erin told News 8 that the entire DASH service costs Mobile GR about $2 million annually, funded entirely by Mobile GR's parking programs.
In all, the department brought in $31.2 million in total revenue, $200,000 more than its total expenditures, in 2024. More than 61% of that revenue came from parking fines around the city, with more than 82,000 issued last year.
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