Rapid Central Station

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Rapid Central Station
General information
Location	250 Grandville Ave SW, Grand Rapids Michigan, United States
Coordinates	42°57′29″N 85°40′21″W / 42.95806°N 85.67250°W / 42.95806; -85.67250
Owned by	The Rapid
Bus stands	16 city bus, 4 coach, 1 BRT
Bus operators	The Rapid, Indian Trails
Connections	Vernon J. Ehlers Station (Amtrak)
Construction
Structure type	Ground level
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	2004
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Out-of-system interchange Holland toward Chicago Pere Marquette transfer at Grand Rapids Terminus
Location

Rapid Central Station (also known as the Transit Center) is an intermodal transit station in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is operated by The Rapid and serves as Grand Rapids' main city bus station as well as a station on the Silver Line bus rapid transit. It is located on Grandville Avenue between Cherry Street and Wealthy Street, and is the BRT's northern terminus. It is just yards north of the city's intercity rail station, the Vernon J. Ehlers Station, on Century Avenue.

The station was built in 2004 at the cost of $22 million to serve as both a new bus station and a terminus for intercity coach routes such as Greyhound and Indian Trails. Greyhound moved its operations from 190 Wealthy Street SW on the corner of Grandville Avenue to be part of the intermodal station.^[1] It was the first transportation center in the US to receive LEED certification.^[2]

The year 2014 saw two major additions to the station. The Silver Line was completed in August^[3] adding a platform to the space between the building's eastern entrance and the coach bays. Just two months later, the city's Amtrak station opened at its new location 100 yards (91 m) south of the bus station.^[4]

As Grand Rapids' major bus transfer point, the station features sixteen bays for city buses. Most bus transfers are made on the central platform, while access to the BRT and the Indian Trails coaches is from the station building to the west.

An information desk and ticket counter for the Rapid is located inside the station building, along with similar facilities for Indian Trails services. There are also vending machines. Outside of information desk hours, ticket machines on the central platform allow riders to reload fare cards.

Central Station is no longer served by Greyhound, which currently operates from a curbside stop adjacent to a Burger King restaurant at 410 Pearl St NW.

Service operates based on a mass arrival and departure system known locally as the "line-up". The regular routes 1-16 and 18 all operate around the framework of quarter-hourly arrivals and departures. On weekdays, major routes depart at :15 and :45, while others depart at :00 and :30 during the day before reverting to :15 or :45 timings in the evenings. Incoming buses are scheduled to arrive around 7–10 minutes prior to their scheduled departure.

The final "line-up", or departure, of the day is delayed until all participating buses have arrived and any transferring passengers have reached their desired vehicle.

Amtrak schedules:^[6]
Indian Trails schedules:^[7]
Greyhound schedules:

Media related to Rapid Central Station at Wikimedia Commons