Laker Line for GVSU

McKenna Whipple
February 24, 2016

Laker Line would help solve Rapid capacity issues for GVSU students

ALLENDALE, Mich.

Funding for the proposed Laker Line is included in the federal

budget and if approved would bring many changes for Grand Valley State University
students and faculty traveling between campuses.

Chris Swank, manager of Pew Campus Operations, said the new bus line would stretch
13.3 miles, connect the Allendale and Grand Rapids campuses and the Center For Health
Sciences on the Medical Mile. He said it would offer more capacity to assist with the
increased ridership of the Rapid. The new line will have an increased capacity limit,
said Swank, the buses fit roughly 40 to 50 students and the Laker Line buses will fit 80
people per bus.

If President Obamas federal budget for 2017 receives approval, the new line would
receive $57 million.

Lisa Hayes, assistant vice president of Operations for the Pew Campus and Regional
Centers, said improvements offered by the Laker Line would hopefully reduce student

complaints. We have had complaints that the buses are too full and people are being left
behind, she said.

The Laker Line would mean adding buses during peak traveling hours. Swank said 16
buses would run instead of 13 at those times. During peak times when all students are
trying to get to class in the morning and go home at night we hope larger buses will
alleviate students having to wait, he said.

Swank said, improving the alternative transportation to campus would also help
recruitment and retention for the university. It important that the Rapid is working
together with the university to keep riders questions and complaints in mind in order to
continue bettering GVSU, he said. We are trying to create a culture where students
dont have to bring a car to campus and the Laker Line can only be a positive thing for
getting students to come to Grand Valley.

I know that students do look at sustainability as a feature of colleges, Hayes said. We

anticipate ridership with the new bus line to increase by 13 percent.

The new buses will be longer, have two entrances, and raised platforms to walk directly
on to the bus. Some of the platforms may have some type of cover over them and there
will now be 13 stations between Kirkof and the CHS building, 11 of them being brand
new stations, said Swank.

Student rider frequency has been increasing during the past 16 years. In 2000 there was
an estimated 700 riders per day. Now, there are 9,000 11,000 student riders per day
using the 50-bus route. The BRT improvements were a result of one primary issue
capacity, said Swank.

Contact:
Lisa Hayes 616 331 6700
Chris Swank 616 -331 5801