The LONGEST Bus Route in Grand Rapids is a GHOST BUS | Route 100, the Ferris State Express

The buses in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, are operated by a company called "the Rapid." The Rapid has many fixed bus routes operating at frequencies between every 15 minutes and every hour. There are also a few seasonal routes, that serve different university campuses. And then there's Route 100. At almost 60 miles, it is by far the longest route. It also costs $5 to ride, as opposed to the regular fare of $1.75. Passengers must pay in cash. It only runs 4 times a day, and only during the school year.
But what makes this route really unique? The fact that its timetable is really, really hard to find. You can't accidentally stumble upon this bus if you're checking out the Rapid's website. It's also not available in the printed schedule books. To find a timetable, you either have to visit the website of Ferris State University, or visit Central Station in downtown Grand Rapids.
Join Thom as he rides the full Route 100 from Grand Rapids to Big Rapids, in Michigan. That's 80 minutes of bus riding (one way!), edited into a nice, bite-size 13 minutes for your entertainment.
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[@davegoesthedistance]

Oh, and since your video asks, one of my neighborhood bus routes goes on the highway. It’s Trinity Metro route 61x - the Normandale Express, connecting the Normandale areas in West Fort Worth with Fort Worth Central Station. It runs a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening, and is the fastest way to connect to TexRail (or Trinity Railway Express or Amtrak) when it’s running, otherwise my neighborhood’s other bus, route 91, can get me to Northside Station which is also a TexRail stop. I’d love to use transit more day to day, but primarily I use it to take TexRail to DFW airport - where I can fly to more transit-friendly places to visit. :)

[@danielueblacker9118]

Thom I also love your naming this "Ghost Bus" also love your knowledge of transportation.

[@Thom-TRA]

Thank you! Thankfully nothing spooky about this bus.

[@kneemeister]

That route would be ideal for a contract with Indian Trails

[@Thom-TRA]

It would certainly be more comfortable, but it’s kind of fun that they use a city bus. At least for public transit nerds like me.

[@kneemeister]

In My college days, I had to catch a Northstar Shortway bus from East Lansing to Jackson. I even Biked it one Friday afternoon, as I was Broke like every Freshman! I have lots of Amish neighbors so have made many a trip to pick up someone in Kzoo or E. Lansing off of an Indian Trails Bus.

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@Thom-TRA I don't mind riding on a standard transit bus as a commuter route

[@spencer4732]

really interesting video! this route seems very similar to the RideKC route 510 here in Kansas City. it connects the suburbs of Kansas City with the city of Lawrence (where Kansas University is) at a length of 34 miles each way. the route uses a mix of busses however, with coach busses in use during peak hours. It has the highest ridership of all routes on the Kansas side of KC

[@mjchicagoland2314]

Grand Rapids, MI is my favorite part of Michigan because of their public transportation. Ann Arbor, Lansing and Detroit are my favorite because I love DDOT and SMART buses.

[@Cupertinorail]

Hey that's my kind of bus. If I was the only one on that bus then I'd be dancing like I do when I am the only one on any public transit vehicle. Before 2019 there was a ghost bus for my local transit agency called the 34. Man I spent two rides dancing the day away there.

[@Cupertinorail]

I go to a state university in California but never heard of Ferris State before

[@strato_blue]

Hi there- just happened to come across this video. I am newly a fleet technician for The Rapid- if you have any questions (especially regarding the busses themselves) do ask- some general stuff: Our fleet is primarily Gillig H2000 Low Floors in 40ft, 35ft and 29ft configs. The 40's are most common and the 29's usually are our DASH busses (Downtown Area SHuttle) and most are CNG powered. Our CNG's will have green roofs and you can see the cng tanks on top and our diesels have red roofs and are starting to phase out as we go towards entirely CNG. CNG is great for us as there are "ingestors" around the city that burn waste to create CNG which is then routed to the Rapid via pipeline which saves a TON on fuel cost and reduces emissions a ton

[@Thom-TRA]

I never knew that about the CNG! Any details on the new fleet coming?

[@strato_blue]

@@Thom-TRA I haven't heard anything yet personally but i can ask our service manager tomorrow if i see him :)

[@joshc2650]

There is a "Ghost Bus" or maybe extinct route in Grand rapids: Route 19, Its a Michigan crosstown bus for spectrum health workers to get to their cars on either end of the route. It ran for about 4 or so months, it was a free shuttle, and was featured on a Dash map once upon a time. I have asked a few bus drivers if they can still change the front and back displays to that route and it still works. Only on the bus numbers that start with the numbers 10 and 11 (not routes) I did ride it maybe once but I guess it would be a fun history lesson for a video.

[@Thom-TRA]

I remember route 19! Never got to ride it unfortunately due to the pandemic… I’m glad 60 is still free to ride.

[@shorttelove03]

Route 19 no longer exists

[@AirshipsAviation11]

In portland oregon we have a bus from downtown to the suburb of Tualatin and our 58 runs on us route 26 for a small portion to get to downtown

[@seanwilluweit6073]

The x98 in chicago! It has 1 round trip at 12:40 am. Travels about 10 miles

[@Thom-TRA]

Well I live in Chicago now so… where does it go? Is it worth trying?

[@Thom-TRA]

@@stevenvelders0 oh, that’s up by Skokie! I might try that one sometime

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@Thom-TRA The bus stop is located at 6901 Golf Rd in Glenview, IL near the intersection of Golf Rd and Waukegan Rd. I'm from Chicago too Thom!

[@Thom-TRA]

@@dangelohartley5977 cool! I love living here, it’s an awesome city!

[@dangelohartley5977]

@@Thom-TRA Yes Sir!!!

[@tbuddy3005]

GRATA stands for Grand Rapids Area Transit Authority, Did not know Big Rapids was part of the Metro Area.🤭 Very cool that college students with no wheels have another option.

[@jerrypinkepank8087]

I left a long comment yesterday evening Seattle time, early this morning Chicago time assuming that's where you are, and checked it to be sure it appeared, which it did at that time.. This morning I checked in case you'd replied, and the channel had reverted to June 11 with comments since then no longer displayed. It would take awhile to reconstruct my comment but will do so if you can't recover it.

[@Thom-TRA]

Oh no! I’m so sorry it disappeared. KZbin does that on occasion, where I can still see the notification but the message is gone. I would love to read your thoughts and respond, but please don’t feel any sort of rush or pressure to complete it. I just enjoy the conversations with fellow transit lovers :)

[@jerrypinkepank8087]

I would add, with regard to the job hunt, that you might consider the US State Department's Foreign Service Exam--if that has any appeal for you, I think you're a natural for it.

[@Thom-TRA]

Thank you!

[@HanBaby82]

Isn't Kendall affiliated with Ferris St?

[@Thom-TRA]

Yes it’s their art school

[@dangelohartley5977]

Me: How many Ghost Routes you want? The Rapid: Yes

[@jackjohnson2101]

GR to BR in 13 minutes!

[@Ashataiehopkins-qw2tr]

I use to live in grand rapids I do not miss taken that city bus

[@HanBaby82]

Me too. Leonard St near Oakleigh.

[@jeanleclerc115]

City buses used on a Express route, interesting! And to answer a question, it used to be like that where I lived in the US 20 odd years ago; in Connecticut, all of CT Transit Express route were made with buses, but with suburban (I don't know the exact term in English, but read coach) seats: they used New Flyer D40s (HF, and from, 2001, LF) in the western sector, and MCI/Nova Classics and another batch of D40s (HF as well as LF) in their eastern/central sectors. Another area where there used to be buses used on express routes was New York City, and I believe that's also the case in New Jersey to this day.

[@Thom-TRA]

There’s a few buses like that here in the Chicago area as well!

[@eddieflxible379]

ive delivered a few of those 2100s from the Gillig factory in Livermore CA to Grand Rapids last year. say hi to 2110 for me.

[@Thom-TRA]

How do you deliver a bus? Do you drive it or is it on a trailer?

[@strato_blue]

I'm a tech for the rapid, if i get a chance tomorrow i'll see if i can find it and grab a pic if you'd like haha

[@strato_blue]

update - currently training with 2110 this week !

[@edwardmiessner6502]

That's a very long route for a city 🚌 bus - 60 miles out and 60 miles back! Those hard seats can get very uncomfortable and of course the interior is very LOUD... they'd do better and get more ridership with an intercity coach, ya think?

[@Thom-TRA]

I think so too. But probably not a wise capital decision to have such a small fleet for a seasonal route.

[@markfleser]

Are you still in GR? If so you could go south a bit and try Barry County Transit. They don’t have scheduled routes since the county is so rural, but you can schedule rides anywhere within the county with a maximum fare of $3. They also have a trolly that runs during various events in the county that is free.

[@Thom-TRA]

I don’t live in GR anymore but I visit from time to time. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@onelgalagedara4472]

In Staten Island NY we have a limited bus called the S89 that runs from the SI mall to Bayonne NJ at the 34tb street station, if you ever come to NYC check it out :>

[@Thom-TRA]

Anything in particular that’s cool about that route?

[@onelgalagedara4472]

@@Thom-TRA it goes through the Bayonne bridge + it’s the only other way from NYC to NJ aside from path and NJ transit

[@lil5713]

Should use commuter coaches tbh. Guess it’s not worth it to buy a fleet of commuter coaches only for them to sit most of the time

[@Thom-TRA]

I think that’s a fair conclusion. Would be nice, but they wouldn’t be used enough to financially make sense.

[@strato_blue]

yes i agree. given our fleet, most of our smaller busses are used for DASH and routes with more narrow roads. We have a large quantity of the 40-fts though so i think it makes sense.

[@kellyberry]

I remember the older buses from the 1980s-1990s I was on the old GRATA Buses a driver kicked everybody off the bus he said he had it with people and was kicking everybody off so he could go home early the joke was on him I lived across the street from the bus stop back then then in Summer of 1995 I was going to Summer School and I always rode the Bus home a friend always gave me a ride to School in the morning We were riding a new bus but it broke down the driver called for another bus the only bus they could offer was a bus from the 1980s The driver refunded everybodys money then gave us free transfers it was fun hearing the ding instead of the voice that says stop requested and another time I was waiting to go to School and the usual bus wasnt there it was an older bus I asked the driver where the Bus was he said it broke down and the bus he was using was a temporary replacement Kids now days will never get to see those buses unless by chance u happen to ride an old bus as a replacement for the bus that broke down there used to be the Gus Bus but now its not around anymore maybe u can try to look for the older buses

[@vincentm4717]

It would be nice if this route used interstate coaches instead of an urban city bus. Those seats can be rough on your backside after 45 minutes of sitting..😢😂

[@davegoesthedistance]

I believe that bay for bus 100 used to be the bay for route 49 as well. It was a short-lived route for Davenport University’s campus down near Caledonia Township. During my third or fourth year of college it was discontinued in favor of a charter bus shuttle and then a university-run shuttle van. It sucked when I moved off campus and there was no weekend shuttle service, so the closest I could get was 44th and Patterson on route 17 and then bike the rest of the way. Anyway, thanks for sharing your travels. 🤘

[@Thom-TRA]

I never realized there was a 49. I would have liked to ride the 19 before it was discontinued. I do like taking route 60, the short little GRCC loop!

[@davegoesthedistance]

@@Thom-TRA I might still have a guide from back when it existed somewhere… one of the funny things is the GPS system with the bus audio had a glitch or typo or something and when the bus went to the Farmers Insurance offices across from the campus, it would trigger the approach message for the Fulton St. downtown campus instead. I was told they had to manually update the data on each bus and it was more effort than anyone cared to do at the time.

[@dennisforner6090]

Good to see GR buses have a bike rack at the front of the bus - Canberra (our federal capital) is the only city in Australia that has them - they are a great idea. Canberra also recently installed its first tram line (light rail) and is looking to install more. I was surprised that you had to use cash only on that bus. GR sure does have an extensive bus service. Thank you for sharing & I'm so sorry that you got soaked for what appeared to be a miserable trip back. Being cold is bad enough being cold & wet is the worst - can't understand why no shelter was provided given it was the start/end of a major bus journey. I suppose it could have been worse getting wet, missing the bus & having to wait 4 hours for the next one! Stay safe Thom.

[@Thom-TRA]

The bike rack is very nice! The first time I used it I was a bit intimidated going into it, but I found it was easy to use and I’ve been using them since. Most American buses have them, I’ve seen them here in Chicago as well. It’s been a miserable winter in terms of weather! This video was filmed a month ago and it was still coat weather. Thankfully it’s warmed up a bit here now. Hoping it doesn’t get too crazy cold in Australia now that you’re all headed into winter!

[@dennisforner6090]

@@Thom-TRA Unfortunately the east coast of Australia has been hit with a freezing cold snap - coming right off Antartacia. This weekend is a long weekend celebrating the Queen's Birthday - yes the Queen of England is also the Queen of Australia as is the case with Canada. This normally marks the start of our official snow season on the east coast but thanks to the cold snap snow has been falling in the mountain region for the last 2 weeks. Japan finally opened its borders - I meet all the criteria bar 1 - have to be on an organized tour - I hate doing organized tours. So will have to put off going to Japan a little while longer. Stay safe

[@Thom-TRA]

@@dennisforner6090 yeah, Japan is more fun when you get to explore on your own. Sorry to hear about the cold and snow, that’s the worst. Hope you enjoy the festivities! I’ve been following some of it online. The Paddington Bear video was very charming. And of course the Elizabeth Line…

[@Northern_Idaho]

All of the express buses in Omaha (except the 98) as well as briefly the 14 run on the interstate/West Dodge; and I would class the expresses (except maybe the 92) as ghost routes

[@jerrypinkepank8087]

KZbin got away from me there--Metro is a very interesting world of its own with many trolley bus routes in addition to hybrids that can run on battery in the Third Avenue tunnel downtown (and also trolley buses with battery that lets them get around wire issues or other problems). The City also has two streetcar lines which are intended to be connected to each other, but since there is no free transfer from and to the streetcars they don't get the ridership they should--these were financed by the City so I think free transfers would be an issue for revenue to support the financing. The monorail is definitely worth riding and Seattle Center (the monorail's destination) and the Space Needle there are well worth your time, with a fun revolving restaurant at the top of the Needle.

[@OneGina83]

That’s a long route i thought the flint to auburn hills was long. This beats it by 20 miles.

[@Thom-TRA]

Yeah my butt was so sore after riding it up and down non-stop!

[@ryancaldwell9463]

That is weird to have such a long trip on a transit city bus. You’d think they’d use a commuter bus, more like a coach bus. Much less noisy and uncomfortable. City buses are designed for short quick trips, get on and off.

[@Thom-TRA]

I wonder if this is unique in the US. Do you know if any other examples?

[@Geotpf]

@@Thom-TRA RTA (Riverside Transit Agency in Riverside, California) has four (really three, as 205 and 206 are the same bus and I can't figure out the difference between them) different routes that are kind of like this: 200 from San Bernardino to Riverside to Orange to Disneyland in Anaheim, 204 from Riverside to Ontario to Montclair, and 205/206 from Corona to Lake Elsinore to Murrieta to Temecula.

[@pauly5418]

It would seem better to use coach buses for long distances, but I believe these buses are made by New Flyer and they're accessible. I don't know of any accessible coaches. I noticed this bus is also a CNY (compressed natural gas) bus...it says so at the top of the bus. I wonder if they'll be using electric buses anytime soon.

[@nbahn]

So why do people even USE the service to from Grand Rapids to Cedar Spring?

[@Thom-TRA]

To do grocery shopping, or to not deal with traffic and parking

[@nbahn]

@@Thom-TRA Surely there are Meijers or (Heaven forbid!) Krogers on The Rapid lines! In greater Lansing, the CATA system serves FIVE (5!) different Meijers on good bus lines and at least ONE Kroger (again, on a good bus line) that I'm aware of. Also, two different Aldis are served (one by a good bus line).

[@jerrypinkepank8087]

Here goes the restoration :-) : Seattle has a candidate for a ghost bus; last night I included a couple of links and perhaps that caused the problem, but if you search on trailheaddirect.org it should come up. Mount Si is a popular hiking destination and not the best place to leave a car at the trailhead (car prowls). There are 10 trips a day originating from the Sound Transit light rail station on Capitol Hill in Seattle and taking one hour each way for the 35.9 mile trip, most of the way on I-90. The site isn't .gov but is in fact official and the buses are city buses operated by King County Metro. We have two transit agencies in the Seattle metropolitan area. King County Metro began operating transit circa 1974, absorbing the Seattle City bus system; Metro was originally the operator of the sewage system in King County, created to unify the cleanup of Lake Washington, and since Federal aid to transit at that time required combining local systems into larger jurisdictions, Metro was a convenient vehicle for that-- the original bus paint scheme, white with brown and yellow stripes, was unfortunately too suggestive of Metro's original role, but now the buses are either dark green or dark blue above the belt rail (black belt with yellow below in both cases, with no significance as to green top or blue top buses as to route, type of bus, or anything else--I guess somebody at Metro thought we'd enjoy variety). Metro is using small shuttle buses for this operation. The other agency here is Sound Transit, which operates the light rail system and bus routes that link the three counties of the Seattle metropolitan area--King County (Seattle), Pierce County (Tacoma) and Snohomish Country (Everett), and also heavy rail operations on BNSF tracks Tacoma-Seattle and Everett-Seattle. You enjoyed RTD in Denver and I think you'll want to come out here to Seattle next year when the East Link Extension to the light rail system opens (the date in 2023 is not yet set)--that will expand the system to 40 route miles, and will include sharing with I-90 the floating bridge over Lake Washington (this involved interesting engineering to deal with the two-foot season difference in the elevation of the Lake). I look forward to possibly hearing something about your new job--I believe you were an international relations major, and you're multi-lingual, so the opportunities for you ought to be boundless! I hope you'll still have time for the channel!--Jerry

[@Thom-TRA]

Thanks for the info! Seattle is at the top of my list of cities to visit in the US. I got back from Portland not too long ago. If I get to Seattle and have a few days there, I will definitely check that bus out. I had never even heard of King Metro before, I only knew about Sound Transit. Also, is the monorail fun? I really appreciate your encouragement on the job hunt! So far nothing yet, but I’m staying hopeful :)

[@jerrypinkepank8087]

@@Thom-TRA Md