Do you ever wonder if there's another way to get to work or around town? This is your downtown commuter resource guide. It'll help you discover the many options you have to fit your budget and activity goals.
Use the Downtown Commuter Resource Guide as your menu for transportation options. Learn how you can save money and reduce your risk of serious conditions like heart disease!
Need downtown visitor information instead? Visit the Downtown Visitor Parking and Mobility Guide.
Guaranteed Ride Home Program
It's great to ride your bike, hop on the bus, carpool, vanpool, or walk to work, but what if you have an emergency? Don't worry. West Michigan Rideshare will give you a ride home with their Guaranteed Ride Home Program. They'll give you a ride if an emergency comes up. All you have to do is sign up for an account and log your commute trips. You qualify if you use active transportation at least once each week. You can get up to $55 reimbursed to you for a taxi, Uber, or car rental for the day.
Employer Programs
Check with your employer to see if they offer a Parking Cash Out Program or Health and Wellness credits for commuters.
Parking Cash Out Program
Employers use Parking Cash Out (PCO)to give their employees transportation options. Many Grand Rapids employers offer free parking as a part of their benefits package. Encourage your employer to start this program if they don't already offer it. See how we offer this incentive below.
How can some employees earn an extra $1248 each year? By turning in their parking permits. The City of Grand Rapids offers a Parking Cash Out Program. Employees can choose to turn in their parking permit for 70% of what the department pays. When you trade in your Government Center Parking Permit, you get $104 each month. This saves your department $45 each month. Each year, you get $1248 extra income and save your department $540.
Health and Wellness Credits
Active transportation can extend your life. It can reduce your risks of developing serious diseases like heart disease. Companies can add active transportation to their Health and Wellness programs. Encourage your employer to start this program if they don't already offer it.
The Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH) is a FREE bus service downtown. If you are a worker or visitor hop on board for a convenient way to travel throughout the Downtown Grand Rapids. Park Once and DASH around town! Save money, reduce your carbon footprint, and explore downtown.
DASH page
Check out our DASH page for more information on the Downtown Area Shuttle.
Service Locations
Download the PDF DASH Services Map(PDF, 275KB) to find a our DASH routes and stop locations.
Hours of Operation
DASH Service
DASH routes will run Monday - Saturday every 15 minutes or less and follow the schedule below.
MONDAY - Friday
6:30 am - 10:00 pm
SATURDAY
10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Need to travel outside of downtown?
Ride any other routes in The Rapid system for $1.75 (with free transfers) and plan your route using ridetherapid.org, Transit App, or the Rapid's myStop app (iOS & Android).
The Rapid creates opportunities and enriches lives through public transportation. Take a look at how The Rapid has affected our neighbors, family, and friends, at "There's More to the Ride".
Cost and Tickets
The Rapid offers adult single rides for $1.75 and monthly passes for $47. Tickets can be purchased on board with cash. Or you can purchase them ahead of time at retail outlets like Meijer.
Service Locations
Get on board! Check out their routes and schedules on their website at RidetheRapid.org.
Real-Time Schedules
Download one of the mobile apps:
- myStop app tracks your bus, finds nearby stops, include trip planner (Google Play and the App Store)
- Transit app provides departure times, bus tracking, trip planning, and reminders (Google Play and the App Store)
Hours of Operation
The hours vary significantly depending on the route, day, and time. All buses operate Monday-Saturday and during peak travels times. Explore RidetheRapid.org for specific routes and travel information.
How to Ride
Check out these Rider Resources for more information on how to ride, put a bike on a bus, and more.
Guaranteed Ride Home
Don't forget sign up for the Guaranteed Ride Home Program! It will help you get home in a pinch.
RapidVan
Interested in carpool but don't want to use your car? RapidVan makes it easy for you! Find out more at Vanpooling from West Michigan RideShare.
The Rapid includes all these costs of driving the van in the price:
- Vehicle
- Maintenance
- Insurance
- 24-hour emergency roadside service
- Carwashes
- Fuel
- Reserved parking space in one of our parking locations
The more passengers enrolled in a vanpool, the lower the cost per person. The Rapid can add vanpoolers to any existing vanpool as needed to keep costs low for all individuals.
Guaranteed Ride Home
Don't forget sign up for the Guaranteed Ride Home Program! It will help you get home in a pinch.
Life's a little more fun with someone to travel with. West Michigan Rideshare are matchmakers for car and bike commuters. Its as easy as signing up for an account and finding a match. Check out West Michigan RideShare's website to find a commute match.
Carpool
Already know a match and need a space to meet? Find a convenient lot on State of Michigan's Interactive Map of Carpool Lots.
Bike
Riding bicycles alone or in groups is a fun way to get downtown. Check out Greater Grand Rapids Bicycle Coalition's 2017-2018 Bike Map:
Walk
Walking downtown is a great alternative to driving when you live within a one or two miles of downtown. Use Google Maps walking directions to find routes and estimate your commute time.
Guaranteed Ride Home
Don't forget sign up for the Guaranteed Ride Home Program! It will help you get home in a pinch.
Free moped parking is available inside our Pearl Ionia ramp and at our Ottawa Fulton surface lot. Don't lock your moped to trees, lamp posts, or benches. This can block access to people walking or trying to get around.
Feeling unsure about committing to another way of getting around? Take a spin during Active Commute Week. Explore your travel options, log your trips, and win prizes! Check out Active Commute Week, team up with your coworkers, and hit the road!
The Rapid's Park and Ride Lots
If you have a longer commute, you can save money and give yourself some time to relax before and after work by taking The Rapid. You'll save at least $0.50 per mile for the distance you travel when you use a mobility option other than your own car.
Check out the Park and Ride lots in the area:
Guaranteed Ride Home
Don't forget sign up for the Guaranteed Ride Home Program! It will help you get home in a pinch.
Out of more than 20,000 parking spaces in the downtown area, we own and operate half of these spaces. We have:
- Parking lots and ramps have approximately 7,373 spaces
- On-street/metered parking include around 2,000 spaces
Take a look at our Parking Facility Map(PDF, 6MB) and Parking Facility Rates(PDF, 38KB).
Types of Monthly Parking
Standard Monthly Parking
Take a look at our interactive Standard Monthly Parking map. Click on the location to learn more details about each parking option. Locations with available parking permits are green. Locations on the waiting list are orange.
- Monday through Friday
- 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
- Monthly price varies by parking location
Note: The Sixth Street Park Lot, Canal Park lot, and the Ionia Ave Parking are reserved for permit holders from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Evening Monthly Parking
Take a look at our interactive Evening Monthly Parking map. Click on the location to learn more details about each parking option. Locations with available parking permits are green. Locations on the waiting list are orange.
- Any day of the week
- 4:30 pm to 8:00 am
- $49 per month
Note: Evening monthly permits for our Pearl Ionia ramp have 24 hour access on Saturday and Sunday.
Available Monthly Parking
Need to park now? We regularly have parking in our Westside parking lots. These include Area 7, Area 8, and Area 9 lots. You'll save $100 each month if you use these lots instead of parking in one of our downtown ramps. Save money and get your 10,000 steps in or take our free DASH buses around town.
Apply in English
Street Parking
If you park on the street, look for any parking related signage and follow their directions, ex. Meters, No Parking sign or Loading Zone sign. We don't want you to get a ticket. Follow these rules to help keep people safe from harm, park:
- 3 feet from a driveway
- 15 feet from fire hydrants
- 15 feet from or within intersections
- 20 feet from marked Crosswalk
- 20 feet from railroad tracks
- 30 feet from a flashing signal, stop sign, or traffic signal
Disability Parking
We offer disabled parking in all of our ramps and lots. These spaces are clearly marked in our parking locations. In most ramps, you can find disabled spaces on the first level or near elevators/stairwells. For the Government Center Ramp, use the south entrance on Monroe Ave (furthest from Michigan St). If you have the yellow free parking sticker, you park for free in our facilities.
Apply in English
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
We offer electric vehicle charging stations in four of our ramps. You'll pay the same as other users to park and pay the meter at the charging station to pay for the charging cost.
Customer Services - Available All Day, Every Day
Our friendly Parking Services Officers are here to help! We include the services below with your monthly parking permit. So if you are in one of our downtown ramps and lots, we'll help you with:
- Changing flat tires
- Jump starting your vehicle
- Getting access to your keys when you're locked out
- Getting you to your vehicle parked in one of our facilities
- Troubleshooting parking machine issues
- Filling your empty tank up to 5 gallons (you pay for the fuel)
GR Park App
Find parking stress-free! The GR Park App provides real-time availability for City parking facilities and shows locations nearest to you first. Available on iOS & Android.
Motu App
The Motu app allows you to pay for metered parking using your mobile phone. Plus, you'll get a notification when your meter is about to expire. You even have the option to add time to your meter -- right from your phone!
Download on iPhone Download on Android Use Motu on the Web
myStop Mobile App
The myStop Mobile app provides real-time bus schedule and location information. Available on iOS & Android.
Transportation Solutions
We're looking at bringing car share and bike share to Grand Rapids. These share services give people options on how to get to and from work.
We surveyed commuters this last year. The census included 1951 Grand Rapids commuters. We found a quarter of people are willing to use a mobility options if they get an incentive. Our Transportation Solutions Series helps us partner with employers and employees. Over the next year we’ll work with companies who have the highest number of parking permits for employees.
Mobility Service Investment
We have $200,000 we’re spending on transportation solutions programming. These activities include:
- Employer outreach programs
- Try transit initiative
- Bicycle and pedestrian safety education and programming
- Seeking car share programs
We have invested $200,000 on the DASH Rebrand to support our Park Once district.
Each year, we invest $1.6 million on operating free transit in downtown (DASH and Fare Free Silverline).
We are investing approximately $4.2 million on replacement of our new DASH fleet over a 3-year period. These buses operate on compressed natural gas making our air cleaner in downtown.
Changes in the Parking Landscape
In the downtown area, people are adding approximately 3,249 parking spaces. This includes private and public investment over a 2-3 year period. The private sector owns most of these spaces. In this 2-3 year period, downtown has a net gain of 1,600 spaces (public or private). Imagine 2 new ramps the size of Ottawa Fulton near the Arena. That’s a lot of parking, but it’s spread out across downtown. In our City-operated parking facilities, we fluctuate between 92-95% monthly parking occupancy.
We own very little land in the core of downtown. The only available space is the library lot and the 201 Market Ave property. We are looking for partnerships at both of these locations. It’s too expensive to buy land in downtown. We wouldn't recoup costs of parking if we had to buy land and construct a ramp.
Parking Expansion Investment
We opened the McConnell Ionia Lot providing 293 spaces in the downtown near Wealthy. We paid $2 million to construct the lot, which opened December 2017.
We added 100 spaces to our monthly parking program in the Monroe North area of downtown. You now have more options on locations to park. We spent a small amount investing in signage and enforcement for on street and in parking lot spaces.
We’ve used our technology to check how much monthly parking people are using. This allowed us to add 100-150 more spaces throughout the City.
Parking Maintenance Investment
Each year, we spend around $4.5 million on regular maintenance of our parking locations. Our average parking single spot costs $50 each month ($50/space/month). In 2017, we spent more than this to bring our existing supply up to code. This included $1.6 million in elevator replacements and $1.2 million in fire suppression.