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WASHINGTON – C.E.O. Peter Varga of the Interurban Transit Partnership (ITP), better known as “The Rapid”, spoke before the House Committee on Transportation today, of which Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers is a member. Ehlers took special interest in the hearing because of his support of public transit efforts in the Third District of Michigan.
Varga spoke to the committee about ITP’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, which is seeking federal funding to research and develop a 10 mile route to and from downtown Grand Rapids and the southern part of the metro area along the Division Avenue and US-131 corridor. Peter Varga told members of the subcommittee that the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) recently established Very Small Starts Program is crucial in advancing the BRT project. The ITP expects to submit for federal funding under the program in the next fiscal year.
“We have worked closely with the FTA over the past several months to seek FTA approval so we can advance the BRT project into the next phase,” said Varga. “We will be submitting our project information to FTA this summer and hope to receive approval to enter the development stage of the project later this year.”
Congressman Ehlers is a longtime supporter of expanding public transit options in the Third District. “Public transit helps get thousands of people in the Grand Rapids area to and from work and other important functions, and it promotes responsible urban development,” Ehlers said. “The Bus Rapid Transit project will be a boon for the area, and I commend Peter Varga and everyone else involved for the hard work they have put into making this idea a reality. I will do whatever I can to support the project at the federal level.”
On another issue during his testimony, ITP Director Peter Varga expressed disappointment during the hearing that FTA programs will not provide federal funds for a planned streetcar project in downtown Grand Rapids. He said FTA’s current Small Starts evaluation process puts streetcar projects at a disadvantage for federal funding because it places little weight on a project’s projected impact on land use and economic development. Varga told the subcommittee that Congress should clarify to FTA that the legislation which established the Small Starts program should provide greater weight to those criteria to make streetcar systems more viable in smaller urban areas like Grand Rapids. |
