From our friends at Disability Advocates of Kent County:

I would like to request a pause in our efforts to get things rolling for 2010 and reflect on what we accomplished as a community during the "zeroes." I believe that it's time to look back and see how far we've come.

It is sometimes hard to remember that it was only ten years ago that the first Rapid millage was successfully passed in 2000. This led to the expansion of service into the evening and Sundays, to name only two of the enhancements at that time. With successful millage elections in 2003 and 2007, further enhancements were made to the level of service. Along with this, the Rapid has added new features to make our trips easier to take such as the recently added "nearest stop" finder.

In addition, the Rapid has been very successful in securing the dollars needed to buy new buses and build our nation's first LEED certified transit station and just broke ground on the expanded operations center.

This all, in turn, led to the significant growth in ridership. Way back then, only 4,000,000 rides were given in a year. Last year, that number increased to over 9,300,000!

As we turn our gaze forward, let's be encouraged and strengthened by these accomplishments so as to continue to plan for the next level of service enhancements -- both within the Rapid's service area and throughout our entire county. Time to use this history to chart a course that our local, state and federal officials will need to follow!