A new Grand Rapids shuttle will take you bar hoppin' to some of the coolest hotspots downtown so you don't have to drive, or park and re-park. And a whole night's hoppin' is just five bucks.
G.R. Hopper's two shuttles make 30-minute circuits from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays year-round. Riders can pick up the shuttle from a nightspot, a parking area, a West Side condo or a downtown hotel:
Sixx Nightclub,
Union Square Condos,
Monte’s Lounge,
Parking Area 9/GVSU Bus Stop,
Days Hotel,
Mojo’s Dueling Piano Bar & Restaurant,
The B.O.B.,
HopCat,
Rockwell’s Kitchen & Tap and
The Intersection.
"I grew up in Germany and was pampered with good public transportation," says owner Peter Woodhouse, 31. "I come to downtown Grand Rapids and pay $8 for parking and if I want to go someplace else I need to pay again and find other parking. I just wanted to connect all these places and make Grand Rapids an inexpensive place to come to."
G.R. Hopper provides advertising opportunities outside and inside the busses and on the G.R. Hopper web site. Sponsors at the VIP level provide perks for riders – for example, showing a Hopper Pass to The B.O.B.'s door staff allows the holder to move to the front of the line.
The official kickoff is at 8 p.m. Thursday, September 3; shuttles leave from Sixx Nightclub and from the Intersection.
"Using public transportation in Europe has given me a good grasp on what Grand Rapids needs," says Woodhouse, who relocated 10 years ago to attend
Grand Valley State University.
"One of my goals is to get drunk drivers off the road as much as possible," he adds. "In Germany, there were so many opportunities where you didn't have to [drive drunk] and I think Grand Rapids can move in the same direction."
Source: Peter Woodhouse, G.R. Hopper
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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