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Riders at Rapid Central Station in downtown Grand Rapids. The six-city transit network has been named best in its class for 2013 by the American Public Transportation Association.

(MLive.com File Photo)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Local transit officials were set Tuesday to announce the six-city Rapid bus system has been named best in its class by a preeminent national transportation group.

The designation, set to be formally announced at a 10 a.m. news conference at Rapid Central Station, makes The Rapid the "Outstanding Mid-Size Transportation System" in the country for 2013.

It is the second time in nine years The Rapid has been given the award by the American Public Transportation Association, or APTA. The last time was in 2004.

"We're really pleased," said Rapid CEO Peter Varga. "We put in for it this year, because we thought we had a really good, successful few years here."

The Rapid beat out a potential candidate pool of 78 mid-sized transit systems across the country, or those that give between 4 million and 20 million annual rides.

APTA, which was founded in 1882, does not disclose the names or number of transit systems that actually applied for the award. The Rapid's peers include networks in Lansing, Ann Arbor, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio.

The group judges systems based on criteria that include ridership growth, operational efficiency, financial stability and technological innovation.

"There are so many things going right here," said APTA president and CEO Michael P. Melaniphy.

It is, indeed, a transformative time for The Rapid, which is in the process of building several dozen stations for a state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar rapid transit bus system.

Once operational in fall 2014, the Silver Line will ferry passengers from the suburbs of Wyoming and Kentwood to downtown Grand Rapids via Division Avenue. It is designed to shave up to 40 percent off commute times.

The Rapid also has seen year-over-year ridership growth since 2004, consistently breaking its own records each year. There were just under 6 million rides given in 2004, and the system is on pace to eclipse 12.5 million rides this year.

Those dramatic gains have been cast as symptomatic both of a down economy, rising gas prices and commuting trends among millennials.

Studies have found the younger generation has displayed an affinity for urban life, eschewing vehicles in favor of living in cities with robust public transit systems.

Barb Holt, who chairs the Interurban Transit Partnership Board that governs The Rapid, also contended the gains show the system has sowed trust with the community.

"They trust us to get where they need to go in a timely manner, in a comfortable manner, safely, and that's what makes us work harder every day," Holt said.

Officials now talk of The Rapid's predecessor, the Grand Rapids Area Transit Authority, as a monolith that was ill-equipped to handle the needs of the community. The Rapid rose from the remnants of GRATA in 2000, and consistent ridership gains and new services have followed.

Melaniphy said the advancements have set The Rapid apart from its peer networks. His group's annual competition has become more competitive, he argued, because best practices during tumultuous economic times have become more widespread.

"With each successive year, those that win, … you have to do everything right, and do more," Melaniphy said. "In tough economic times, to pull that off, is extraordinary."

The Rapid has not grown without pains. Over the last decade, it, like all transit systems, has vied for increasingly lucrative state and federal dollars to keep evolving.

It took a decade for the Silver Line to even become reality, and voters once defeated a millage request by The Rapid to help fund the service before narrowly approving another in 2011.

The Rapid also was targeted by a group seeking to abolish its taxing authority in Walker, one of the six Grand Rapids-area communities it serves. That proposal was handily defeated by voters during the 2012 election.

Last year, The Rapid rolled out longer service hours and increased frequency during peak travel times. It will continue building bus rapid transit systems through the balance of 2013, and wrap up construction in spring 2014.

Varga, Holt and others will travel to APTA's annual conference in early October to accept APTA's award. The ceremony is set for Oct. 1 in Chicago.

"It's a very important recognition of what we're doing here locally," Varga said. "In some ways for being able to get things in front of folks that we ask for approval and seeing the effect of good ridership growth and positive community effect of what we're doing, so this is a very nice way of hearing from the national association that this was well-deserved."

Zane McMillin is a government, transportation and breaking news reporter for MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.