GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The city of Grand Rapids announced it has expanded and made changes to its free Downtown Area Shuttle bus service.

Starting Wednesday, the city said DASH West and DASH North routes will be combined into one route. The new route will include new stops, including a Bridge Street stop near the Bridge Street Market, a stop at the Grand Rapids Public Library’s main library on Library Street NE and a stop on Leonard Street.

A map of the new DASH route. (City of Grand Rapids)

The new DASH route will run in both directions from 7 a.m. to midnight Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

DASH buses pass every stop every 15 minutes and are free to ride.

According to the city, it has budgeted for the DASH to be a 7-day-a-week service and plans to “bring it back as soon as capacity issues have improved.”

“The DASH is now focused primarily on serving residents and visitors of Grand Rapids,” Josh Naramore, Mobile GR director, said in a news release. “We are especially excited to bring back late night and weekend service. Staff has engaged with the community and local stakeholders, and will continue to improve and adapt this service.”

There will also be a WORK commuter shuttle that will take riders from the west side DASH parking lots to downtown Monday through Friday.

More information can be found on the city’s website.

RAPID EXPANDS ROUTE 8

Also Tuesday, The Rapid announced that its Route 8, which travels between downtown Grand Rapids and RiverTown Crossings in Grandville, now serves Michigan Turkey Producers.

The bus route includes two trips on each weekday to Michigan Turkey Producers’ Wyoming location on Chicago Drive SW. A southbound trip in the morning leaves Central Station at 6:45 a.m. and reaches Michigan Turkey Producers at 6:58 a.m., while a northbound trip in the afternoon stops there at 5:26 p.m.

No stops were removed from Route 8. Weekend routes are not affected.