Arriving early for the ribbon cutting ceremony I took a seat in the sun, expecting a crowd. After all, Rapid City is a booming town, and infrastructure news usually draws a few people. Instead, the sidewalk was mostly quiet. A haggard mother walked by, pushing a stroller and wrangling four other children—two little girls dancing to an unheard rhythm, and two stragglers with one lagging just far enough behind to make your heart jump. Before she gathered them at the Milo Barber Transportation Hub, she paused to look at the massive, gleaming new vehicles parked on the curb. They didn’t get on; her family kept walking toward Memorial Park.
At 3:30 PM, the officials arrived to cut the ribbon. But looking at that mother, the real story of Rapid City’s newest transit upgrade was already standing on the sidewalk.
For a city that has rapidly outgrown its seams, public transit isn’t just a political talking point. It is a necessary lifeline.
Transportation Tuesday for Rapid City
Tuesday was a tale of two transits in Rapid City. Out at the airport, Governor Larry Rhoden along with Mayor Salamun and other distinguished guests was unlocking access to a $65 million state loan fund to expand gates, bring in more flights, and cater to the booming visitor economy.
In the late afternoon ,Mayor Jason Salamun and Transit Manager Megan Gould were focused on the internal survival of the city itself: rolling out three brand-new, heavy-duty GILLIG buses.
”This is the first bus upgrade we’ve had in half a decade,” Mayor Salamun admitted as several of us took one of the new buses for its maiden spin through town.
He isn’t wrong. For the last five years, Rapid City has exploded in population, but the foundational infrastructure has struggled to keep pace.
You cannot have a multi-million dollar airport expansion bringing in tourists without a reliable municipal transit system to move them—and the local workforce that serves them—around the city.
Without good buses, tourists just rent cars and clog up downtown parking. With these new buses, the city finally has a transit option that mirrors a major metropolitan area.
The ROI and the Ribbon Cutting
The PR rollout was refreshingly unpolished. There was no massive media circus. When it came time for the main event, the giant ceremonial golden scissors simply refused to cut the ribbon—a perfect, unscripted piece of municipal comedy.
But behind the clumsy ribbon-cutting is a very serious, and very smart, financial investment.
A glance at the city’s recent financial ledgers shows a $625,559 check cut to GILLIG LLC just last week. These American-built vehicles are heavy-duty transit workhorses. During the rollout, the Mayor noted that these buses are built to last an “additional eight years” beyond their standard lifespan. That is the kind of long-term taxpayer Return On Investment that Rapid City desperately needs.
Dignity in the Commute
If you have ever ridden one of the city’s aging “short buses,” you know the reality: they are loud, cramped, and you feel every single pothole in your spine.
Stepping onto the new fleet is a night-and-day experience. Because the engine is in the rear, there is an elevated “upper deck” seating area that completely changes the sightlines and gives the ride a sense of space. The heavy-duty air suspension absorbs the road. The front features wide-open perimeter seating, and the clunky mechanical wheelchair lifts of the past have been replaced by a smooth, low-floor ramp that deploys in seconds. It brings a sense of dignity back to the commute.
Shout-out to the Drivers
It is also a massive upgrade for the unsung heroes of the transit system: the drivers. Trading in a rattling, aging chassis for a quiet, ergonomic workspace is a long-overdue quality-of-life upgrade for the people who spend eight grueling hours a day navigating Rapid City traffic.
The city even included Suicide Prevention Awareness signage inside the cabins—a quiet nod to the fact that public transit is deeply intertwined with the community’s mental health and human struggles.
Mount BusMore
Local pride is literally painted on the back, featuring a “Mount Busmore” design by local artist Jaxxen Chaney, a Rapid City high school graduate known for meticulously mapping the city’s underground steam tunnels in Minecraft.
What Happens Next?
One of the new buses was already running its route on Tuesday, another sporting a temporary paper plate expiring on April 13, 2026, and the third performing it’s PR duties flawlessly today. They aren’t waiting around; these vehicles are hitting the streets immediately.
Transit Manager Megan Gould indicated this is a “feeling out” phase, but the ultimate goal is to replace the entire aging fleet. For the sake of the drivers, the growing tourist economy, and the mother wrangling her kids on the sidewalk, that full replacement can’t come soon enough.
Rapid City isn’t a small town anymore. On Tuesday, it debuted a bus fleet that proves it.
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