Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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DaveKCMO
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

Post by DaveKCMO »

KCMax wrote: Please ask for weekend service!
hourly saturday service between downtown KC and one of the park-n-rides (martway or great mall) would be a good start.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

Post by enough »

ridership is so low on jct's midday routes (672 midday, 856 metcalf-plaza, 875 75th-quivira) that they can barely be justified.  it's hard to imagine who would ride on saturday.

btw, johnson county transit's future 'brt' service in the metcalf / shawnee mission parkway corridor -- the service that was used as justification for their $10m tiger grant -- will reportedly be branded as 'jo connex.'  kcata didn't want its max brand to be sullied (my term, not necessarily theirs) by the jo's sub-brt service.  kcata will reportedly also use the 'connex' brand for the upgraded service it will operate on state avenue in kck. 
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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enough wrote:btw, johnson county transit's future 'brt' service in the metcalf / shawnee mission parkway corridor -- the service that was used as justification for their $10m tiger grant -- will reportedly be branded as 'jo connex.'  kcata didn't want its max brand to be sullied (my term, not necessarily theirs) by the jo's sub-brt service.  kcata will reportedly also use the 'connex' brand for the upgraded service it will operate on state avenue in kck.
interesting. i guess there weren't too many strings attached to TIGER projects (other than reporting and a basic timeline). as long as they end up with improved service in the corridor by the time the grant expires then i guess we're okay.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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april 30 is supposed to be the deadline for the jct survey.  tell 'em what you like / don't like / want.  if you keep it simple you might actually see some change.

http://www.thejo.com/survey.shtml
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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Johnson County authorizes agreement with city of Mission for new transit center
OLATHE, KS (Johnson County Square) ? Johnson County Transit, in partnership with the cities of Mission, Overland Park, and Roeland Park, is building a new transit center to serve as the northeast Johnson County transit hub for public transportation services.

The Mission Transit Center will be in Mission Village that?s located between Johnson Drive and Martway Street.

On Thursday, April 28, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners authorized an agreement with the city of Mission for the acquisition of two lots at 5251 Johnson Drive for the county to use in the construction and operation of a future transit center. The Mission City Council approved the agreement on April 20. The county?s one-time cost in the agreement with the city was $10.

Alice Amrein, transportation director, hopes to begin construction of the new transit facility by the end of this year or early 2012 with completion of the project in approximately one year.

Earmarking a future location for the East Gateway Transit Center is part of the transit infrastructure improvements for an express bus route along the Metcalf Avenue and Shawnee Mission Parkway corridors. The improvements are being funded by $10.7 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Competitive and Discretionary Grant Program. The federal allocation at no cost to the county was received a year ago and is being administered by the Federal Transit Administration.

Grant monies also are being used to construct nine pairs of bus shelters, park-and-ride lots, and sidewalks and crosswalks for a three-mile long pedestrian corridor with bike-hike trails. The bus service will operate from 119th Street in Overland Park to the Country Club Plaza through Mission via Metcalf Avenue, Johnson Drive and Shawnee Mission Parkway.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

Post by KCMax »

Isn't the transit center already there?
SAVE THE PLAZA - FROM ZOMBIES! Find out how at:

http://twitter.com/TheKCRag
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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the current transit center -- two boarding lanes and three shelters -- is at johnson county's northeast offices at 6000 lamar.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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Service cuts in 2012:

- Downtown trips for Route D eliminated. Riders can transfer to the A bus to get to/from downtown.
- Deadhead trips on Route C and on the K-10 connector eliminated.
- Route O and V eliminated. Route I has been adjusted to accommodate V riders.
- Route L/N reduced by 2.6 hours per day.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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I-35 "bus-on-shoulder" was approved for four existing JO routes (on the joco portion of I-35 only. for some reason, legislative action is required to allow it in wyandotte county... sounds like a clerical error). operations will probably will start next year. run times might improve by 10 minutes.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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the jo made some service changes effective september 26, including shift to a new park-and-ride location at oak park mall.

transit action network tweeted about it:
TransActionKC
@JoCoTheJO is now operating from a new park-and-ride lot at Oak Park Mall. http://bit.ly/q38Re7 http://bit.ly/rkm2Xh http://bit.ly/oC0aAG4 Oct

...and later called special attention to the do-it-yourself bus stop sign that somebody put up:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58867268@N03/6212705572/
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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the jo has some more service changes coming up in january. two meetings have been scheduled, both at 6000 lamar.

wednesday, november 16, 6:30 pm.

friday, november 18, 7:00 am.

more info on their website: http://www.thejo.com
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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Drivers learning how to run buses on shoulder of I-35
The new bus-on-shoulder service will start Jan. 3, but drivers will begin their on-road training Thursday. Drivers will be in training every day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. until Dec. 8. The Kansas Highway Patrol will be on hand to escort the buses....

Highway crews, however, will be leaving the rumble strips on the side of the highway in place. A highway department spokeswoman said tests have indicated that the rumble strips were hardly detectable on the bus.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

Post by DaveKCMO »

very interesting discussion about transit at the joco commission this week. basically, 2013 is a pivotal year when federal and state money begins to dry up. the commission must decide soon whether even they want to continue fixed route service at all.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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Predictions?
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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i honestly have no idea. there's a small tea party contingent on the commission now. perhaps if they could be convinced to support a small transit sales tax with a 5- or 10-year sunset in exchange for eliminating general fund support, things might stabilize.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

Post by TheBigChuckbowski »

http://joco913.com/news/buses-to-delive ... -shoulder/

Buses to deliver a new era on I-35 shoulder
What started out as commuter rail will end up as bus service with a twist. On Jan. 3, Johnson County will lead the area into a new era of public transportation by running buses on the shoulder of Interstate 35 between Olathe and downtown. While the travel time savings will be marginal — maybe three to five minutes on average — the service is intended to give passengers a more reliable route between downtown and the suburbs.

Read more here: http://joco913.com/news/buses-to-delive ... rylink=cpy
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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bus on shoulder probably gets most of the media attention today, but jct also made schedule changes and (importantly) changed the downtown loop for most routes. jct buses now go south on grand instead of on main. that shortens the route a little and eliminates most left turns.

there were snafu's today: some riders didn't know where to board and some drivers drove the old route. it didn't help that jct hadn't put any schedule information at the new stops, and they hadn't even removed the bus stop signs from the no-longer-served locations.

transit action network posted a brief story on flickr:
http://bit.ly/xrPqH9
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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transit action network reports that somebody has posted do-it-yourself schedule signs at crown center.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58867268@N03/6669736703/
detail:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58867268@N03/6681576545/

we've seen them at the southbound crown center stop, southbound 26th and grand, and the northbound union station stop.

related: jct has posted a map of the new downtown routing, along with departure times, on its website:
http://www.thejo.com/pdf/rider/Jan2012Dtown.pdf

unfortunately, they don't mention the 15 or more morning (aka, reverse commute) trips from downtown going to johnson county.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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expect jct to go forward with its plan to sell a monthly pass through its website, beginning as early as mid-march. kcata will accept the pass on all routes except premium fare express routes.

jct passes have heretofore been available only through participating employers. (i know, it makes no sense at all that they haven't been selling them through their website all along.)

as of just the other day senior staff couldn't say with certainty whether the "new" pass would be an entirely new pass, or just the "passport" pass sold through a different outlet (i.e., their website). in fact, staff contend that "passport" is the program by which employers sell passes to their employers, while their website pretty clearly says the passport is the pass.

public transit is soooo complicated.

see the "generic ongoing kcata thread" for additional perspective.
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Re: Johnson County Transit (The JO)

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the jo's monthly pass for may is now on sale via their website:
http://thejo.3dcartstores.com/
the price is $67 plus a $2 processing fee.

this is the first time they have sold their monthly pass to anybody who wants one. previously they were available only through participating employers.

beginning may 1, jo monthly passes will be good on all regular kcata routes. the jo (@jocothejo) has already tweeted about it a couple of times, but i suspect there'll be a joint press release from kcata and the jo in the near future to "officially" announce it.
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