KCMO Downtown Streetcar

[pash]

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[grovester]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17lkdqoLt44

[flyingember]

Yes. But we've been talking about long waits and variance in headways, so I think it should be apparent that time, not space, is the variable of interest. Indeed, that's exactly what flyingember pointed out.

You're certainly not wrong. Our time gaps should match our physical gaps and it doesn't.

It's the time gap that's more important for operations but it's the physical gap that perception is based off of. And we know that perception matters way more than reality when it comes to politics and elections.

To me the extra trains going into regular service is the most important action that can be taken.

Being able to run five trains on multiple event weekends and still have one in maintenance is a lot more practical than stressing being able to keep the trains maintained and run the four we need operating.

[pash]

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[DaveKCMO]

vendor explains one of the two signal priority systems in place for the streetcar: http://rhythmtraffic.com/blog/14539/

(the other one is opticom/trapeze, which is directly wired to the vehicles and communicates by line of site to a sensor on the mast arm -- just like MAX -- but is more passive)

[normalthings]

https://youtu.be/Akm7ik-H_7U

The High Cost of Parking by Vox

"The US has as enough sqft of parking to cover West Virginia"
" Parking requirements demand more space for cars than the actual buildings"
"Free parking transfers the cost of parking away from drivers to tax payers and shoppers"

[scooterj]

So... for Total Eclipse Day, what are your all's thoughts on whether the streetcar will be able to handle the lunchtime crowd trying to get as far north as possible, or is it going to grid to a halt under the volumes of people & car traffic?

Asking because some of my co-workers are planning to take it City Market from Union Station that day and I have a feeling they might need to plan on walking the whole way.

[KCPowercat]

I can't imagine many are thinking of that...everybody I know is going to just step outside their office if they aren't planning a roadie to St Joe

[flyingember]

I bet there's 1000+ people thinking the same thing because a full half of downtown will have no total eclipse. So people will have to travel to see anything below the totality path. As we know it doesn't take much immediate demand to fill a train. The lengths aren't that great inside the financial district too. City Hall will have 15 seconds, One KC Place 8 seconds.

Here's a useful map for picking a spot. You want to look at the "corrected" length when choosing
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/so ... om=15&LC=1

Looks like KCATA parking lot, city market dog park or the end of the town of ks bridge are the best in the river market. A little walking can have a noticeable gain in length.. 33 vs 8 seconds is enough time to see it vs miss it. From the east side of downtown I would go to Columbus Park

The riverfront park will be a good spot too being wide open and nothing tall in the way of the path to cause shadows but not easy to walk to

From downtown you won't gain much heading east until you could get past a line from 17th/Hardesty to Indep Ave and Brooklyn. so 24 would be a better bus than 12.

Go north on 201 if traffic isn't crazy and cross the river to 10th Ave and get off there. Over double the length just crossing that far.

[scooterj]

I can't imagine many are thinking of that...everybody I know is going to just step outside their office...

Well, a lot of the downtown people who work south of the line of totality are thinking that. Downtown, you have to be north of a line running diagonally from 14th & Summit to 19th & Charlotte. Most of the Crossroads and all of Crown Center are outside the boundary of the total eclipse, and you really need to be north of 12th to get much more than "blink and you'll miss it".

... if they aren't planning a roadie to St Joe

Also, it should be noted that Excelsior Springs, Kearney, and Smithville Lake will see a total eclipse only a few seconds shorter than St. Joe. For most of the metro that's a considerably shorter distance and, in my mind at least, those few seconds are more than worth trading to avoid the chaos of St. Joe.

(Though I, personally, will be watching from my back yard where I get 1m27s and don't have to travel. )

[loftguy]

There may be quite a few people headed north to the City Market.

"City Market is not only a great space to view the total eclipse but also to celebrate it! We're putting the party in watch party with a full schedule of FREE nighttime entertainment in the middle of the day."

http://thecitymarket.org/events/overview

[earthling]

July ridership numbers...
http://kcstreetcar.org/wp-content/uploa ... ership.pdf

Weekend ridership up but weekday avg down a bit compared to July 2016.

[KCPowercat]

Doomed!

[mykn]

July ridership numbers...
http://kcstreetcar.org/wp-content/uploa ... ership.pdf

Weekend ridership up but weekday avg down a bit compared to July 2016.

If my math is correct, that's about 89 people a day less. Anyone know if the # of operating hours were same for this July vs last July? Might lead to a better comparison. Honestly I'm incredibly impressed by how close those numbers are.

[flyingember]

Ridership seems to be temperature driven. It was stupid hot this July. A lot of lunchtime riders would have not used the train is my guess.

I don't care to look at the downtown high temperature for every day of the year and coordinate to ridership so this is just a hunch.

[wahoowa]

it's much simpler than temperature driven. that report just batches the wrong days together for summary purposes, which leads to misleading results. fridays shouldn't be treated as "weekdays" for comparison purposes, and this is a prime example why: 2016 july had 5 fridays 4 mondays. 2017 july had 4 fridays 5 mondays. monday average across july of 2016 and 2017 is 5582. friday average across july of 2016 and 2017 is 9654.

since the "drop" is ~89 times ~22 which ~equals 2000, and the weekday bias for swapping out a friday for a monday projects to 9600 minus 5600 or a loss of 4000, weekday ridership actually ever so slightly increased from what you would have expected on a true weekly basis. notice too that the ~4000 number isn't too far off from the total drop from july 2016 to july 2017, which is 233.5k - 231k = 2.5k. so, progress! woohoo!

[earthling]

It's flat for July peoples and still way beyond projections, no biggy. Lots of variables will impact results. June was a decent increase.

[flyingember]

https://twitter.com/kclightrail/status/ ... 0326729730

contracts signed for two trains. what's the current timeframe on delivery?

[DaveKCMO]

https://twitter.com/kclightrail/status/ ... 0326729730

contracts signed for two trains. what's the current timeframe on delivery?

FY20 budget will reflect increased service for the additional cars, so two years delivery.

[JBmidtown]

https://twitter.com/kclightrail/status/ ... 0326729730

contracts signed for two trains. what's the current timeframe on delivery?

FY20 budget will reflect increased service for the additional cars, so two years delivery.

So, fall of 2019?