KCRag Forum

Pretty consistent. Is it true most new systems have a significant drop after first 'novelty' year? Am thinking I've read about that. Would think continuing population growth and more downtown events will eventually bump that up.

The problem is ridership can be explained by a lot more than novelty at such tight numbers.

The number and locations of events will play a part. The temperature of each day year over year could explain it.
The eclipse this August by itself could explain part of that month's drop when so many people went out of the city and weren't at work.

If the streetcar is a part of our transit system not some sort of novelty (which for some it definitely is just a novelty) then why doesn't the streetcar maintain at least the hours the bus system.does...i get and appreciate running later than the buses.

For example holiday hours have the streetcar stopping at 10pm on Christmas Eve and Christmas day this year.

Ridekc runs Sunday service on holidays which runs until midnight? (not sure each individual route). Even the streetcar site stated holiday hours are until 11pm mirroring Sunday schedule.

KCPowercat wrote:If the streetcar is a part of our transit system not some sort of novelty (which for some it definitely is just a novelty) then why doesn't the streetcar maintain at least the hours the bus system.does...i get and appreciate running later than the buses.

For example holiday hours have the streetcar stopping at 10pm on Christmas Eve and Christmas day this year.

Ridekc runs Sunday service on holidays which runs until midnight? (not sure each individual route). Even the streetcar site stated holiday hours are until 11pm mirroring Sunday schedule.

not all RideKC services run until midnight, including routes that serve downtown.

But many do run well past 10pm ....Seems streetcar should get lined up with the rest of our transit hours at minimum.

if nothing else shouldn't the streetcar stick to the holiday hours posted on the website?

Kansas City's streetcar, which began service in 2016, is considered a success. Could it work in Omaha?

On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in November, people filled a shiny streetcar as it hummed through downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Most of the 38 blue plastic seats were occupied. Several dozen more people stood. They held onto stainless steel poles, or to loops dangling from bars connected to the ceiling. Office workers talked about their lunch plans. Field-tripping high school students chattered.

Retirees Ona Ashley and her real-bearded Santa Claus husband, Roy Poe, took it all in as they stood in the middle of the crowd. They had driven in from the suburbs to try Kansas City’s new RideKC streetcar. They smiled through their glide through a revived downtown.

“It’s wonderful,” Ashley said.

“We would have loved to have this when we worked downtown,” Poe said.

“It feels,” Ashley said, “like we are progressing.”

https://tinyurl.com/y9dfhhxx

I'm assuming that we haven't had as many issues as Cincy has had with their CAF cars? It sounds like it will be an interesting thing to keep an eye on since they're withholding payments ($4 mil) and refusing to officially take ownership of the cars.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2 ... 044102001/

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/l ... 049752001/

gfenn11 wrote:I'm assuming that we haven't had as many issues as Cincy has had with their CAF cars? It sounds like it will be an interesting thing to keep an eye on since they're withholding payments ($4 mil) and refusing to officially take ownership of the cars.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2 ... 044102001/

moved your post to the correct thread.

KC is simply managing it better than cincinnati. same vehicle, same parts. cincinnati just can't seem to get out of their own way on the project. having a mayor who campaigned against the streetcar (and actively tried to shut it down during construction) certainly doesn't help.

in addition to the vehicle, they have problems we aren't having (complete lack of signal priority, tracks intentionally blocked by city fire/police, messed up ticket vending machines, no clear focus on expansion) which makes their whole discussion much more problematic and controversial.

So there aren't true design problems as they state?

KCPowercat wrote:So there aren't true design problems as they state?

the part (compressor) has flaws and does fail in very cold weather. the manufacturer is addressing it. should be noted that the reason CAF has a different compressor for cincy and KC is because of federal "buy america" requirements (the international version is, of course, probably reliable).

KC took ownership of the cars, but has an extended warranty. buying two extra cars helped.

Thanks for the details.

KCPowercat wrote:So there aren't true design problems as they state?

The Jan 18th article isn't very good reporting overall, from the first paragraph of the piece.

They didn't get the country the trains were in made correct.

Their trains were delayed at the New York plant that also held up Houston, Kansas City and Amtrak around the same time. And the same newsroom did a piece in 2015 about this so they should know this was wrong.

DaveKCMO wrote:

KCPowercat wrote:So there aren't true design problems as they state?

the part (compressor) has flaws and does fail in very cold weather. the manufacturer is addressing it. should be noted that the reason CAF has a different compressor for cincy and KC is because of federal "buy america" requirements (the international version is, of course, probably reliable).

KC took ownership of the cars, but has an extended warranty. buying two extra cars helped.

Oooorrr, Cincy's streetcar is cursed https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/p ... 054763001/

the mayor has simply soured the entire cincinnati conversation. every time they have an issue, it turns hyper-political.

Timing is everything. Funk would have done the same here

KCPowercat wrote:Timing is everything. Funk would have done the same here

funk was mayor until may 2011, streetcar conversation started in august 2009:

viewtopic.php?t=18087

Right but if he was here around construction time he would have done his best to muck up the conversation

"As new apartment buildings open and the streetcar expands, more people — and their cars — will trickle into the River Market. But City Market tenants hope their customers won’t have to pay for the area’s growth."

Is this true? It seems like as more apartments are built downtown, the RM and the Crossroads, the streetcar and not the renter's personal cars, will bring new customers to the City Market.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 99479.html

On another side of town, wouldn't the Plaza see the same kind of thing as the City Market is now seeing? Ample free parking along a streetcar route to downtown. Wonder what would keep people from parking on the plaza and commuting downtown - or - taking the streetcar from the plaza downtown during events at Sprint Arena or just to have night out. I mean, if I lived in Brookside, that's something I'd definitely consider.

Plaza has a lot of excess off-street parking, especially on weekday mornings. It’s something we know they’re concerned about, but will be a net gain since they will inevitably see increased sales or rents post-streetcar.

DaveKCMO wrote:Plaza has a lot of excess off-street parking, especially on weekday mornings. It’s something we know they’re concerned about, but will be a net gain since they will inevitably see increased sales or rents post-streetcar.

Except for around Christmas when they need more parking capacity. I've been there in early December at 2pm and found their parking garages 95% full. The other time is the Plaza Art Fair when you can't build enough parking for the numbers that show up.

The streetcar will benefit them these times even more than using it for commuters the rest of the year.