KCRag Forum

DaveKCMO wrote:

KCPowercat wrote:Don't think this is going to meet Grid's expectations

https://twitter.com/RideKCTransit/statu ... 2098778112

To be fair, it's a significant upgrade from 10th and Main (which has no indoor waiting area) and is currently a surface lot nestled against a freeway embankment and series of off-ramps. There are many lots to develop north and west of this site.

It really does look a little like the smoking area at my office. Even with the improvement, it seems more like an afterthought than any kind of cog in a transit plan.

Highlander wrote:It really does look a little like the smoking area at my office. Even with the improvement, it seems more like an afterthought than any kind of cog in a transit plan.

Show me your favorite bus transfer facility.

I'd take Charlotte.

KCPowercat wrote:Don't think this is going to meet Grid's expectations

https://twitter.com/RideKCTransit/statu ... 2098778112

Well, I was not expecting much. Honestly this looks like something you might find on a college campus or in the parking lot of a suburban mall, not the "primary" bus transfer center of a major city. It's better than nothing I guess. I don't hate it. I just think it could be a lot better for KC's main transit center.

It looks like there is no cover for the actual buses and from the PDF I saw earlier, there is not really even dedicated stalls for specific routes. I have photographed a few transit centers for engineering companies, and even small towns have really done some nice transit centers.

This one in Grand Rapids is nice. I don't think it has much in the way of indoor facilities, but this would be a nice structure for the bus bays. Something like this could be added to the proposed KC transit center.


I think the city should try to do something more mixed use though. A transit center alone can actually deter development if it's just buses and people loitering around the area.

This project in the small town of Kent, Ohio is really nice and I think it would be perfect for East Village. The project includes a public parking structure, retail etc and all the buses come into the lower lever where they have bays to layover etc and the building fits in very nicely with the urban fabric of their downtown. Hopefully the ATA will do something like this with the river market transit center development on the park and ride parking lot. Although there is only a couple of routes that would go there, so it wouldn't really be a true transit center.



The proposed transit center is a big improvement though. They can always expand it later. It's good to get something going. KC could use something like the proposed east village transit center near Union Station as well.

I'd take Charlotte.

Without any knowledge of what else is out there, I have to agree. A facility as nice as Charlotte's gives riders the sense that they are not an afterthought in the city's transportation plans. It says that bus riders are important to the economy.

why is having a dedicated stall a good thing when buses are moving in and out quickly? That seems more like a greyhound bus sitch.

KCPowercat wrote:why is having a dedicated stall a good thing when buses are moving in and out quickly? That seems more like a greyhound bus sitch.

Layovers.

The ones in grids pic look like the bus would have to back up to get out of those stalls. That doesn't seem efficient ?

KCPowercat wrote:The ones in grids pic look like the bus would have to back up to get out of those stalls. That doesn't seem efficient ?

Houston Metro has a downtown transit center combined with their HQ that seems well designed and avoids this problem

I'm not sure if there's a public lobby, but that certainly could work as a design.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7506605 ... 312!8i6656

This next is one further out. It's angled but the busses don't have to back up to pull out. Last time I was on the train about half the riders got off here to transfer to the bus.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7331444 ... 312!8i6656

It appears that the east village bus center will have transit platforms(stalls). We just can’t see them from the angle of the above posted picture.

ldai_phs wrote:It appears that the east village bus center will have transit platforms(stalls). We just can’t see them from the angle of the above posted picture.

From tonight's meeting:



Everywhere you see a tactile strip (dark gray) is a level boarding platform. There will be a seventh one on Charlotte in the final rendering that will serve Troost MAX once Charlotte is full converted to two-way traffic (Prospect MAX will only convert Charlotte between 11th and 13th).

What’s the likely timeline for the transit center and Prospect MAX completion? 2020-2021?

JBmidtown wrote:What’s the likely timeline for the transit center and Prospect MAX completion? 2020-2021?

Late 2019.

Oh, nice!

I didn't realize it was so far east. This is really just a major transfer facility for east side MAX routes. My main beef was this seemed small for the major transit center for all of downtown's routes. I think a transit hub like that would have to be placed closer to Main Street, probably in crossroads or something to tie into the Streetcar and other major bus routes like the Main MAX.

So while it's not the huge centrally located covered transit center I had envisioned, I think this is a really nice transit center for the location and the routes it will serve. Hopefully it will lead to the addition of a larger transit facility that incorporates the streetcar and more downtown and JoCo routes in a more central location to the River Market /Crown Center corridor. Near Union Station would be good.

For the size of the transit center, it actually looks well designed. I like the level boarding stations for max that allow for quick drop off and pickup. I still think there should be some sort of canopy or something to shelter people waiting near the actual bus loading areas though.

Guess the parking lot can be converted a full block transit center if ever needed.....if this size works well for our demand, like the design.

I don't think the way ridekc is changing the routes, there will ever be one huge "transit center".


be cool if they added a central arrival board somewhere in the central waiting area.

KCPowercat wrote:I don't think the way ridekc is changing the routes, there will ever be one huge "transit center".

Correct.

I see you there, 12th Street Cycletrack.

KCPowercat wrote:I don't think the way ridekc is changing the routes, there will ever be one huge "transit center".


be cool if they added a central arrival board somewhere in the central waiting area.

I get that. But I still think something near the streetcar line closer to the center of the downtown region such as near union station that would compliment this east side of downtown transit center would be good for kc transit.

Like I said, this looks like a nice little transit center for east side riders which are probably the vast majority of users of buses.