KCMO Downtown Streetcar

[grovester]

In fairness to the Mercedes driver, I've been over the White Stripes since like 2000.

/meg rim shot

[KCPowercat]

**Edit** - No better time than the present to nail a vehicle that is misplaced. This allows for the situation to occur without passengers inside.

It does have a bit of publicity stunt feel to me, which I'm ok with. Talking about white stripes is no where near as effective spreading the word as plowing into a JOCO Mercedes over the line.

It felt that way to me too.

[mean]

In fairness to the Mercedes driver, I've been over the White Stripes since like 2000.

/meg rim shot

She's not a good enough drummer to pull off a comedy rim shot.

[chingon]

In fairness to the Mercedes driver, I've been over the White Stripes since like 2000.

/meg rim shot

She's not a good enough drummer to pull off a comedy rim shot.

Hear, hear.

[earthling]

The streetcar group should encourage tow services to regularly peruse streetcar line for potentially good business.

[mean]

That might not be a bad idea, but I question the wisdom if[ getting cars loaded onto the trucks will cause repeated delays. I have no idea how likely that is to be an issue.

[flyingember]

The streetcar group should encourage tow services to regularly peruse streetcar line for potentially good business.

City code bans them going around and doing that on their own, someone has to give them permission for each vehicle.

76-287.3

It shall be unlawful for the owner or operator of a tow vehicle to: Move any vehicle from a highway, street or public property without the express authorization of the owner or operator of the vehicle or a law enforcement officer or public agency pursuant to that agency's procedures.

So they still have to wait for someone

Better to make the driver be an authorized representative that can call tows in and have a tow vehicle on retention during peak hours, staged downtown, that can provide priority service. The truck can know right where to come to get around the block and quickly hook up and remove them.

[earthling]

Seems like streetcar line should now be an exception and city gives tow'rs direct permission along streetcar line. City codes aren't that hard to change, are they? I suppose another method could be for streetcar association to contract with a towing company and drivers have direct radio to them (or mobile call).

If most parked cars were under 5 minutes, maybe towing makes situation worse. But more likely most cars are parked for over 10 min so statistically speaking it should make sense to tow immediately.

[flyingember]

Seems like streetcar line should now be an exception and city gives tow'rs direct permission along streetcar line. City codes aren't that hard to change, are they?

If most parked cars were under 5 minutes, maybe towing makes situation worse. But more likely most cars are parked for over 10 min so statistically speaking it should make sense to tow immediately.

You don't want to provide random tows without confirmation. It's too easy to a scammy company to abuse the system by claiming the car was over the line.

It's really easy to get away with not taking photos proving this if you can claim the train was "going to come soon" if we make haste the key metric. Suddenly you have a scammy company with high rates holding a car hostage over something that can't be proven.

It's not an unrealistic problem to account for since it already happens with car accident scenes. Having an authorized person approve the tow is a necessary, if delaying, step.

[KCPowercat]

In your opinion

[grovester]

In fairness to the Mercedes driver, I've been over the White Stripes since like 2000.

/meg rim shot

She's not a good enough drummer to pull off a comedy rim shot.

You are mean.

[shinatoo]

In your opinion

In mine too. Having been a victim of said scum bags at one point.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Tonight on Channel 5, parking problems along the streetcar line.

[DaveKCMO]

Tonight on Channel 5, parking problems along the streetcar line.

they got out their measuring tape!

[dnweava]

they should just get rid of all parking on main, make it another driving lane, turn lane, bus lane, etc or a bike lane. It makes no sense to put that much risk on the streetcar route, people opening doors, people trying to get into their car, etc are going to get hit. It's going to constantly slow down the streetcar having to wait on towtrucks. whoever thought it was a good idea was an idiot and should be fired. Parking isn't an issue downtown, there are a ton of garages and now a FREE freaking streetcar you can ride from where you park to your destination...

[mean]

While I tend to agree with your sentiment, there are literally over a million people registered to vote and with social media accounts and blogs and whatever who think you are crazy and that there is nowhere to park anywhere in the urban core ever, at any time of day, on any day of the week, no matter what. Just the other day a coworker brought his wife to Brookside and called me to rant about parking for fifteen minutes while his wife was trying to find a parking space because there wasn't one available directly in front of their destination. I was like, "Dude, calm down. Just have her park on the street on the next block." He actually questioned whether it was legal for them to park in front of somebody's house when I told them to. And this is not a stupid person, but somehow, when parking and/or driving is at issue, otherwise reasonably intelligent people turn into complete driveling idiots.

[pash]

.

[dnweava]

they should just get rid of all parking on main, make it another driving lane, turn lane, bus lane, etc or a bike lane.

Worst idea I've heard all day, and thankfully impossible to implement: there are streetcar platforms that bump out into the parking lanes every couple of blocks, and the parking lanes are too narrow to use as a traffic lane of any sort in the first place.

I doubt that this is going to be a real problem once we get past the introductory stage. If it does remain a problem, identify the hotspots and block them off. Turn them into pedestrian space when the opportunity arises, either merely as expanded sidewalks or as space for much-needed improvements like tree wells and planters, sitting areas, or bicycle parking.

it WILL continue to be a problem. We have had 1 way streets downtown for how many decades? I see people driving the wrong way down them DAILY. I live on a one way street, on weekends and when there are many out of towners downtown for a convention or any night with a big concert at Sprint Center/Midland.etc you see people driving the wrong way down them and just generally fucking up driving and parking downtown constantly. You will see people fuck up the parking on main st on weekends and anytime there are a large number of out of towners downtown, guaranteed.

Obviously with the bump outs you can't just add a driving lane for the entire length, don't be rediculous, it would have to be a block by block assessment of what to do with that lane each block, but I'm sure some spots could be used for turn lanes onto side streets, into driveways, etc, some areas could be used for bike lanes, bike parking, bumping out the sidewalk to make it even more pedestrian friendly.

[beautyfromashes]

The problem is that the white lines are so narrow. It's really almost impossible for some cars to fit in the space. I've seen people with their wheels on the curb and still over the line. It's not going to work. If they couldn't make spaces that are how people normally park, they shouldn't have had them at all. That said, the Mercedes clearly shouldn't make parallel parked cause they clearly didn't know what they were doing.

[DaveKCMO]

The problem is that the white lines are so narrow. It's really almost impossible for some cars to fit in the space. I've seen people with their wheels on the curb and still over the line. It's not going to work. If they couldn't make spaces that are how people normally park, they shouldn't have had them at all. That said, the Mercedes clearly shouldn't make parallel parked cause they clearly didn't know what they were doing.

it's going to work because towing and enforcement will increase. this is how it's done elsewhere, to great effect. it isn't rocket science, but it is an adjustment.