Johnson County Transit (The JO)

[trailerkid]

Wow, such progress, at this rate, there may be buses running down 95th from Lackman to Prospect by the year 2060!  Still won't be able to use the same pass on the metro and jo though. .

Are things really this bad in KC that this is the best transit news the city has seen in decades?  I guess so.

I can't wait to read the next rail "study".  It should be done by the year 2020!  Then they can start a new study!

How is it not the best transit news for JoCo in decades?

[KCMax]

Johnson County accepts $10.6M stimulus grant for bus routes

The Johnson County grant will be used to construct 12 bus shelters, a new transit center in Mission, park-and-ride lots, sidewalks and crosswalks for a 3-mile pedestrian corridor with bike-hike trails. The bus service will operate from 119th Street in Overland Park to Kansas City's Country Club Plaza through Mission via Metcalf Avenue, Johnson Drive and Shawnee Mission Parkway. Construction work is expected to start in 2011.

[enough]

i know the metcalf / shawnee mission parkway brt route supports the vision metcalf plan, but running that service all the way out to 119th and metcalf -- instead of taking it west on college boulevard to jccc -- is just ridiculous.  besides, it'll take decades for metcalf south of college to look anything like the urban images in the vision metcalf plan.

[KCMax]

i know the metcalf / shawnee mission parkway brt route supports the vision metcalf plan, but running that service all the way out to 119th and metcalf -- instead of taking it west on college boulevard to jccc -- is just ridiculous.  besides, it'll take decades for metcalf south of college to look anything like the urban images in the vision metcalf plan.

Agreed. Will it at least service the Sprint Campus/Town Center?

[enough]

^ my understanding is that the brt route terminates at 119th street.  ironically, kcata route 175 goes beyond 119th street to the sprint campus and st. luke's, three trips in the morning and three in the evening -- across 75th street through waldo, then via state line, 95th street, and metcalf.

[DaveKCMO]

^ my understanding is that the brt route terminates at 119th street.  ironically, kcata route 175 goes beyond 119th street to the sprint campus and st. luke's, three trips in the morning and three in the evening -- across 75th street through waldo, then via state line, 95th street, and metcalf.

i can't imagine KCATA continuing those #175 runs that far south after The JO implements it's 75th Street service, can you? i would expect -- and encourage -- them to stop at ward parkway center (or perhaps 75th and metcalf). no sense in duplicating service when a transfer would be required for most riders anyway.

[KCMax]

Johnson County Commission votes to fund first Joco-to-Waldo bus route

Starting this summer, Johnson County for the first time will run buses to the Waldo area and beef up service on Metcalf Avenue and Shawnee Mission Parkway...

The new 75th Street and Metcalf service will start July 1, but no one knows how long it will last. About $720,000 for the new service is coming from a federal air-quality grant that will last only a year. Johnson County hopes to get the grant renewed two more times, but it has only enough money to provide the service for six months after the grant runs out.

The new 75th Street route will run from Waldo to Johnson County Community College and then to the University of Kansas Edwards Campus via Quivira Road in Overland Park.

At either the community college or the Edwards Campus, riders could hook up with the popular K-10 Connector bus that runs to Lawrence.

The 75th Street route will have 16 daily weekday trips and run every half hour during the rush hour and every two hours at midday.

It will be much more frequent and direct than the route Kansas City runs from Bannister Road into Overland Park six times a day. Also, the new service will run deeper into Johnson County.

[enough]

^^ the only "duplication" is along 75th street between wornall and state line -- less than a mile.

jct's 75th street route will go west on 75th to quivira, then south to jccc and edwards.

kcata's 175 goes west on 75th, south on state line, west on 95th, south on metcalf.

metcalf and quivira are 3 miles apart.

[enough]

jct will begin new or expanded service in july on three routes:

556 - 135th metcalf / plaza (present route h)
575 - 75th street service (new route)
664 - 135th metcalf / downtown (present route c)

(note: jct is beginning to change route designations from letters to numbers.)

marketing plans are in the works -- but will their marketing include the posting of useful information about the service (e.g., schedules) out on the street at some of the major stops?  let's hope so.

[DaveKCMO]

why the change to letters?

[KCMax]

New Kansas law moves buses-on-shoulder plan for I-35 closer to implementation

The law will allow buses to only run on the shoulder when traffic on I-35 dips to less than 35 mph. The buses would not be allowed to exceed the speed of interstate traffic by more than 10 mph. The plans would still have to be approved by the state transportation secretary

[AJoD]

Mission considers road fee that would link properties, street use

The city’s looking to charge a fee to every property owner based on how many vehicle trips their land is calculated to produce.

Properties like big-box stores would be charged more than residential homes, which don’t generate as much traffic. The fee also would affect churches, schools and government buildings that are tax-exempt but still generate traffic.

...

The fee is expected to bring in about $800,000 a year, which would go for street work plus a new rapid bus line that Mission is planning with Overland Park. It could increase each year depending on whether the consumer price index increases.

...

Mission plans to apply trip-generation data compiled by the Institute of Transportation Engineers to each of the city’s 5,650 developed and developable parcels of land.

[KCMax]

Go Mission! That would be awesome. Target is the only big box retailer though, right? I hope this will reduce some of the monstrous parking lots. The HyVee parking lot is way too big, the Target lot is never more than half-filled, and the Hobby Lobby parking lot seems to serve only as a place for cops to hang out.

[grovester]

Go Mission! That would be awesome. Target is the only big box retailer though, right? I hope this will reduce some of the monstrous parking lots. The HyVee parking lot is way too big, the Target lot is never more than half-filled, and the Hobby Lobby parking lot seems to serve only as a place for cops to hang out.

Hobby Lobby needs the big lot as a buffer against all the newbie drivers at DMV

[KCMax]

Because JoCo electeds have refused to participate.  Originally it was Missouri-only, until KCK Mayor Jack Reardon lobbied Sanders to include the line through KCK.   JoCo participation would certainly be welcomed, but there is use in drawing their line on the map until choose to participate.

Sanders is moving forward with or without JoCo.

This is probably a stupid question, but is county leadership/permission needed to get transit in JoCo? I get the impression that smaller NE JoCo cities like Mission and Prairie Village are much more on-board regional transit than county leadership. Is it anyway possible for those cities to levy a tax of any kind  to be part of a regional transit only through those cities or is it just not feasible since these cities are so small? Or are there still enabling statutes that prohibit it?

[enough]

This is probably a stupid question, but is county leadership/permission needed to get transit in JoCo? I get the impression that smaller NE JoCo cities like Mission and Prairie Village are much more on-board regional transit than county leadership. Is it anyway possible for those cities to levy a tax of any kind  to be part of a regional transit only through those cities or is it just not feasible since these cities are so small? Or are there still enabling statutes that prohibit it?

johnson county commission chairman annabeth surbaugh is forming a study committee to consider a county-wide tax for transit.  they haven't begun meeting yet -- i don't think all of the members have been identified -- but their report is supposed to be finished by the end of this year.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I have to think the state S&U Tax hike is going to make any sort of significant transit initiative a non-starter on the KS side for at least a decade (including participation in any regional program).  Their combined rates will now be some of the highest in the country and the state will have tied the county/locals hands in such a way that S&U will be off the table for pretty much anything. 

[enough]

yesterday i took the jo to olathe -- route m out and route i back.  the trip was fine.  i used a transfer from the metro going out, and paid the regular $2 fare to return.  23 people rode this particular southbound trip of route m, which is not bad for a jct route. 

the main stop in olathe is the intersection of kansas and santa fe.  this is a time point, but there is no bus stop sign.  nor are there bus stop signs (much less posted schedules) at most time points on the jct system.

bus stop signs and posted schedules at time points is a sine qua non for a public transit system, imho.  i have communicated that to the powers that be.

[dangerboy]

In theory the small cities could establish their own transit taxes and then contract with the KCATA for service, in the same way that Missouri suburbs do.  One problem is that everyone in JoCo already pays for transit as part of the County budget, so there would be an element of double taxation.  Another challenge would be to design routes that could effectively serve a patchwork of small communities.

Perhaps Johnson County could utilize a property tax for transit, since their sales taxes are so high and property taxes relatively low.

[enough]

transit action network reports on new jct service to begin in july:
http://transactionkc.com/2010/06/15/the ... e-in-july/

route 556/856 - 135th and metcalf to the plaza via metcalf and shawnee mission parkway.

route 575/875 - jccc to waldo via quivira and 75th street.

these routes will have three midday round trips each.  [added later:  ...in addition to morning and evening rush hour trips.  see the above blog post.]