KCMO Downtown Streetcar

[droopy]

and the arrival times may disappear completely again until there's confidence in their accuracy.

I would rather they not be displayed until they are accurate. I started walking rather than waiting at a stop that initially said "delayed" then said 22 minute wait. The train arrived when I was about a block down the street from the stop. Oh well. Opposite situation happened as well, arrived at the stop and the sign said 3 minutes. Probably waited 10. No biggie, but this was on the heels of the other experience so I asked the onboard ambassador about it and he said it's a known issue being worked on. I've ridden several other times and just ignore the arrival times, but seems they shouldn't be displayed until the issue is corrected.

[pash]

.

[flyingember]

Can we put in an order for another car?

Since the midtown expansion push seems finally about to get started, it seems like a pretty obvious thing to do. Worst case, we don't really need it, but the early order means CAF actually delivers a vehicle by the time the midtown line is ready.

If we order today a vehicle would beat the expansion opening by 2-3 years. Earlier somewhere it was said a train order takes 18-24 months and it will take 5-6 years to open to UMKC.

But, if the project is officially on, to order trains early and get them tested and ready for service would be nice. Then it's just integration testing that needs to be done. Having extra trains to train additional staff would speed up that process too.

Could cut 4-6 months off the opening process.

[earthling]

Can we put in an order for another car?

Based on some quick calculations, controlling traffic lights would probably be more effective than adding another car - you move about same people per hour as another car but also get extra benefit of getting from end to end of line faster controlling traffic lights - it depends on to what degree lights are controlled. Someone who has all the hard stats should do a CBA comparison. I'm betting controlling traffic lights, even if just to some degree, would benefit most.

[pash]

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[earthling]

With signal priority, each car completes an end-to-end run faster, so can do more runs per hour so can carry more passengers per hour. You get a double benefit with signal priority (faster runs = happier riders and more capacity), though depending on to what degree of priority. With extra car and no signal priority, you get more capacity per hour but still slow.

An extra car shouldn't be considered first if my calculations right, but I don't have the hard data to confirm. That is, how long does it take now with busiest times to get end to end and about how long would it take with traffic priority at very busy times. I used some reasonable assumptions and traffic priority clearly the winner.

Then to complete a CBA... how much for extra car, how much to add traffic priority?

[mykn]

An extra car would also increase labor and maintenance costs as well, right?

[earthling]

Bingo. When doing a CBA, should include 5-10 years maintenance. However traffic light controls may also need maintenance, though moving parts tend to have higher maintenance so almost certain another car much higher over 5-10 years.

If Dave could get me all of the stats, I could do a CBA. I do them often in the IT world for large data centers around world.

[mykn]

Perception is another biggie. A completely full streetcar that arrives on time is better than a partially full one that arrives late. I'd rather have on time arrival (light controls) than another vehicle.

[scooterj]

I saw it covered a few posts back, but when I was in the River Market earlier today I stopped a group that was about to leave because the sign said the next car would be in 19 minutes and they didn't want to wait that long. I reassured them that couldn't possibly be right and, sure enough, it wasn't. (It arrived about 7 minutes later.)

BTW, packed like sardines from US to RM around 1:30. Packed, but not quite to sardine level, on my return trip around 2:15. Saw some families who were being smart and using it to go to Planet Comicon.

[kboish]

Packed like sardines from library to RM at 11:30 and again on return trip at 12:30.

It continues to be so interesting watching and listening to Kansas Citians redefine their thinking regarding things like personal space comfort levels, walkability, vibrancy, transit, etc. Its awesome!

[KCPowercat]

It is very cool.

[loftguy]

It continues to be so interesting watching and listening to Kansas Citians redefine their thinking regarding things like personal space comfort levels, walkability, vibrancy, transit, etc. Its awesome!

So true, kboish. A friend who relocated a couple of years ago to KC from Boston noted that the streetcar experience is obviously the first time that many locals have been in such close and prolonged proximity with a broad diversity of strangers.

They were noting how very comfortable and excited everyone appeared to be with the experience.

[scooterj]

An interesting analysis of the question many have been wondering...

http://urbanangle.net/where-are-north-l ... ming-from/

[shaffe]

We ended up taking the MAX from 3rd and Grand to the Music Hall, then another MAX down to Crown Center for dinner at Fritz's. Coming back the MAX was off schedule by a lot so we walked over to Union Station and took a very busy streetcar back up to 3rd and Grand. Was quite a fun day having a legitimate reason to use public transit in KC since the rumor was that Barney Allis was fulll.

Realtime arrival accuracy could really really be improved though systemwide.

[KCPowercat]

Twitter says the vendor is coming on site to address real time arrival problems.

[flyingember]

Crazy busy city market day and comicon combined today. Trains started leaving people at the 19th St NB stop (think about that, they're filling up at the first stop) and operations had to add a fourth train.

I do agree it will be seasonal demand, but the max three train model is clearly being stretched already.

[DaveKCMO]

Realtime arrival accuracy could really really be improved though systemwide.

absolutely. not unique to streetcar.

they put a 4th car into service today. it's crazy!

[DaveKCMO]

100,000 rides? done!

[beautyfromashes]

Can you all stop promoting the streetcar so I can actually get on a train and not be stuck like a sardine?