Generic ongoing KCATA thread

[shinatoo]

Fares are the biggest obstacle for me riding the bus. And I mean that literally. I can't just walk on the bus because someone is always fumbling around trying to get their card to work or get the right change out. I would have to think it would shorten trip times too.

[flyingember]

Fares are the biggest obstacle for me riding the bus. And I mean that literally. I can't just walk on the bus because someone is always fumbling around trying to get their card to work or get the right change out. I would have to think it would shorten trip times too.

If it takes just 7 seconds to pay a fare, a bus with 40 people takes 5 minutes to pay in total. Route #12 end to end is about 25 minutes. So that's a potential 20% increase in the time to ride.

[KCPowercat]

I walk popular bus routes daily and during extreme weather have considered jumping on but my pride won't let me pay 1.50 for 10 blocks. Free buses will hurt my fitness!

[swid]

Is real-time tracking broken? I’ve been listening to a friend say that it’s vanished from Google Maps in the past few days and a spot-check of other apps indicates that it’s patchy at best at the moment.

[earthling]

Used it today and it worked fine.

[DaveKCMO]

Quarterly schedule updates seem to always cause a problem (this time it's the July update, which was uploaded a little over a week ago). It's fixed now, but it's taking some time for all three apps -- RideKC, Google Maps, and Transit -- to pull the feeds down again.

Transit app is definitely working now. We made the Google request, but ya know it's a big company and we're little. The RideKC app developer is overseas, so hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow.

[Riverite]

So I’ve seen a lot of mini busses from traveling around, and this might be a totally nuts idea. Is there a way that KCATA could build an app that uses data agglomeration and uses mini buses to pick people up from where they live and drops them off where they work. The service could use minibuses and seat up to 16 or so and be a monthly subscription, which doesn’t start until critical mass is reached. So let’s say 14 people live within a 10 minute drive of each other in Leavenworth and they all work downtown. The minibus has designated pickup and drop off and nothing in between. I’m just spitballing on something, I’m thinking it might get more far flung suburbs positive on transit and willing to use it when they aren’t used to it. This way we can get our region more reliant on public transit or at least at a place where they see it as more beneficial to themselves. I’m not suggesting a daily update rather a long term carpooling service.
I also think the free fare would be an amazing thing, and I’m totally in support. I see this idea as more of a subscription based model though. I know that one company tried something similar a few years ago, so that’s why I’m thinking more subscription based, so month to month Monday to Friday, and it only starts once enough mass has been reached to make it reach break even

[DaveKCMO]

This is called microtransit and we're doing it right now without an app ("flex" routes) and with an app in Johnson County. There will be one more microtransit pilot to launch this year in the Northland and probably a lot more in 2020. These services would be focused on coverage gap and replacing low performing routes in low density areas. These finds of services are NOT a replacement for larger vehicles running fast and frequent scheduled service in dense parts of the city.

[swid]

If I wanted to "formally" propose an adjustment to an existing route, is there an person, email address, form, etc. that should be used for such things, or does posting it here suffice?

[flyingember]

If I wanted to "formally" propose an adjustment to an existing route, is there an person, email address, form, etc. that should be used for such things, or does posting it here suffice?

https://ridekc.org/contact

[DaveKCMO]

If I wanted to "formally" propose an adjustment to an existing route, is there an person, email address, form, etc. that should be used for such things, or does posting it here suffice?

Does it make the route divert or add a stop? Then I'd say don't bother. If you think it will make things faster or more efficient, I'm all ears.

[Riverite]

This is called microtransit and we're doing it right now without an app ("flex" routes) and with an app in Johnson County. There will be one more microtransit pilot to launch this year in the Northland and probably a lot more in 2020. These services would be focused on coverage gap and replacing low performing routes in low density areas. These finds of services are NOT a replacement for larger vehicles running fast and frequent scheduled service in dense parts of the city.

That’s awesome. Yeah I wasn’t suggesting replacing or getting rid of any routes. Merely more as in addition to what is already there. It sounds like the KCATA is doing lots of cool stuff. I’m excited to see how they adapt to a growing urban core and hopefully additional funds

[DaveKCMO]

We're trying out some new "basic" shelters to replace the blue tanks: https://ridekc.org/blog/bus-shelter

Take the survey!

[alejandro46]

We're trying out some new "basic" shelters to replace the blue tanks: https://ridekc.org/blog/bus-shelter

Take the survey!

I'm getting a "Page Not Found" error.

[DaveKCMO]

We're trying out some new "basic" shelters to replace the blue tanks: https://ridekc.org/blog/bus-shelter

Take the survey!

I'm getting a "Page Not Found" error.

Oops! Try the second link at the bottom.

[DaveKCMO]

KCATA reported a year-over-year local bus ridership increase for June and July. This is the first YOY increase in 53 months!

[earthling]

Have tinkered with the new kiosk at the new 10th/Main bus stop that also has level boarding. The kiosk is one of the more useful that I've seen and moreso than the kiosks along streetcar line. Using a phone transit app is probably still better for most but I did like this kiosk. Here are some features and I didn't get to all of them....

Timetables of bus lines that hit this stop, of course easier to update on a monitor...


Realtime bus tracker in area...


Trip planner by touching end points, which can send the results to your phone...

[DaveKCMO]

Thanks! That’s my handiwork!

[earthling]

Nice, I likey!

[KCPowercat]

We need some true walking maps on those. Not the google map reliance which is pretty useless.

I do like that bus map amd schedule display.