Main Street MAX

[sethyg]

Gotta start somewhere, right GRID?

[KCPowercat]

failure is a tough word.....the 56 was a successfull route...if anything, the max will be a bit better than that....hard to call a bus route a failure.

[KCPowercat]

idea....permanent free MAX rides between the loop and the plaza?

[Tosspot]

idea....permanent free MAX rides between the loop and the plaza?

Agreed, and also I think a whole dollar is a little pricy for fares on regular buses anyway. I long for the days of the fifty cent bus fare. This might happen if the ATA is disbanded. 

[KCPowercat]

obviously the city/marc would have to fund the route but I can't think of a better way to get people on boad...maybe free weekends?  all the time could be a little much

[TheNorthlander]

MAX should just go down Grand. 

Yes, yes!  The current route was politically drawn, and has nothing to do with what makes sense.  The Sasaki consultants bascially said the current route won't work and that it should be on Grand.  Grand is the only contiguous two-way street that stretches from the River to Crown Center.  It is also the widest.  It runs right past the City Market, the Arena, etc. etc.

The number of stops is also questionable.  It seems the ATA doesn't realize that "stopping" and "rapid" are sometimes mutally exclusive.

[KCExile]

I've said it before and I'll say it again... the shortest route between two points is a straight line! 

If you're gonna call it "Express", you need to take the straight route.  One route can't (and shouldn't) be all things to all people (read: politics).  Nothing downtown is more than 10 minutes walk from Grand Street and we need those people on the sidewalks.  (And some of those people need to spend more time on sidewalks and less time being carried to the front door by car or bus). 

Look at the downtown inset of LA's bus map. http://www.mta.net/images/System_Map.pdf Not a SINGLE bus route diverts from a straight line through downtown LA.  That's a city that understands what Express/Rapid means.

The fact that several MAX stops still haven't been installed three days before launch gives me hope that they can be moved easily, but the pylons might be a  whole different story.  Does anyone know what it might take (time/dollar-wise) to move MAX stops 2 months from now?

[KCExile]

I just looked at the map for the revised 57 route on the KCATA website.  (I'm praying that they'll launch a new-look website on Sunday).  My advice to anyone who wants to get through Midtown KC fast... Forget the MAX, take the 57!  It's a straight shot north on Walnut and south on Main.  Just like the MAX should be... and it will have the same queue jumping technology as the MAX. 

Another technology question... the KCATA says that the buses will use GPS to hold green lights.  I know that GPS will be used for the real-time arrival information and schedule-keeping, but the green-light extenders will be activated by some sort of light/infrared technology on the stoplight masts... right?  I know that's how emergency vehicles extend the lights in busy intersections.

[staubio]

Another technology question... the KCATA says that the buses will use GPS to hold green lights.  I know that GPS will be used for the real-time arrival information and schedule-keeping, but the green-light extenders will be activated by some sort of light/infrared technology on the stoplight masts... right?  I know that's how emergency vehicles extend the lights in busy intersections.

Yeah.  There is some sort of transmitted mounted inside of the windshield above the driver that signals the signals.

[Tosspot]

New bus service promises rapid without the rail

Beginning Sunday, KC's $21 million MAX system rolls out

Kansas City will introduce a new era of mass transit Sunday morning with a snazzy bus line that could be as close to light rail as the area ever gets.

The system will run faster, use designated lanes and make fewer stops. It will have stations with displays showing when the next bus arrives. And it can keep a traffic signal from turning red.

Article from today's Star

[KC_Fan]

If MAX is going to open tomorrow at 5:02am, it's going to happen without a bus shelter or sign at the 29th and Main "Liberty Memorial" stop.

At present, this stop is still not completed.

Looks like I'll be walking to the nearest stop a few more blocks south at the "Union Hill" stop.

[tat2kc]

and its free for the first week!

[GRID]

OK, here is my review from my first ride on MAX.  I work in the transit field, have been riding the metro bus system in KC since I was an infant (I can remember pulling those cords at age 5) and have ridden on at least parts of most major transit systems across the country.  So I feel I do have some background to discuss this.

First off, let me say that for a Sunday, ridership was high, not extremely high, but more than MAX could handle at times.  And they ran every 15 minutes all day.

So two of the buses I rode were standing room only.  Sure, you could attribute this to the opening day of the system, but this route needs to easily and comfortably handle the crowds of people moving about the city.  MAX is not doing this and during large events at the Sprint Center, Bartle Hall, large festivals or just nice summer days, MAX will fail miserably at efficiently moving a lot of people quickly.

This is why I have been SCREAMING from day one that these buses are not large enough.  They need to be 60-80 plus passenger articulated buses with boarding on the front and rear of the buses.  Of course then they would HAVE to stay on Grand instead of maneuvering through downtown’s tight streets...that would be a good thing.

Oh, you say, how would passengers pay fair boarding at the rear?

This is another thing, the buses either need to be free or they need to go with an honer system where people purchase tickets at the stations and they use random checks by “transitâ€

[sethyg]

I rode it today, too, and I didn't think that it was that bad of an experience.  I've never lived in a town with a great transportation system, but I've been to many.  I think the Max is a good step in the right direction.  But, I'm green.  What do I know.

[carfreekc]

They seem to be running late today. I got on in Brookside and went to Crown Center; at 63rd, a woman waiting said she'd been there quite a while already and the one she got earlier this morning was 12 minutes late. The real time info at whichever stop she was at in the morning was scrambled computer garbledygook, she said. (There is no real time info in Brookside. Why???) When I got on going south at Crown Center, the bus was almost full. Definitely were a lot of sightseers checking out the new system. One kid was standing up front and I heard him tell his dad that the bus was cool. That run had a couple of people puzzled by the change; one guy rang the bell for a local stop, so I told him about the 57 only stopping at those now. By the Plaza library, a woman got on, freaked out about the absence of the 56 and unclear what was going on, panicking about how she was going to get to the grocery store. (I am a little sad about the demise of the 56.)

My sympathies to the drivers this week while these bugs are being worked out.

[GRID]

They also need to fix the audio system that tells riders of approaching stations.  It's hard to tell where you are sometimes on a bus, especially a crowded one, so the audio system needs to be loud enough that people can hear it and it needs to be working.

"Next Stop...Crown Center"

I do think overall it was ok, I'm just being critical right now because I want it to improve if at all possible.  But I still don't think it will be adequate for moving a lot of people during peak use.

The GPS “next busâ€

[cityboy]

This is a reasonable solution that is perhaps too delayed.  It seems that KC has needed transportation help for soooooo long that many people are going to be hyper-critical of any attempt for a solution.  While this system is a good fix for more immediate destinations we still need a more sensible solution for quicker and simple transport.  Our highways are swollen and it is well past time for KC to grow up and invest in a transportation solution that would service all regions of our city with reasonable transportation solutions...a rail system perhaps!

[KCPowercat]

hopefully the route goes well and we can secure more federal funds to do things like bigger buses and off-bus fare collection.  I think those 2 things would speed up the route a great deal.

I guess the stops on 11th st. are temp. so they aren't putting up the "max stop" equipment?  I walked by today and didn't see anything, how do people know how to catch the bus on 11th?

I do also wish they would upgrade the website....maybe show where the buses are now on a map and when they will be at whatever stop.  That would make it very nice for those of us who can run out and grab the bus close to our homes.

I hope they just ditch the 29th & Main stop...it seems worthless. 

Getting good reviews on the news today....good publicity.

I still think making this route free at least after rush hour and on weekends would help out a lot.

[dangerboy]

Overall I thought the first day was really good.  It's too bad they didn't show arrival times, even if it was running every fifteen minutes.  Like Grid said, based on today's volume I'm little worried about the system handling large numbers of people heading to big downtown events.  Along those lines, four seats in the shelter is pitiful

The audio announcements need to be much louder.  I didn't even notice them at first because there was a relatively modest level of chatter around me.  Also, it was confusing some of the newbies near me when the audio announcements didn't match the stop names on the map.  i.e., the map says "City Center" but the announcement says "11th and Main."

Going from the Plaza to Downtown, I'd say navigating the Downtown twists and turns made up almost half of the trip.  It really needs to be a straight shot south, even if that means some kind of frequent east-west circulator like the old Downtowner.  Going southbound, that lane change from Main St. to JC Nichols Parkway was very hairy.  We almost took out an SUV.  I hate to see it at rush hour.

For the most part, I thought the debut went well.  My busses had a mix of locals and tourists that had already found it.  Lots of people talking exciting about all of the new stuff going on Downtown.  Hopefully the glitches will get fixed in the first week.  Then in the next few months hopefully the ATA will revisit some of the unfortunate design decisions like the Loop route and the clustered stops like Linwood/31st and Grand/Pershing. 

[staubio]

I just rode it on the end of my bike ride.  I boarded at the Crossroads stop, which had "FIRST SB MAX 8 Minutes" for about 5 minutes.  Then it said "FIRST SB MAX DELAYED" and after that started counting down the minutes.  The minutes ticked away at about a minute and a half per minute on the sign.  When the bus neared, it started giving information about what time the "SECOND SB MAX" would arrive, 15 minutes later.  When the bus was in sight, it said "FIRST SB MAX ARRIVING" -- but it seems to scroll in and out and strange intervals.  It would be nice if the stuff stayed on there or scrolled through constantly because I was staring at it waiting for the update.

When the bus finally arrived, it almost blew by and didn't pick me up.  I was under the impression that it wouldn't use the pull strings and would stop briefly as every stop (like light rail), but I guess there are too many so that would be a problem.

On my bus, there were two people that said "uh, you just missed my stop" and the driver had to explain MAX.  He stopped for one or two people.

I agree, the announcements were hard to hear.  From what I heard, though, it says both the name of the stop AND the intersection.  So, it said "Crown Center, Pershing and Grand"

I also agree that the shelters, while cool looking, are quite inadequate with 3 or 4 seats.  If it is raining, it is going to be one big happy family under those, especially if there is a crowd.

The jaunt from Main to Nichols is a mess.  They should ditch it.  When cars back up to Main going eastbound on 47th, it is going to be impossible.  The only way to make it work would be to trigger the stoplights and let it clear out, which could be the plan, possibly.

All in all, it was pretty cool.  I'm glad I got to check it out.  I'm excited for them to get the kinks worked out.