KCRag Forum

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 2:42 am Can’t wait to see the ridership numbers from the Super Bowl through the Parade, I imagine they’ll bump it up quite a bit for sure.

KCPowercat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:13 pm Main should be shut down to cars Wednesday

She said the authority used all of its 256 buses, plus 125 school buses and 40 buses from Johnson County, to help transport people from seven park-and-ride assembly points.

The bus agency acknowledged that thousands of people were still waiting at 11 a.m. at Kemper Arena, the Country Club Plaza, the Northland, Red Bridge and other spots, trying to get to the noon parade.

The buses were trying to pick them up as quickly as possible, but they were caught in the same traffic jams that snarled cars also trying to get to the Royals celebration.

Nearly all regular Metro bus service was suspended while the agency responded to the overwhelming numbers at the gathering spots. The KCATA averages 55,000 riders on a normal day, Baker said.

At noon, when the parade was supposed to start, Tim Deveney told The Star that he, his wife, three kids and some friends from Independence were still waiting at a shuttle spot at the Kansas City Zoo, where they had gone at 10:15 a.m.

He said a huge crowd was waiting there. The Deveneys planned to stick it out to try to get to the Royals rally, even if they missed the parade.

Also at noon, Shelly Schuman of Raytown told The Star that she, her daughter and two grandkids had just gotten on a bus to downtown after waiting about two hours at the Country Club Plaza.

She had followed the city’s advice to take public transportation. But she had watched one man in a wheelchair give up and leave before a bus arrived.

“It broke my heart,” she said.

Schuman wished the city had done a better job of anticipating the enormous crowd, the need for more buses and the need to start collecting people even earlier in the day.

Another rider said that by the time she and four teenage boys got downtown after waiting more than three hours at Metro North Mall, the parade was over and the streets around the rally at Union Station were so packed that they couldn’t get to it.

City officials initially had thought that about 200,000 people would come downtown Tuesday, but by all indications the numbers far exceeded that. Baker said the numbers were simply much greater than anyone anticipated and probably resulted because so many school districts canceled classes.

GRID wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 2:07 pm

KCPowercat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 1:13 pm Main should be shut down to cars Wednesday

Close Main Street. Run max number of streetcars and even additional buses. It's a no brainer. If not, you may as well leave the streetcars in the barn.

grovester wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 5:12 pm I took note that they mentioned killing the power to the overhead lines.

flyingember wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 2:28 pm We don't need to publicize it. The city needs to create one day bus only lanes that have no cars on them instead. It's a great opportunity to show what bus lanes can do.

There needs to be point at which no more cars are allowed past certain points, which barricades on streets entering downtown and all the ramps. It should be if you want to drive you must arrive by 8am or you're parking elsewhere and then it becomes bus only.

You can tell the city was already planning based on how quickly they announced so hopefully they learned from 2015 that they need to keep paths clear into downtown. This would be important for ambulance access at least.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/a ... 08343.html

She said the authority used all of its 256 buses, plus 125 school buses and 40 buses from Johnson County, to help transport people from seven park-and-ride assembly points.

The bus agency acknowledged that thousands of people were still waiting at 11 a.m. at Kemper Arena, the Country Club Plaza, the Northland, Red Bridge and other spots, trying to get to the noon parade.

The buses were trying to pick them up as quickly as possible, but they were caught in the same traffic jams that snarled cars also trying to get to the Royals celebration.

Nearly all regular Metro bus service was suspended while the agency responded to the overwhelming numbers at the gathering spots. The KCATA averages 55,000 riders on a normal day, Baker said.

At noon, when the parade was supposed to start, Tim Deveney told The Star that he, his wife, three kids and some friends from Independence were still waiting at a shuttle spot at the Kansas City Zoo, where they had gone at 10:15 a.m.

He said a huge crowd was waiting there. The Deveneys planned to stick it out to try to get to the Royals rally, even if they missed the parade.

Also at noon, Shelly Schuman of Raytown told The Star that she, her daughter and two grandkids had just gotten on a bus to downtown after waiting about two hours at the Country Club Plaza.

She had followed the city’s advice to take public transportation. But she had watched one man in a wheelchair give up and leave before a bus arrived.

“It broke my heart,” she said.

Schuman wished the city had done a better job of anticipating the enormous crowd, the need for more buses and the need to start collecting people even earlier in the day.

Another rider said that by the time she and four teenage boys got downtown after waiting more than three hours at Metro North Mall, the parade was over and the streets around the rally at Union Station were so packed that they couldn’t get to it.

City officials initially had thought that about 200,000 people would come downtown Tuesday, but by all indications the numbers far exceeded that. Baker said the numbers were simply much greater than anyone anticipated and probably resulted because so many school districts canceled classes.

scooterj wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 5:55 pm

grovester wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 5:12 pm I took note that they mentioned killing the power to the overhead lines.

I didn't even think of that but I can totally see people being stupid enough to climb the poles.