KCRag Forum

Downtown needs a lot of those walking distance maps. The “wayfinding” that the Downtown Council worked on is car focused.

earthling wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:15 am 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...

Looks great!

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Tue Sep 17, 2019 6:27 pm Downtown needs a lot of those walking distance maps. The “wayfinding” that the Downtown Council worked on is car focused.

There was a pedestrian element and shockingly that never made it to reality. I partly think that was due to the new smart post displays.

No one uses those for actual wayfinding.

Exactly.

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Wed Sep 18, 2019 4:08 pm No one uses those for actual wayfinding.

Why? Because the wayfinding isn't well designed or because the habbit is to use your phone for wayfinding?

Not a snarky question. Wayfinding is incredibly hard to program and keep updated in digital signage. Even for something fairly static, like a hospital.

The wayfinding in the interactive kiosks isn't well designed. We asked them to do an interactive trip planner and bus tracker, but didn't have the resources to design a new wayfinding UI. That really should be on the vendor's dime.

Had a chance to use the Columbus, Ohio kiosks over several days recently. Their wayfinding is better, but still a challenge. IKE is the vendor.

KCATA sold 8-10 of the MAX busses to Lubbock, TX. What's the story on that?

I heard they were getting electric buses....true?

dnweava wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:38 pm KCATA sold 8-10 of the MAX busses to Lubbock, TX. What's the story on that?

https://fox4kc.com/2019/06/20/kcata-reg ... e-country/

zonk wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:04 pm I heard they were getting electric buses....true?

Yes, two have been purchased and will be delivered in the summer of 2020.

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/ge ... ectric-bus

DaveKCMO wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:16 pm

dnweava wrote: ↑Wed Sep 25, 2019 1:38 pm KCATA sold 8-10 of the MAX busses to Lubbock, TX. What's the story on that?

https://fox4kc.com/2019/06/20/kcata-reg ... e-country/

Ah, that's a cool program that I hadn't heard of.

Minimal info on specs I could find. Range looks around 150 miles. Should be more than enough for daily routes adding in convenience chargers at transit terminals. It appears that the Gillig model is a retrofit of the standard bus with a traditional steel body, meaning cheaper but heavier, than the Proterra composite body, which has significantly greater range, but more costly.

Most municipal vehicles (garbage trucks, street sweepers, vans) should be replaced with BEVs. It will save the city millions in the long run. California has committed to a 100% zero emission bus fleet by 2040.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wWJW4WJzd0

OEM: Gillig
MODEL YEARS: 2018
GVWR: Bus 30' to 40'
BATTERY: 444 kWh
DEALERS: Gillig
TECHNOLOGY TYPE: Zero Emission
VEHICLE INCENTIVES: $150,000.00
NEW OR CONVERSION: New
VOCATIONS: Bus - Transit
SPECIFICATIONS URL: https://www.gillig.com/standard
VEHICLE TYPES: Bus
https://www.californiahvip.org/vehicles ... ve-system/

Route 24 is 20 miles round trip.

A driver can do that in 30 minutes by the schedule.

150 miles would last 7-7.5 hours tops

So charging during lunch would make it last all day.
Compared to a diesel bus, it would be a lot harder to trade drivers and pickup a different bus after lunch unless a rapid charging tech is used where it can charge in minutes (I didn't look)

On-route charging is complicated by labor rules and the fact that most layover sites may not have ready access to sufficient utility connections (or security), so it's not anticipated in the near term. It's been looked at and priced, but with the labor rules you can't just use a plug-in charger and have the driver plug it in, so the two other charging options -- overhead and inductive -- are more expensive than plug-in chargers and there isn't a clear standard emerging just yet.

The specs posted above are what KC will get for the first two vehicles.

I hereby announce the formation of the Electric Bus Plugger-Inners Union.

mean wrote: ↑Thu Sep 26, 2019 4:51 pm I hereby announce the formation of the Electric Bus Plugger-Inners Union.

You can share an office with the IBEW at Troost and Admiral

I just got a new job downtown and am so excited to not rely on my car for my job! Can't wait to take the bus from Hospital Hill to Union Station (During bad weather) and take the streetcar to work. I can only hope we get free fare....This would be a huge incentive for me to take the buss everywhere!

Alright, who's going to buy the bus?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 240720226/

COVID-induced service reductions start Sunday: https://ridekc.org/bulletins/modified-service-covid