Royals Express

[scooterj]

I wanted to go to the Royals game Saturday night and decided to try the Royals Express.    According to the ATA schedule, the last Royals Express stops at the 3rd & Grand Park & Ride at 5:45pm for a 6:10 game.  To be safe, I got there at 5:35pm.    By 6:05pm, the bus had still not arrived.  I finally gave up and skipped the game.    What gives?

[Boognish]

I wanted to go to the Royals game Saturday night and decided to try the Royals Express.    According to the ATA schedule, the last Royals Express stops at the 3rd & Grand Park & Ride at 5:45pm for a 6:10 game.   To be safe, I got there at 5:35pm.    By 6:05pm, the bus had still not arrived.   I finally gave up and skipped the game.    What gives?

I've never been to a 6:10 game ... unusual and disconcerting. We have very few games at that time, so perhaps the ATA miscalculated and was running on the 7:10 schedule (which meant a bus at 5:35 pm and right at 6:10 pm, so you would have been between both). If this is the case, and that was the correct first pitch time, it is very disconcerting. Please call the ATA and let them know how you feel.

FYI: I have used this service many times and it has always been reliable and quick.

[kcdcchef]

yeah, every kansas city royals game i go to i park at my old apartment building downtown and walk to baltimore and catch the royals express, and have never had a probelem with it. but, the royals very rarerly if ever have a game at that time, and i am sure kcata just flubbed it up.

write em and bitch em out, they will probably give you a free bus pass or something.

[Rusty]

Every Sat. home game has a 6:10 start...they must have been running early or something.  I haven't had a problem with them running that far off schedule in the past.

My biggest problem with the Royals Express is that there is often just one bus serving both the Plaza and DT after games...It took us 1:15 to get to 3rd and Grand after a game with about 13k in attendance.

[scooterj]

My biggest problem with the Royals Express is that there is often just one bus serving both the Plaza and DT after games...It took us 1:15 to get to 3rd and Grand after a game with about 13k in attendance.

Yeah, that baffled me too when I was looking at the route map.    It seemed to me that they should have one bus serving south of 39th that takes Cleaver/Blue Parkway to the game and another bus for north of 39th that takes I-70 to the game.

[swampranger]

KCATA doesn't have a good track record for that thing. The same thing happened to me last year down at crown center. It was my first experience with the express, and I was 20 minutes early to make sure I didn't miss it.  Never showed. 15 minutes after the time it was supposed to arrive i gave up, hopped in my car and got to the game late.

Not a great way to encourage more riders.

[lock+load]

I tried to catch the Royals Express last night, got to the stop 10 min. early and waited half an hour...it never showed up.

[kcdcchef]

i see on my schedule where saturday games are 6:10. my bad. usually games i go to when in town are friday nights, after getting to airport at 5:30, and sunday games. so, guess i was out of the loop on the 6:10 thing.

i never had a prob with the bus to the games, seems like i usually caught the bus outside the old hotel muehlbach, on baltimore, and never had an issue. but, times they a change, that is for sure.

[Boognish]

Did any forum member ride the Royals Express tonight?

[staubio]

I tried Chiefs Express last Sunday.  I arrived at the stop 1 hour before kickoff.  Each bus is supposed to start its last run one hour before kickoff and I walked to the stop on 47th and Jefferson, which is well into the route.  Sat there for 45 minutes before giving up.  Another guy was waiting and he went back for his car, he drove and we paid for parking.

Not a vote of confidence for that service.

Thinking we could just get on the bus back, we tried to just slip on but they were militant about checking tickets.  (We heard that they didn't really check for the return "coupon").  There is no half fare, so we couldn't pay to ride one way, so we caught a ride back with the same guy.

Steve with the Escort is a cool dude.  Metro with the bus was not.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Thats disapointing to hear that they won't just sell a return ticket.  I would hate to think that they would be turning away someone who decided they had had too much to drink at the game and didn't want to drive. 

[KCMax]

Freaking unbelievable.

[Rusty]

Added service to Waldo and Brookside for every game and the Northland for weekends only.

http://www.kcata.org/royals.html


Has anyone gotten a chance to use this?  I'd be interested to see if return trips improved.

[kard]

I rode the Waldo one yesterday.  There were about 5 empty seats, so there was a decent crowd.

I took the DT bus back, as I had something to do there before going home.  It was pretty full with people standing...maybe 6 or 7.  It worked out fine.

There were, I believe, 6 busses going to the game and only 3 that returned.  There didn't appear to be overcrowding on two of the three I saw; didn't see the third.  I guess they figured they could do it all with just the three.

[KCMax]

Kard, how long does the Waldo bus take to get to TSC? How soon before the game will I have to get on?

[bahua]

Kard, how long does the Waldo bus take to get to TSC? How soon before the game will I have to get on?

Rusty's link tells all.

[Burton]

Will a monthly bus pass work for this, or do you have to pay 5 bucks no matter what?

[kard]

No passes, I don't think.  It's a $5.00 fare.  When you get on, you get a coupon for $5.00 off a ticket to the game.  My total cost of transport + tickets was $15.00.  Not bad, especially when you can (usually) get good seats before the game starts.

The coupons work on any price level, so you could spend as little as $7.00 (and then move over to better seats) the entire day.  Deal!

Max, it took about 50 minutes.  Which, is a while longer then driving, but it was a pleasant ride.  I read the paper and listened to music.  Plus, I got to see some of the nice stuff on Armour and Linwood that I don't usually see.

[Rusty]

There were, I believe, 6 busses going to the game and only 3 that returned.  There didn't appear to be overcrowding on two of the three I saw; didn't see the third.  I guess they figured they could do it all with just the three.

That sounds like an improvement to me, if it's like that every game.

Last year, there were a couple games that didn't have seperate busses for DT and the Plaza...If you used the park-and-ride at 3rd and Grand, it sometimes took an hour and a half to get back.

[Boognish]

That sounds like an improvement to me, if it's like that every game.

Last year, there were a couple games that didn't have seperate busses for DT and the Plaza...If you used the park-and-ride at 3rd and Grand, it sometimes took an hour and a half to get back.

I remember that. I got stuck once with an entire group of really drunk and obnoxious Omaha lawyers and staff that were just absolutely a pest. My only joy was that they got off on the wrong stop because they were too liquored up to realize what was going on.