KCRag Forum

An empty freight car is about 30 tons
The streetcars are 39 tons empty

I can see why an insurer would want to insure that way.

Quinton Lucas: A few years ago in Kansas City, we brought back our streetcar system. It’s a short route that runs into downtown. We made all rides free. The area where the streetcar is is a higher-income, majority white, gentrified area. That started the talk of why are we subsidizing free rides to people making good money,

And he is in support of taking funds away from streetcar?

Fares cover about $8 million a year, but we lose $1.5 million in collecting fares. The shortfall is about $6 million, and we can find that in the budget. The streetcar took $2 million from buses to [get the project started]. It was necessary startup funding in 2014, but in 2019 and 2020 it’s not.

Any thoughts on Lucas's comments in the Seattle Times?

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... d-seattle/

Any thoughts on Lucas's comments in the Seattle Times?

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... d-seattle/

Definitely wouldn’t be my first option, would this need to be approved by both the TDD and the SCA or would they just need to approve this through the council?

That’s fucked up if the streetcar becomes a pay-for just as busses become free. It seems like you’re then setting it up for disappointing metrics as far as ridership goes. A vicious cycle would then emerge.

It echoes what’s happen in the national primaries. Equal vs equitable servicing. I come down on the side that equal service is better both politically and sustainably.

I'm in now way informed on the backroom discussions here but I'm not all all fearful the streetcar will start charging a fare.

The $2 million is tied to bond repayment. I wouldn't expect it's taken away anytime soon.

Also, the streetcar didn't take $2 million from busses, something to reiterate.

The bus tax is 0.375%.
The *all transit* tax is 0.5%

The city's portion is funded from the second one

flyingember wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:01 am The $2 million is tied to bond repayment. I wouldn't expect it's taken away anytime soon.

Also, the streetcar didn't take $2 million from busses, something to reiterate.

The bus tax is 0.375%.
The *all transit* tax is 0.5%

The city's portion is funded from the second one

The city's $2.068 million annual contribution goes into the TDD. It's not earmarked for debt service. If that amount was reduced, debt service would still be fully paid based on the "three party agreement" the city signed with the TDD and the Streetcar Authority. A previous council decided to take that money from the Public Mass Transportation Fund, but they could have taken it from the general fund.

November ridership stats...

The stats are increasingly going up YOY. Definitely refreshing to see that the Streetcar is starting to drift from novelty to viable transit. On another note, I saw some rendering/technical plans on Twitter, but nothing in there mentioned the option for the maintenance facility, anyone have any information on which option has been decided on, between expanded original facility or building new southern option?

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:07 am The stats are increasingly going up YOY. Definitely refreshing to see that the Streetcar is starting to drift from novelty to viable transit. On another note, I saw some rendering/technical plans on Twitter, but nothing in there mentioned the option for the maintenance facility, anyone have any information on which option has been decided on, between expanded original facility or building new southern option?

They most recent set of drawings is on their website.

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:07 am The stats are increasingly going up YOY.

Sept is an oddball month, decreasing each year. Maybe that month happens to have fewer events each year.

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:07 am On another note, I saw some rendering/technical plans on Twitter, but nothing in there mentioned the option for the maintenance facility, anyone have any information on which option has been decided on, between expanded original facility or building new southern option?

It's covered in depth in this thread. I would start on page 114 and work your way forward through 2019

https://kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18833&start=2260

It will be fascinating to see the stats if/when the expansion gets completed. I, for one, almost never ride the streetcar. I walk. But I will ride the expanded line all the time.

earthling wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:14 am

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:07 am The stats are increasingly going up YOY.

Sept is an oddball month, decreasing each year. Maybe that month happens to have fewer events each year.

Between Ren Fest, American Royal, and Plaza Art Fair, it's a lot of big events outside Streetcar coverage area.

But they run every year. Doesn't explain decrease for streetcar.

There were four Saturdays in Sept 2019, but five in 2017 and 2018. Saturdays have highest ridership. That explains the drop.

To the person who produces that Streetcar stats graph, here is some friendly feedback. The comparisons graph is always missing data for later months for the prior years. It’s a bit odd to present the data that way. For example, it’d be nice to see December data for 2016, 2017, and 2018 on this latest graph.

This is more of a streetcar - zoning question. It is my understanding that areas near the streetcar have no minimum parking requirements. Is this only for smaller projects or could something big like Three Light go through with no parking spaces?

It could in theory, but the banks always demand parking as part of financing.

normalthings wrote: ↑Sun Dec 15, 2019 4:43 am This is more of a streetcar - zoning question. It is my understanding that areas near the streetcar have no minimum parking requirements. Is this only for smaller projects or could something big like Three Light go through with no parking spaces?

The entire expanded TDD has no minimums as I recall. Every project can take advantage of this.

How close are they to beginning any work on the expansion? Is there a timeline on it or are they waiting for this years rounds of possible federal funding?