A streetcar named delusional in KC
UPDATED BELOW AT 5:15 PM
If watching Indianapolis Colts rookie quarterback Andrew Luck take his team to the playoffs doesn’t make you a little envious of Indianapolis then maybe this will.
A few weeks ago Indianapolis announced that it would become the first major U.S. city to have its entire fleet of vehicles be electric or hybrid-powered. It is even working with automakers to design and build electric-powered police cars.
Meanwhile in Kansas City, a few hundred residents approved a $100 million tax and bond plan to build a streetcar system between the River Market and Union Station, that will dictate the course of transit for the whole city going forward.
Now if only common sense was a football in Mr. Luck’s hands, and he was marching toward the streetcar proponents’ end zone. Here’s why:
UPDATED PARAGRAPH
Duplication of some service. Based on information provided by streetcar proponents, the streetcar will run fewer times an hour than the MAX bus line does now. So to maintain existing levels of service both the streetcar and MAX will need to operate along part of the route. Transit must be a tool for effectively and economically moving people, and this plan does not do that.
Economic development. Proponents say the streetcar is critical because it will spur economic development. Now put aside that along the proposed route, development has already made great strides through both big projects and grassroots endeavors.
Businesses go where customers or workers can be found, regardless of the mode of transit that brings them. And there are better ways to create concentrations of people than a streetcar.
- Fixed route. Change is the only constant in life, right? So why would we dig up ground and plop a streetcar in it that can’t go around traffic and can’t be rerouted to meet future changes in demand?
What happens in five or 10 years if development and living patterns make the streetcar less useful where it is and more useful, say four blocks over? It happens.
- Who is this really meant for? Of those who now use buses along the proposed streetcar route, most do so out of necessity or to save money. Ask regular riders, and they will not say they need a streetcar.
What they say they need are more buses with longer hours of operation and broader routes. So is this project really an attempt to get people who view buses with disdain — that buses are for poor people, and they’re dirty and unsafe — to ride a streetcar?
Some proponents have admitted it is. Why not spend a few thousands dollars on a public relations campaign to change attitudes instead?
- Build for the future? Just because other cities are doing streetcars doesn’t mean we should. We’ve been ahead of the curve many times before.
The Country Club Plaza. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. And yes, that place where Mr. Luck will probably throw a few more touchdown passes in his career.
Yet in this transit issue, we are a follower instead of an innovator. How many electric-powered shuttles and charging stations can you get for $100 million?
Couldn’t we design the shuttles like moving iPods, with free WiFi and a safety person on board? Couldn’t we use smart information technology to move routes around to meet the needs of people as they change over time?
Couldn’t we tie electric-powered workforce movers with commuter rail to the suburbs? Couldn’t we call them trams?
I’ll save you time and simply say yes to all.
Smart, forward-looking transit will not only meet the needs of our citizens but again show the world that Kansas City takes a back seat to no other place. But time is running out.
Speak up. Grab the steering wheel of progress and don’t let go.
Robert Westfall, of Kansas City, is founder of Instinct, an innovation firm. To reach him, send email to oped@kcstar.com or write to Midwest Voices, c/o Editorial Page, The Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108.
An earlier version of this column incorrectly said there would be a “reduction of (transit) service from current level.”
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months agoMerely one of the differences between R(conservative) rule and the D(liberal) rule that KC has been “blessed” with….
Libs continue to destroy KC. Indiana, my former home, now has right-to-work, conservative leadership and a growing state.
KC has da ‘libs……
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months agoOh, and Indy has Luck….. KC has da ‘libs….
David Johnson
4 months agoFirst point? Total lie. Streetcar will only ADD service to the corridor, and at most 2-3 downtown stations will be shared with MAX. Making a straight run through downtown with the streetcar will also keep the MAX route intact, making Plaza/Brookside/Waldo commuters happy that we won’t be extending their walk their office from the bus stop.
Second point is proven in any city with rail. Ask them if they’d do it differently. They all say no.
Electric shuttles? We tried that in Clay Chastain’s plan. There’s a reason cities worldwide haven’t rolled them out in droves — the technology is not reliable enough for systems that demand proven designs that will last.
The streetcar will run on locally-produced electricity and won’t require expensive batteries that will need replaced.
Yael T. Abouhalkah
4 months agoThis column has been corrected to deal with the question of how streetcar and MAX bus service will be provided along part of the downtown transit corridor.
According to the Area Transportation Authority: “At this time there are no plans to reduce MAX service when the streetcar begins. While there is a portion of the route that is redundant, certainly not the entire route, and MAX service will still be necessary.”
Kevin Carlyle
4 months agoWhat’s a shuttle, is that like a vehicle?
I’m not at all sure what a “safety person” is either. Is that like a driver?
Do they have any idea what they’re writing about.
How about let’s take a group that knows how to do transit. The bus company is a good choice. I bet they know how to pick out things that shuttle people around and could come up with a good plan to become more green at the same time.
Convenient, the KCATA is replacing all their busses over the next 15 years. Diesel is expensive.
They’re moving to CNG. Not electric.
At that point this person showed their ignorance of the subject. They’re ignoring facts on the ground.
Not sure why the Star is posting this at all. It just makes the paper look uneducated.
Robert Copher
4 months ago“And there are better ways to create concentrations of people than a streetcar”
IMO, it is here, in your basic premise that you fail to approach the idea.
For the purpose you propose if it isn’t packed all the time, it is a failure. When used and an alternative to neighborhood hopping it allows for the change to happen withing and around it while still serving all interested. It doesn’t have to be packed with people to be a success.
Robert Copher
4 months agoshort distance travel assistance not mass transit people concentrating
Robert Westfall
4 months agoREPLY OF ARTICLE’S AUTHOR:
As the Author of this piece that has sparked such vehement criticism from a couple of people I wanted to clarify some important points:
In response to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Carlyle above:
1) I rewrote the paragraph in question not because of a matter of fact but clarity. The fact is that, left on its own, the streetcar would not provide as many trips per hour to the same stops currently being served by the Max Bus. That comes from direct statements provided by proponents of the streetcar system, during an information session held at the Kansas City Public Library Last year.
It is true that the Max will continue to run, but it is because of that fact that overall service will not be reduced. To truly compare the effectiveness of the streetcar as a people mover you have to judge it when it is the only mode of transit and not also being aided by the existing mode of transit, ie the Max.
2) I did not advocate anywhere in the article the use of light rail like Clay Chastain was pushing for. I mentioned the idea of using electric “shuttles” which are already being tested and implemented with success in Washington and California. I encourage you to read this article in Scientific American which shows what they are doing and the cost effectiveness of their electric-powered systems.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=battery-powered-electric-bus#
3) The idea of a safety officer and “cool” factor such as the iPod design and free WiFi are a direct response to the proponents of the streetcar that acknowledge that many people won’t ride buses because of a stigma that surrounds them, while they will ride a streetcar because it has what they deem “cool factor.”
I encourage you to search the KCUR archives of the show “Up to Date” for an episode on transit last year in which I called in and made that exact point to streetcar advocates who said I had exposed the “800lb Gorilla” surrounding traditional transit.
While I appreciate the debate, in fact I encourage it, I take issue with people questioning my knowledge on the matter of transit. I am a designer. I run an innovation firm that deals with these issues everyday. And as the points I just made show, not only have I researched this topic extensively, but clearly I am more aware of issues “on the ground” than you may think.
I want smart transit. Smart being the operative word. i am not looking to change attitudes or modify behaviors. I am interested in moving this city forward in a way that we can look back decades from now and say we did it right…and not just expeditiously.
George Hunsucker
Northland
4 months agoYou are trying to educate zealots Mr. Westfall. They now have their revenue source they think, so it is onward and UP?ward for them…
Why anyone thinks STATIONARY routes are the wave of the future is a mystery to me, but as before, I am not a smart lib….
Thank you for trying to introduce some sanity into the discussion…..
Phil Cardarella
4 months agoJust got back from Denver.
I tried to tell all those fools using their light rail system and their Downtown shuttle service that they did not comprehend how badly off they were, but it is hard to be heard in such crowded vehicles.
It was almost as if they understood that the system was designed to focus development on the Downtown corridor — and create hubs of development at transit stops. They must not believe that all transit is supposed to be designed to facilitate getting folks in cars to south Overland Park or north Platte City or east Oak Grove.
Not like the far-sighted leadership in KC, right?