KC Light Rail

Johnson County Transit will no longer offer the Chiefs Express route to Arrowhead Stadium in 2009 due to low ridership and shifting priorities. The KCATA Chiefs service is not changing. See here for more information.

KCATA has submitted a River-Crown-Plaza "light rail/streetcar" line as part of its projects to be considered for the economic stimulus package that's being prepared by the new Congress. Price tag: $400 million.

Such a route would represent about 5 of the 14 miles still being studied as part of the failed light rail ballot question from November. The northernmost segments — including a new river crossing and I-29 interchange — were by far the most expensive on the entire route and would presumably not be included.

We must say that we're totally surprised (and pleased!) to see this, but aren't very optimistic for its chances. While the public has not been privy to all of the details of how the stimulus money will be distributed to cities or states, we do know the total will only be around $800 billion, with a subset of that to be used for infrastructure spending. Divide whatever that amount is by 50 states and subtract the state-funded projects and you may end up with a few hundred million to be split between all of the cities in Missouri combined.

President-elect Obama's speech today highlighting the "green" aspects of the stimulus do give us hope that states may be asked to focus more on projects that have an environmental benefit. We'll need to see it to believe it.

The highway mavens at MoDOT will be gracing KC with their presence today as options for rebuilding a stretch of I-70 through the city get a public review. Let's Go KC has the details.

According to the Business Journal, the Missouri Court of Appeals will hear Clay Chastain's appeal on Feb. 25. Chastain filed an appeal last year in response to a lower court's ruling that threw out his case. Chastain is being represented by his wife Valerie, who is a lawyer.

The Journal makes an interesting comment: "It’s unclear what happens if appeals court judges accept the Chastain argument, including whether his plan then would have to go into effect." However, we're quite confident that won't happen. If it does, we'll be interested to see the city scramble to come up with a response (because you know they don't have one yet, just in case).

As is the case in almost every city around the country (just Google "fare increase"), the ATA will boost fares for Kansas City routes 25 cents to $1.50, effective March 1. The boost is primarily in response to lower sales tax revenue, the #1 funding source for Metro service. The whole store is here. The last increase, also 25 cents, was in 2005.

You said it wouldn't happen. Surely, Jackson County & Friends would pick up the leftovers from the failed light rail vote and kick the regional conversation into high gear. Johnson County leaders won't play ball and "don't get it". Well, you were wrong. Today's Star notes that Johnson County will soon surpass what Kansas City is spending on transit. Yes, you read that right.

KCATA 2008 budget: ~$48 million
The JO budget in 5 years: $52 million

Planned improvements include bus rapid transit lines, expanded commuter routes, park-and-ride lots, and better links to regional transit services.

Of course, the cities in Johnson County — a completely urbanized patchwork of older first-ring suburbs and sprawling over-consumption — must match the investment with facilities to support transit. Most major thoroughfares lack contiguous sidewalks, an absolute prerequisite for bus riders. Good luck finding a bus shelter, too.

Our wish list for Johnson County — knowing the above prerequisite will not and probably cannot be met, ever — consists of expanded commuter services. The biggest successes in Johnson County use this model: notably the K-10 service and all downtown KCMO routes. While BRT would match well with a significantly reworked Metcalf Avenue, it's unlikely the current infrastructure would ever support any other local services beyond paratransit. Direct airport routes centered around the county's malls with spare parking capacity (Metcalf South, Town Center, Great Mall) would probably be runaway hit, too, since a good chunk of KCI's customers would never waste time taking an indirect route through downtown KC.