KC Light Rail

No, it ain't light rail, but it's definitely worth a mention here.

While not the location chosen for the announcement, Kansas City is getting an intercity passenger rail boost on two fronts today.

First, Amtrak's existing Kansas City-to-St. Louis Missouri River Runner route will get $31 million in upgrades to improve capacity and on-time performance. Even though on-time performance has been running in the 90% range for months, most of the improvement has come from reduced freight traffic and the threat of host railroad penalties made possible by Congressional action.

Two trains run daily — morning and late afternoon — between KC and St. Louis in each direction; annual ridership runs in the 150,000 to 200,000 range. Missouri pays an annual subsidy for operations, as is the case with most of Amtrak's corridor operations outside of the northeast. There's no indication the improvements will affect the scheduled 5:40 running time, but the timetable is likely to be revisited in coming years since it contains a lot of padding.

Increasing speeds is definitely a priority, but a third (mid-day) departure would increase the usefulness of the service dramatically. Also, now is a great time for Missouri and Illinois to jointly operate direct service between KC and Chicago (a change of trains is now required, though the once-daily Southwest Chief will probably always be a faster trip). A direct train would make the service more palatable to riders going between Hermann, MO and Alton, IL, for example.

Second, a grassroots effort to extend Amtrak's Heartland Flyer through Wichita to Kansas City was awarded funding for developing a service plan for the route. This route is not a federally-designated high-speed rail corridor, but is one of most glaring gaps in Amtrak's route map. Enabling legislation for the service was introduced in the current Kansas legislative session.

KC-bound passengers on both routes would end up at Union Station, terminus for both the proposed regional rail and downtown streetcar systems.

Other big regional winners were the St. Louis-to-Chicago corridor (which will eventually run at 110 mph), Madison-to-Milwaukee (new service), Detroit-to-Chicago, and a service plan for new services in Iowa.

We'll be live-tweeting Mike Sanders' Regional Rail presentation at the Central Exchange today. Follow along at http://twitter.com/kclightrail, starting at 11:45 a.m. CST.

This is the item to break our months-long silence: Jackson County CEO Mike Sanders will present his Regional Rail Plan to the Central Exchange on Jan. 26. Members attend for free, non-members pay $30. And yes, men are very much welcome to attend.

We haven't heard a peep out of Sanders since he unveiled his plan to a surprised media way back in October. It was well over a month before any information even appeared on the Jackson County website (don't let that date stamp fool you). The description for next week's event still maintains that stimulus money is being sought to pay for construction, even though all stimulus deadlines related to transit have already passed and it's not a given that a new jobs bill will include transit funding (assuming such a bill even passes, considering the results of this week's special election in Massachusetts).

We're taking a break from posting until January. By that time, KC will have a 2010 transit budget and an answer from the US DOT on whether the modern streetcar funding request is approved.

As of yet, there's still no second stimulus on which Mike Sanders can hang his commuter rail hat. Meanwhile, Clay Chastain has until summer to collect enough signatures for his latest light rail plan. Construction on Troost BRT is underway, but stations won't be visible until late summer. Johnson County Transit is offering temporary holiday service between Mission and the Plaza.

In the interim, please follow us on Twitter @kclightrail.

Happy Holidays!

The Star reports that KCATA's 2010 budget will have plenty of bad news for transit users: fare increases, service cuts, and depleting reserves.

Fixed route services have been spared, unlike in this year's budget, but the "swing shift" service — providing taxi rides to late night workers after regular service hours — will be cut.

General fares, now $1.50, would rise to $1.75 if diesel fuel rises above $3 per gallon. Share-a-Fare rates would increase, as would ozone day fares.

Even worse is news that the agency's reserves would be depleted by 2014 unless new revenue is secured. There is no silver lining yet for new revenue, but there are state and federal efforts that may provide relief.

At the federal level, climate change legislation may provide funding for "clean transportation" using revenues from the cap-and-trade system that will control greenhouse gas emissions. A new transportation bill is in limbo, with no indication operational funding would be available.

Regarding state assistance, KCATA General Manager Mark Huffer indicated a new transportation initiative is on the horizon, but that effort has yet to report on what funding would be available for transit. Missouri currently ranks near the bottom in state transit funding.

Locally, city leaders continue to passive-aggressively underfund KCATA by using money from the 1/2-cent transportation sales tax — the one with no sunset — for "other transportation uses". A separate 3/8-cent "bus tax" was renewed in 2008. The TIF orgy of the last decade also hasn't helped maintain stable funding.

After years of struggling with a stubborn Bush administration that refused to consider streetcars a valid form of urban transit, Portland and the Federal Transportation Administration announced a reversal last week.

The flood gates are now open, and that flood includes Kansas City's streetcar proposal. Finally, Portland actually means something for Kansas City.

Cities across the country have been actively planning modern streetcar lines, mostly with the intent of reviving their urban cores. Moving more transit riders is still critical, but secondary to the economic development motive. While the previous administration dithered, cities moved ahead and proved them wrong; Portland, the darling of new urbanism, was at the forefront.

The money for Portland comes from the FTA's Small Starts program, which also is funding our Troost MAX BRT line. Federal funding requests must be less than $75 million; Kansas City's downtown streetcar proposal clocks in at $60 million.

While the federal transportation funding situation is in flux — and will continue to be throughout next year — the viability of a federal match, and potential for an early kick-start via the regional TIGER application, enhance our prospects significantly.

In short, it's Kansas City's best shot for initiating light rail service. We discourage readers from signing Clay Chastain's latest petition, or voting for it should he successfully garner enough signatures. Forcing the city to deal with yet another legal quagmire would distract from the effort to move a real plan forward. If anyone thinks the city would every actually try to implement one of Chastain's plan, we have a gondola to sell you.