Academic research once again warns us that Kansas City hopes and dreams have no basis in reality.
Check the link . . .
Light Rail Does Not Replace Cars
Even worse . . .
IN ONE REAL WORLD EXAMPLE AFTER THE NEXT STREETCARS DON'T RESULT IN THE BENEFITS PROMISED BY KANSAS CITY POLITICOS!!!
And this isn't just Show-Me Institute and big money Rex we're talking about . . . The blog post references an article from The Atlantic which relies on a study from The Journal of Transport Geography - NOT exactly the most effective soap box for GOP talking points.
Here's a look at the research . . .
"According to an article in The Atlantic Cities, planners “discovered that car ownership and car commute share often continue to rise in these corridors, and that ridership growth is often the result of travelers shifting over from buses — — not cars.”"
An accurate summary of the Kansas City Toy Streetcar up to this point . . .
"Kansas City voters have rejected light rail multiple times, so city officials contrived a special tax district in which only 300 affirmative votes were necessary to embark on a multi-million dollar city outlay. The line they propose will be along existing roads, and likely will not attract the traffic (or the convention business) to fill them. What is certain is that it will never be self-funding, but instead will require taxpayer subsidies in perpetuity."
Like it or not, Kansas City is still on track to spend HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS on a system that isn't really supported by anything more than the pipe dreams and career ambitions of politicos who haven't had much success in any of their other civic endeavors.
More in a bit . . .
Tony your cred is so far gone on this issue you really should just go back to writing about Funkhouser.
ReplyDeleteShut up Staubio!
ReplyDeleteYour gang of coffee house jerks have been treated far too nicely.
in b4 David/Matt...
ReplyDeleteOh shit.
Most people who support light rail do so believing that the idiot in the car in front of them will ride the train. Of course every other commuter thinks the same thing and in the end there is still some idiot in front of them and there is a train no one except tourists ride.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that to ride KC's streetcar you have to get in your car and drive to either Union Station or River Market, park and walk to the stop...oh wait. I might as well drive the extra 2 minutes to get where I wanted to, my Crossroads Coffeehouse McJob.
ReplyDeleteTony, have you thought about the fact that maybe the streetcar isn't supposed to pay for itself?
ReplyDeleteIt's more like an investment that we're making in neighborhoods. I thought that you were all for that?
Listen dummy, it's not an investment if it leave the city bankrupt in the process.
ReplyDeleteKCMO could buy Smart cars for the few morons that will ride the train on a regular basis. If tourists want to ride a train they can take the Amtrak from Union Station to Independence, buy some meth, dine at Golden Corral and then flip flop back to KC.
ReplyDeleteThe "Loose Copper Express"?
ReplyDeleteBwahahahahahahahaahaha!
Midtown Mom loves it because 1 she is not paying for it and 2 she gets to ride it for free.
ReplyDeleteActually, everybody gets to ride it for free. The TDD has agreed not to charge fares.
ReplyDeleteI for one appreciate TKC keeping us informed of the streetcar politics and lies. The mainstream media hasn't done any investigative reporting. Instead they spit out (up) the pablum provided by HDR engineering and others that are the ones that profit$Millions from this streetcar. KC will be left with the bills for the next 30 years or more.
ReplyDeleteDo the math -- the streetcar is already over $100M
then they realize that ridership will not be as high as projected so they will offer free rides ($so add in $3-5 million operating costs per year which will likely be stolen from other KC budget areas. Just think how nice our bus system could be if instead of stealing from that budget, we added routes, free WIFI....
opps -- now the bridge on Main (for the route that HDR designed) is not strong enough to support a streetcar so it will have to be replaced (can anyone say cost overruns?)
Tony -- thanks for (tying) to keep our politico honest and mindful of how they use our tax dollars.
Mid town Mom still will need to park her car to ride. Crown Center requires validation. Most shops do it for free, but if the lots fill with suburbanites looking for free parking for Sprint events.... well parking will also become an issue.
ReplyDelete@2:46
ReplyDeleteThe law of unintended consequences.
All lightrail would do is lower DUI counts, and we wouldn't want that bc the lawyers, KCPD and the city would lose their revenue stream.
ReplyDelete"SHOCK!!! STUDY REVEALS MAYOR SLY'S TOY TRAIN WON'T REPLACE KANSAS CITY CARS!!!"
ReplyDeleteYou're damn right! As long as Kansas City pedestrians are third class citizens and road kill, nobody is giving up their car to take the bus or any other public transit system. Kansas City culture focus is on class rather tha content. It will take generations to fix that problem or $10/gallon gas; whichever comes first.
This guy is a complete waste of space! When are the elections, again?
Stabio is a douche
ReplyDeleteMidtown Mom loves it, bacause she doesn't have to pay for it. My monthly rent will be going up, because the owners real estate taxes will increase.
ReplyDelete1:48 PM - nicely said.
ReplyDeletehey 6:33am
ReplyDeleteDid you even bother to vote? If you did not, then you have no right to complain. And if you did and you voted for this toy train, you got exactly what you voted for. Who did you think was going to pay for this, your landlord out of the goodness of his heart?