TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR RIDERSHIP DECLINES FOUR MONTHS IN A ROW!!! LATEST LOW KEY REPORT REVEALS ANOTHER 15% PLUMMET FROM 2018 SUMMER TOURIST PEAK!!!
As the prospect of federal funding for the controversial streetcar extension seems increasingly farfetched, the ridership numbers for the toy train have been downplayed.
Nevertheless . . .
LOOK CLOSELY . . .
THE ANNUAL COLD WEATHER KCMO STREETCAR RIDERSHIP DROP STARTED EARLY IN 2018!!!
First, here's the latest report> which attempts to explain away and negate every low number . . .
Now . . .
CHECK THE TREND LINE, KANSAS CITY HAS BEEN IGNORING THE TOY TRAIN STREETCAR SINCE JULY!!!
A few trends worth checking:
- This month's ridership decline vs. last month is 15%
- Overall this represents a 45.5% passenger downturn since the July peak.
- This is the 3nd most serious ridership decline since the August & September drops of 20% respectively.
And so . . .
While streetcar promoters offer an eternally optimistic view of the data, these stats show us that the toy train is nothing more than "touristy frou frou" which has been the criticism of this embattled mode of transit since its inception.
Moreover, as harsh winter weather approaches, we notice low ridership excuses also cite shutdowns without explaining longstanding cold weather reliability issues.
Remember, all of this data comes from the streetcar authority despite some of our blog community questioning their methodology overall.
Developing . . .
This happens a lot. KC loves a brand new toy but when we talk about paying for it, the room gets really quiet. Asking for federal funding is like waiting for Santa Claus. Growups know that KC is the one left with the bill but the children can believe in fairy tales.
ReplyDeleteJust wait, all that you really did Tony is guarantee that another national "journalist" would get paid under the table to write a column about the success of streetcar and the 5 million riders that are just a series of sensor beeps.
DeleteSend it to the plaza, all you will be doing is connecting one homeless population to another. So we can have a whole corridor ruled by crime. Thanks Sly!
Deleteonce they get the train run down to the plaza, ridership will increase
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^^ Agree.
ReplyDeleteIt goes nowhere now. Need to connect it around the city to make a real source of transit and to make it viable!
Tony I thought you said it was inaccurate.
ReplyDeleteAnd now it is?
What a fucking hypocrite.
Also it's not going away. Get used to it.
Take it off the rails and slap some Michelin tires on it, them head for Plaza.
ReplyDeleteWho wants to wait for the toy train out in the cold and then stand the whole way to end of the line? Every time those doors pop open, a cold blast of air chills the cars. Same thing happens in the hot summer, except it's a furnace blast of hot air. What fun. Take the bus.
ReplyDeleteThe street car has teamed up with The Metro to bring you Streetcar on the Plaza
ReplyDeletefor the next few months the metro will be teaming up with the streetcar to bring you Streetcar on the Plaza brought to you by the metro. The metro will feature a train horn and christmas music while it whisks you from downtown to the rivermarket and back to the Plaza!
streetcar is the biggest waste of money KC has ever seen. When Sly is out of office, can we get rid of this piece of garbage? It has been nothing but a train on KC.
ReplyDeleteit is free for everyone, only some of you pay for my rides on it
ReplyDeleteThe only people who think this is a good idea are the lawyers getting paid off from it or the media organizations getting payoff advertising.
ReplyDeleteit's time to start charging a fare. Make this thing pay for itself. No reason to make KC keep paying the bills. The experiment is over. The streetcar has not built enough business to justify its cost.
ReplyDeleteTony there’s a huge seasonality to the ridership of the streetcar.. ridership is up ~ 20% year over year and even November was up ~ 10% from the previous November. Your reporting on this is so flawed.
ReplyDelete^^^^ The reporting is from the streetcar numbers. You just don't like what they say. Sorry, that's just the same old Trumpian B.S.
ReplyDeleteThe streetcar numbers are being politicized by city hall and they don't make sense. Exposing their flaw is good journalism and I'm glad TKC took the time to file this post.
Does anyone really believe that 143,000 people rode the streetcar in November?
ReplyDeleteWhat garbage.
Streetcar is 2015.
ReplyDeletePeople ride scooters now, only geezers are on the streetcar.
"seasonality" = Just for tourists in Summer, screws over the rest of the city, broken down for nearly all of January.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to make sure we got that translated.
Bird scooters has teamed up with the streetcar to bring you birds on the plaza
ReplyDeleteLime has teamed up with guns to bring you bullets and citrus on the plaza!
ReplyDeleteWhoohoo!
Great grandpa says, "LMFAO."
ReplyDeleteI would say that 75% of the City busses I see have fewer than 10% of the seats filled and 25% of the time are empty. There are computers which will tell you how to change routes or downsize to a more efficient bus is the ridership does not justify a full size bus.
ReplyDeleteThe City Council is not capable of moving to a more efficient system because of the load voices and bullies in the council who do not understand basic logic and efficiencies.
Sly James has made a good living as a lawyer and Mayor for decades. But when he turns 70 years old, there will be a good chance he will be broke.
ReplyDeleteOn display on KCMO are policies put in place by folks who do not understand the basis principals of economics and finance. The Street Car taxing district is historically undemocratic. The airport and the pork associated with the building of the airport is disgraceful.
At the end of the day the street car and airport were packages which were supported only because of the pork associated with the build out and maintenance of these two projects.
If you like the streetcar, you might as well tell the whole world that you like to suck cock. The streetcar is for homosexuals. The Bible and God deplore homosexuals.
ReplyDeleteThe newness has faded and it is impossible to restore the shine. People will not use the fair weather toy train during the cold months because the homeless use it for their rendezvous point and it is not reliable. The only time the fair weather toy train is reliable is, as its name implies, during fair weather.
ReplyDeleteWay past time for people to start paying to ride but the city is full of free loaders and city government wants the to free load some more.
ReplyDeleteThe decline is due to the crime in Kansas City. No one wants to go downtown or any other place in K C except maybe Christmas time, or summer to the market. No one wants to ride the bus because of crime. What is downtown for people to go to? Downtown is dead out side of work or a once in a while venue.
Get those damn scooters off the road those things are a pain in the ass. If I see geezer hater riding one I'm going to push him down. Scooters are for geeks.
Streetcars were the big big fad pushed by the usual "urban futurists" a few years ago and has very quickly been replaced by the latest idea that every city has to get or risk "being left behind".
ReplyDeleteLots and lots of taxpayer money thrown away in city after city.
But, unlike some other schemes foisted on KCMO "leaders", the streetcar will continue to cost millions until it's finally ignored and left to deteriorate like pretty much everything else KCMO owns, and even getting rid of it will cost millions that the city doesn't have.
Food deserts.
The digital divide.
Taxpayer-owned grocery stores.
Affordable housing.
Short attention-span theater.
All at taxpayer expense.
It never changes.
As long as the populace has a solid supply of beer, donuts, meat,chiefs, and royals we'll be fine. What else does a world class city need?
ReplyDeleteTaxpayer funded amusement park ride.
ReplyDeleteThe City sill not charge a $1.00 per ride due to the fact that ridership would drop considerably. They are thinking, "as long as someone else pays for it (those in the taxing district) then let move forward with the program. If you include the City Council members from the 3rd and 5th district in this taxing district everyone of them would have voted against the street car expansion...
ReplyDeleteKC is a car town. No car, no parking no make it.
ReplyDeleteBut...but...the momentum!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that ridership fluctuates with the seasons merely shows that it's a carnival ride not a means of transportation.
ReplyDeleteToot toot. Echo echo echo. Hoot. Clunk.
ReplyDeleteOklahoma City's new streetcar starts running next week. It's a four mile loop that actually takes people to locations. And it's not free. They will charge for single rides, day passes, monthly passes and annual passes.
ReplyDeleteAll we need is another $500 million to get it running to the plaza and then it'll really take off...I promise!
ReplyDelete^^ The Plaza is dying, just like most of Jackson County. Oh wait, I sense the sarcasm.
ReplyDelete^^^Everything is up to date in Oklahoma!
ReplyDelete