TKC BREAKING AND EXCLUSIVE NEWS!!! TRANSIT CRITICS TOLD YOU SO FIRST: KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR LOSES NEARLY HALF ITS STEADILY FALLING RIDERSHIP IN NOVEMBER 2016!!!
Before any other mainstream media outlet in Kansas City, our blog community was FIRST to question the ridership numbers for the toy train streetcar and worry about the future of the smallish line amid cold weather.
Back in August we were FIRST to predict the cold weather drop off.
And at the outset of the week our blog community offered the FIRST glimpse of the falling numbers.
And now . . .
THE TKC BLOG COMMUNITY IS CONFIRMED BY THE LATEST STREETCAR RIDERSHIP NUMBERS REVEALING A DROP IN NEARLY HALF THEIR NUMBERS DURING NOVEMBER!!!
Don't take our word for it . . . Do the math and check the streetcar's site which makes readers search for the stats and double click again and again to take a look:
To wit . . .
CHECK THE MUST SEE MONEY SHOT FROM THE RIDEKC STREETCAR WEBSITE SHOWING THE DECLINING NUMBERS!!!
Breaking down the numbers . . .
- The KC Streetcar Authority reports 100,000 fewer passengers since the peak in July.
- That's more than a 43% drop in THEIR OWN RIDERSHIP STATS.
- Even worse, critics continue to question the counting methodology used and claim that even these numbers are trumped up.
Meanwhile, bus ridership remains constant and even grows larger during the colder months as more people would rather let the ATA do their driving along treacherous streets.
And so . . .
OUR TKC BLOG COMMUNITY TOLD YOU SO!!! BOTH MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL MUST NOW ADDRESS THE COLD WEATHER TOY TRAIN STREETCAR RIDERSHIP PLUNGE BEFORE ANY TALK OF AN EXTENSION!!!
Worse still, it hasn't really been that cold until this week . . . So expect the ridership plunge to persist.
You decide . . .
$150 million and counting for this?
ReplyDeleteIt truly is a toy train if nobody wants to ride in bad weather.
Thank you for the bus comparison. That is REAL transit that people depend on. Not expensive tourist garbage like the streetcar.
Here is one thing you should mention more TKC:
DeleteWhat about next summer when the novelty wears off?
There were parties and promotions and marketing tie-ins almost every weekend for the streetcar. Eventually, that kind of support will subside and the streetcar is going to have to stand on its own rails. If the trend continues, expect even more drop off when people forget it's even downtown.
He isn't even out of office yet and Sly's legacy has failed. THAT is the real story here.
DeleteSly's legacy started failing when he was the target of gunfire on The Plaza. Then there was East Patrol, Flashmob youth, KJ running all over town showing how vicariously important is or is not and Silicon Prairie. Just add the streetcar vote rigging to the mix and you've got yourself a smeared legacy, at best.
ReplyDeleteIt is just an amusement ride. This will be shutdown in the winter months when Sly term is over.
ReplyDeleteGet rid of the train and replace it with horses.
ReplyDelete$250 million for a proposed extension and they can't even hold KC's interest for 6 months?
ReplyDeleteNO THANKS!
The KCATA doesn't dare publish ridership numbers of the Main Street Max bus that rides the same route as the streetcar and much, much more. They don't want people to see the thousands of people who use the bus, not the streetcar, to get to work and around the city every day.
ReplyDeleteOnly in kc do we sacrifice better bus routes, streetlights and police just to try and lure more tourists. What a joke we have become, our city used to lead the nation and now its just a shadow of itself.
ReplyDeleteThis thing is a $150 million dollar Bowflex only worse since we can't even sell it on CL.
ReplyDeleteDowntown needs to start paying for their sewers.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry.
ReplyDeleteAt this very moment, Richard Florida and the rest of the urban futurist gang are coming up with THE NEXT BIG THING that every city will HAVE to have to avoid being left behind. You need to understand that a new trending fad is what's needed to keep their book sales and lecture fees going.
And they're sure to be in KCMO before Sly's term is up, so get ready for the next grandiose announcement from 12th and Oak.
The streetcar is already yesterday's news.
Except, that is for the decades of debt service and the millions spent on operating costs every year.
They never learn.
Kansas City, Missouri is am9ng the worst run cities in America. At least it hasn't let us down on that.
ReplyDeleteYawn. How about an update on Toni Bones? Or Mayor Funk? This toy train/streetcar shit is beyond stale. Surely Gloria Squitaro (sp?) is doing something worth laughing about.
ReplyDeleteIs it true that the City is hiring Bernie Goetz as head of streetcar security?
ReplyDeleteInstead of bitching and whining like a bunch of little internet troll children, GO DOWNTOWN and ride it, help get those numbers up. You might see me downtown with all the other REAL PEOPLE who actually do something. You can then praise me for being such a highly educated University of Missouri GENIUS.
ReplyDeleteAmazing there's admission rider numbers are declined by 40+%!!! Is that even near the actual percent?
ReplyDeleteWhat, did an O'Keefe styled surveillance sting get mentioned?
Sly now wants you to give him $800 million to spend.
ReplyDeletePROOF POSITIVE THAT EVERYONE LOVES MIZZOU!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stjosephpost.com/2016/12/07/mizzou-athletics-receives-another-1-million-gift-for-football-project/
BREAKING NEWS!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kctv5.com/story/33996527/modot-workers-hospitalized-after-being-hit-by-car
HOPEFULLY THAT WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH THAT TIMES THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN ST JOSEPH WAS IN ONE OF THOE TRUCKS. THAT PARTICULAR "ENGINEER" HAS DONE NOTHING BUT PISS OFF THE PEOPLE OF ST JOSEPH WITH HIS STOPLIGHTS AND HOW THEY WORK.
We're asking everyone here to call the St. Joseph MoDOT Office and demand that he be arrested and charged with a federal crime.
I know what the spin will be from the pro-toy train crowd. It will be the train go so far. People would love it if it went to the Plaza or to the Zoo or the Stadiums.
ReplyDeleteSure if we did that people might love it. More then likely however the city would start charging people to use the train. They would have to to cover the cost of it.
Then we would see if people would like it. My guess is once you make people pay to use the thing ridership would be next to nothing. Kind of like it is now.
Toot Toot Tooooot running out of steam. A big waste of money that many warned about, but we just need to not make the same kind of mistake again. We also need to start charging money for the Trolley. Does anyone think that the government will give us a grant for transportation when they find out we don't charge any riders.
ReplyDeleteIt's FREE to ride. People should be fighting to get on that thing, but not even homeless people are on it! WTF
ReplyDeleteWhy can't I read about this in my newspaper?
ReplyDeleteI hate it that The Star has become a mouthpiece for Sly. So unworthy and such a sad fate for one of the best paper's in the Midwest.
^^^^^Sweet! See you guys at the streetcar extension groundbreaking!!!
ReplyDeleteBut I thought all the numbers were "made up" as "reported" on TKC!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteStreetcar is a bust. We should maintain it and try to make it more accessible but this is not a transit option that people want.
ReplyDeleteSorry.
So, what you are saying is the streetcar is STILL above projected ridership by quite a bit...
ReplyDeleteIt is all down hill from here. Why not just park it at Union Station and let homeless sleep in it. Why do you want to make them ride it. Maybe it could be rented to the boats for a new gambling venue. That would make s a first class city--first city with a gambling Trolley. We wouldn't have to charge gamblers. It could still be free, it could still look KOOOOL moving through traffic at 11 miles an hour. Slot Machine Trolley.
ReplyDeleteOf course the Star is a mouth piece for the City. The City extended their tax abatement. Fifteen years ago we were told that the Star would be paying property taxes, but they are not! And neither are the big developments downtown, yet the City wants to raise the property tax on all the homeowners and small business. What a joke... give to the already wealthy, take from the middle class.
ReplyDelete