TKC EXCLUSIVE FACT CHECK!!! KCMO TOY TRAIN STREETCAR CLINGS TO HYPE AMID COLD WEATHER RIDERSHIP PLUNGE!!!
When the weather gets cold, the streetcar numbers also plummet.
The trend over the past few years is due to a lot of factors but mostly because the streetcar is a glorified party train AND doesn't really work in tough weather.
Nevertheless . . .
The toy train advocates are still attempting to tout this mode of transit to local social media activists who never bother to fact check anything . . .
The latest bit of braggadocio . . .
#kcstreetcar Sept '18 ridership exceeded last year's Sept ridership. Highest ridership days occur during the weekends, with Saturdays being the busiest.
That's not incorrect and, in this post, we won't despite their numbers at all.
But here's more context . . .
The streetcar only "exceeded" last year's Sept. ridership numbers by 42 riders.
Check our math:
Sept. 2018 ridership: 176,806
Sept. 2017 ridershop: 176,764
And so the toy train brag is kind of petty.
But it gets worse . . .
ONCE AGAIN KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREECAR RIDERSHIP TRENDS DOWNWARD FROM ITS DEBUT!!!
Let's not forget the early hype from the street car crew . . . Again, according to their own numbers.
In Sept. 2016 the streetcar claimed ridership of 180,022.
And so . . .
THE KANSAS CITY TOY TRAIN STREETCAR EARNED 3,000 FEWER RIDERS LAST MONTH COMPARED WITH 2016 SEPTEMBER RIDERSHIP DURING ITS EPIC DEBUT YEAR!!!
And so, while we're more than willing to talk about why a 2% drop off may or may not be important, what's unfortunate is that the streetcar authority is acting as hype man instead of offering realistic reporting of the ridership that's used to justify hundreds of millions worth of tax dollars.
Seriously, these are local transit boosters who want to tear up Main Street all the way from Downtown to the Plaza and their strategy is, clearly, based on social media love and not a forthright conversation about transit efficiency.
You decide . . .
books have always been cooked on streetcar.
ReplyDeleteIt's simply how Kansas City does business.
Deal with it.
The numbers also drop during bad weather, it don’t work in bad weather or any weather for that matter
ReplyDeleteWell you go right ahead and do some realistic reporting Tony.
ReplyDeleteFor a change.
Shut up gopher boy, you lose again
ReplyDeleteThe fiar weather toy train will go into hibernation by November 1 and once the spring rains are over it will reappear.
ReplyDeleteAnd they are still not charging one red cent to ride the thing. I've been on it during the really cold weather. Every time those huge doors swing open, a blast of Arctic air rushes in. The same with the hot weather. Doors open, a blast furnace hits you. What fun. Start charging to ride and see what happens with the touristy frou-frou.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s so touristy about it, it only goes downtown right, nothing touristy about downtown is there? I don’t know anybody that comes to this town for the tourist attractions downtown that’s for sure
ReplyDeleteIt's basically a fancy moving sidewalk.
ReplyDeleteTourists from rural Mo, Ks, Ia and Ne come to KC in the summer to experience a few days in the “big” city. Catch a Royals game or go to Worlds of Fun. They see the trolley the same way the urbanite wannabes do, as something contemporary and cosmopolitan. Neat stuff if you’re normally riding a tractor. But when these tourists leave, ridership, though free, drops drastically.
ReplyDeleteStreetcar = SCAM.
ReplyDelete2:11 - it has to start somewhere right? What'd you think they'd do, canvas the whole damn city. Just a dumb argument you made. For perspective, Denver's light rail system started a small segment downtown. People hated it, then it expanded....they can't get enough of it now and it is expanding everywhere. The thing is packed for Broncos games, baseball games, etc. It's an investment at this point that will probably start paying off somewhere down the line after it expands and becomes a viable commute alternative.
ReplyDelete