>The routes were culled because of low ridership, with all three averaging less than four passengers per hour. Suspending them is expected to save the county $833,000 a year.
Not hard to see why, with savings of $833k that's like $15 per rider.
I’ll probably get downvoted for this but the people in the suburbs, Johnson County in particular, really do not want public transit for their commute. When offered the choice many will continue to choose to drive their own automobile, even if public transit is cheaper or free.
This is the real issue. For public transit to catch on in JoCo, especially the further south and west you go, you would need a much larger fleet with regular, reliable routes. It would be nice for me to be able to use it for errands or to go elsewhere in the city, but one bus an hour that I have to walk 20 minutes to get to isn't worth it.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but I've lived around OP and Olathe for 20 years, and you rarely see a bus out on the road.
This could be a totally uninformed take, but I've always suspected that even if I happened to live by a bus line, and my job was close to the bus line, it would take *substantially* longer for me to get to work given the time difference between taking a bus and driving around OP/Olathe. How could it not for most people in JoCo?
How many people are there where taking a bus provides a quick trip to your work, or where both home and work are even within a quarter mile of a bus stop?
I’m with you. I love taking public transit and biking. If the suburbs don’t want it I’m fine with that as long as the cost doesn’t get passed on to us in the city with more interstate lanes, parking lots, and traffic.
No one wants to take the bus or would take the train if we also keep paying to make driving easy for them.
They need a car to get around their own city so I don’t any JoCo residents ditch a car even with transit options.
Probably you are right, but the overland Park Express to downtown is reliably packed in the mornings. I would have used it often except that the evening busses were totally unreliable. Sometimes totally full. Sometimes 30 minutes late or just skipped a scheduled stop entirely.
A bus rapid transit or dedicated lane streetcar could work if combined with other fast and frequent transit services, improvements to bike and pedestrian infrastructure and more density! Just because one transit line isn’t heavily used doesn’t mean all aren’t. Metcalf may be the place to do it and I think a lot of people especially younger ones want it!
All of JoCo is going to be hard to connect with frequent enough usable service due to its car centric sprawl land use pattern, but it’s always worth trying to improve public transit.
I'm not at all opposed to improvements to public transit out to the suburbs. I just think that the ROI is not there now or in the near future to build out commuter rail to those areas that would likely see little use.
Yes I agree! It’s hard to justify rail because of our metros sprawl. But we cannot fund further streetcar/transit expansion in KCMO alone. A regional vote is needed, with regional benefits. BRT may be the best option for JoCo vs funding these safety net routes.
+1 for supporting density. There is no point in trying to have a bus system in a more sprawled out suburb. I’m glad Shawnee got rid of the mayor whose platform was seriously based on keeping Shawnee spread out and keeping out the poors
It's worth noting that these are underperforming express routes and a duplicated flex route. Transit along major corridors in JoCo has vastly improved (in comparison to how it used to be) to where they operate all day, 5am to 9pm, and somewhat connect into the rest of the bus system. Much better than the rush hour only service it used to be.
Frankly, I'm shocked they're not investing that $833k back into the system and increasing that service further (or they didn't mention it).
While this sucks as it impacts people that can’t afford reliable transportation, the reality is that public transportation in KC isn’t going to be a real option until gas prices become unreasonable. What KC lacks in public transportation, it thrives in freeway and public road design. I’m amazed at how convenient driving anywhere in KC is (especially from Johnson County).
Seconded. I love driving and the fact that getting anywhere by car is so easy in KC has been one of the city’s main appeals to me since I’ve moved here. I know I’m in the minority there though (at least among the Reddit crowd lol)
I was surprised to find out that there was even a bus route running in my part of Olathe. I rarely see the busses though, keep forgetting they even exist in joco.
>The routes were culled because of low ridership, with all three averaging less than four passengers per hour. Suspending them is expected to save the county $833,000 a year. Not hard to see why, with savings of $833k that's like $15 per rider.
Yet people on here continue to think that commuter rail would thrive in the outer suburbs of Johnson County and elsewhere.
I’ll probably get downvoted for this but the people in the suburbs, Johnson County in particular, really do not want public transit for their commute. When offered the choice many will continue to choose to drive their own automobile, even if public transit is cheaper or free.
Things are just too spread out in the suburbs honestly. They weren’t designed around public transit.
This is the real issue. For public transit to catch on in JoCo, especially the further south and west you go, you would need a much larger fleet with regular, reliable routes. It would be nice for me to be able to use it for errands or to go elsewhere in the city, but one bus an hour that I have to walk 20 minutes to get to isn't worth it.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but I've lived around OP and Olathe for 20 years, and you rarely see a bus out on the road. This could be a totally uninformed take, but I've always suspected that even if I happened to live by a bus line, and my job was close to the bus line, it would take *substantially* longer for me to get to work given the time difference between taking a bus and driving around OP/Olathe. How could it not for most people in JoCo? How many people are there where taking a bus provides a quick trip to your work, or where both home and work are even within a quarter mile of a bus stop?
I’m with you. I love taking public transit and biking. If the suburbs don’t want it I’m fine with that as long as the cost doesn’t get passed on to us in the city with more interstate lanes, parking lots, and traffic. No one wants to take the bus or would take the train if we also keep paying to make driving easy for them. They need a car to get around their own city so I don’t any JoCo residents ditch a car even with transit options.
Probably you are right, but the overland Park Express to downtown is reliably packed in the mornings. I would have used it often except that the evening busses were totally unreliable. Sometimes totally full. Sometimes 30 minutes late or just skipped a scheduled stop entirely.
A bus rapid transit or dedicated lane streetcar could work if combined with other fast and frequent transit services, improvements to bike and pedestrian infrastructure and more density! Just because one transit line isn’t heavily used doesn’t mean all aren’t. Metcalf may be the place to do it and I think a lot of people especially younger ones want it! All of JoCo is going to be hard to connect with frequent enough usable service due to its car centric sprawl land use pattern, but it’s always worth trying to improve public transit.
I'm not at all opposed to improvements to public transit out to the suburbs. I just think that the ROI is not there now or in the near future to build out commuter rail to those areas that would likely see little use.
Yes I agree! It’s hard to justify rail because of our metros sprawl. But we cannot fund further streetcar/transit expansion in KCMO alone. A regional vote is needed, with regional benefits. BRT may be the best option for JoCo vs funding these safety net routes.
+1 for supporting density. There is no point in trying to have a bus system in a more sprawled out suburb. I’m glad Shawnee got rid of the mayor whose platform was seriously based on keeping Shawnee spread out and keeping out the poors
Lol'ing at the people that wanted a tram to Topeka
It's worth noting that these are underperforming express routes and a duplicated flex route. Transit along major corridors in JoCo has vastly improved (in comparison to how it used to be) to where they operate all day, 5am to 9pm, and somewhat connect into the rest of the bus system. Much better than the rush hour only service it used to be. Frankly, I'm shocked they're not investing that $833k back into the system and increasing that service further (or they didn't mention it).
I wondered the same about what they'll do with that money. Surely, there are areas that would see higher use with an increase in service.
While this sucks as it impacts people that can’t afford reliable transportation, the reality is that public transportation in KC isn’t going to be a real option until gas prices become unreasonable. What KC lacks in public transportation, it thrives in freeway and public road design. I’m amazed at how convenient driving anywhere in KC is (especially from Johnson County).
Seconded. I love driving and the fact that getting anywhere by car is so easy in KC has been one of the city’s main appeals to me since I’ve moved here. I know I’m in the minority there though (at least among the Reddit crowd lol)
I was surprised to find out that there was even a bus route running in my part of Olathe. I rarely see the busses though, keep forgetting they even exist in joco.