18 Comments so far

1. Jason on July 22, 2005 2:34 pm

   hmmm… more empty buses to cruise the streets. Why don’t we have a bus system that covers the whole metro instead of just KC? I want to take a bus from Waldo to oh say Oak Park Mall. Our fractured public transportation system makes this unpossible.

2. ajh on July 22, 2005 3:14 pm

   Hmmm…you can take a bus to Oak Park Mall. It will take an hour and half, but it can be done. Hmmm…maybe instead of taking the cynical attitude about it before its even debuted you could give it a chance. It’s a step in the right direction. Hmmm…maybe if we could get some regional cooperation out of JOCO it would be easier to get to Oak Park Mall on a bus. Buses would be far more empty in JOCO anyway and the place is completely sprawled.

3. BlogKC on July 22, 2005 3:34 pm

   Joco pulled out of the ATA and started their own JO bus service. As is often the case with that county, they chose not to participate in a regional system and did their own thing.

   KCMO is the only city with a dedicated transit sales tax, so that is why most of the bus service is locted in KCMO. If the rest suburbs want better bus service they’ll have to pay for it one way or another.

4. cameron on July 22, 2005 4:31 pm

   As a regular patron of the metro, I have to say that it gets a bad rap. First of all, a lot more people use the bus system then you would think, and the service is not bad. There have been a few instances in which I have had to wait a few minutes for a late bus, but on the whole, the service is on time and good. I’m really excited about the new max service, particularly since I am about to be moving out to Waldo, and will be using the service to get to midtown every day. Yeah, it’d be nice if we had a regional mass transit system, but like blogkc said, if joco doesnt want to participate, thats no reason for kc to give up its own effort. I can’t wait to see how this service works out.

5. Hippstar on July 22, 2005 10:27 pm

   KCMO should be glad JoCo doesn’t want to drain KCMO’s resources. Seriously, how many Overland Park residents are going to take a bus downtown ?

6. cameron on July 22, 2005 10:40 pm

   hehe. touche. so then, why does joco bother with the jo? what the hell does the jo do? joco might like to bus in some cheap labor, that’s all i can think of, at the moment.

7. Jim on July 23, 2005 5:27 am

   I’m a little new to KC, but I’m guessing MAX is part of a ramp up of services due to all that’s going on downtown. Don’t know just how many people commuting to and from work will use it, could be plenty, but when I first read the story, I envisioned nights where busloads of partiers from as yet built downtown venues headed over to Westport for more fun and frolic. Of course once there they’ll find out they can’t wander the streets with a drink in hand like they’ll be able to do downtown, but that’s life I guess.

8. chris on July 23, 2005 9:41 am

   i’m going to be taking this to work starting monday. i lucked out a bit because i live a few blocks from the main/linwood stop and i work by the city market and my gym is downtown.

   from the political murmurs i heard about this, the max is our consolation prize for not getting a light rail system. but it’s not too shabby since this bus will be running the same route at roughy the same intervals… it just doesn’t run on rails and we get to use it starting tomorrow rather than an extra 3 years from now.

   yeah, it’s not perfect and not everyone is lucky enough to live and work a few blocks from the main street corridor, but hey, at least it’s SOMETHING. if people support it and the demand is high enough, perhaps we can get MORE max’ish routes in the future.

   and all this JOCO business. first off, johnson county was not planned out with mass transit in mind. you don’t build two-car-garage houses 1000 feet apart to create a walkable community. most of my joco friends have to walk a mile just to get out of their friggin apartment complexes. a viable bus system in johnson county would amount to 500 busses with 2 people on each.

   imho, if you choose to live in the suburbs, then you should expect to give up the trappings of urban life like public transit.

9. mwd on July 23, 2005 4:32 pm

   Let’s keep in mind that this is just a starter line. Yes it leaves a lot to be desired, but you can’t build 15 rail lines over night. If people use this first MAX line, then the ATA will build more.

   Check out Smart Moves. It’s a plan for a real regional transit system with busses, multiple MAX lines, and possbily even light rail and/or commuter rail some day. People are already working a new law for it in Jeff City and Topeka, and in the next year or two we could have a metro-wide vote on regional transit funding.

   http://www.marc.org/kcsmartmoves/

10. NoNewsMan on July 23, 2005 10:40 pm

    I always wondered why those tracks that run south of the Truman Sports Complex were not used for a light rail system running to downtown.

    Those huge empty stadium lots could be used for commuter park & ride during the week.

    More lack of forward-thinking from our tax-imcrememnt-financing pollys.

11. Hippstar on July 24, 2005 7:05 pm

    I agree with Chris. The only reason JoCo bothers with “The Jo” or whatever it’s called is because JoCo government has a lot of money and wants to spend it. It’s the same reason they want to build an arena nobody asked for.

    I think it’s better for KCMO to not have to worry about running buses way the hell out to Olathe for people who would rather die than ride a bus (seriously, there are lots of those people out here). Plus, it’s not like a bus is going to get you to downtown any quicker than a car since 35 is the only way to get there.

    I looked into taking the bus from 119th & Quivira to the Plaza, and it was seriously going to take about an hour and a half. I’m not complaining; I think it’s good that KCMO can build up a good public transpo system without having to worry about JoCo.

12. tony on July 25, 2005 6:58 am

    Finally, just to try and prove I’m not a completely dumbass ogre, in a capitalist society that is centered on competition, private ownership and commerce I find that there is little overall consensus (or large scale success) regarding any “public” project that might benefit the overall citizenry but does not conform to the aforementioned core values of the culture. Sure, there is a minimum standard of living that we would “like” to provide everyone in this country BUT even the extent those programs (i.e. nationalized healthcare, welfare, and public education) are fiercely contested. Furthermore, for those that might suggest that public and private interests can harmoniously co-exist . . . all you have to do is consider the plight of so many economically disadvantaged metro riders who rode for years on end (before downtown redevelopment) when few people had a concern for public transit efficiency. Only now that the new gentry have set upon downtown does the city search for a way improve crosstown bus lines. To that end, this project will ultimately fail because those same members of new gentry to whom the City is so eager to cater, already have their own transportation. Put simply, the first guy was absolutely correct when he stated: “more empty buses to cruise the streets.”

13. Greg Beck on July 25, 2005 8:28 am

    I wrote about the MAX transit system weeks ago, here what concerned me about it minus the bad language since I know certain words upsets you folks.

    It might just be my bad eyesight or is the new “MAX” transit system that’s set to start later this month in town running the Main Street corridor not looking quite right? I’m gonna take a closer look but the bigass stations that were built for it seem to take up a whole lot of sidewalk especially here in Midtown. I’m just saying and all, but I’d hate to be the cat in a wheelchair or some such device trying to negotiate past one of those station. Someone else wanna check and tell me what they think?

14. Tim on July 25, 2005 11:10 am

    I rode it yesterday, and it just glides. Like riding a train, but not rickety. It’s like you’re floating on air. BTW, it was packed, including lots of people you don’t often see on a bus in KC: visitors with shopping bags who had been to the plaza and staying at Crown Center, etc. It’s gonna change everything.

15. Bryan on July 25, 2005 12:22 pm

    I rode it yesterday and thought it was great. I never used the metro before, but MAX looked attractive and simple and so I gave it a try. It really impressed me. I live a very short walk from one of the stations and will be using it on a weekly basis.

    And as Tim pointed out, the buses were packed.

16. worst weather ever on July 25, 2005 1:39 pm

    my wife plans on taking it downtown for work now. the old system woudl have taken 35-40min, this one will take 20-25. im all for imporviing the public transppot system no matter what the motivation

17. NoNewsMan on July 26, 2005 8:51 am

    I too am all for improving public transport. Won’t be long until we’ll all be longing for even these days of $2.15-30 per-gallon petro.

    It might be a good idea if this new Paseo/I-35 bridge had some sort of dedicated transit system lanes built in to it.

18. Corey on July 26, 2005 5:44 pm

    Is the MAX service free this week? I thought I heard that it was earlier on the news.