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Mar
31
Independence still struggling with transit funding
March 31, 2008 |
The City of Independence is stuck in a perpetual crisis of bus funding. Unlike KCMO with its transit sales tax, Independence has no dedicated source of money to pay for its bus system. Instead, it is continually struggling to budget money out of the general fund. Last year Independence chose to cut service instead of increase funding, and this year looks to be a repeat of last.
It’s a story that is repeated annually in cities like Blue Springs, Liberty, and Lee’s Summit. Perhaps Mayor Funkhouser ought to give up on Johnson County and instead of focus on some of the Missouri suburbs where there is already and interest and need in public transportation solutions.
Comments
6 Comments so far
1/2-cent regional transit tax in jackson, platte, clay, and wyandotte counties this november and a plan to implement the missouri and wyco parts of smartmoves.
Wouldn’t buses or rail lines between K.C. and places like Lee’s Summit and Blue Springs validate the suburban sprawl model of development? Perhaps we should focus on transit for short commutes. With the looming sewer bill and stricter air quality standards (we were in violation of the looser standards already), maybe a small-scale solution, focusing on “old K.C.” (city limits before the 1960s) is our only way to keep a competitive advantage.
I agree with Craig. To hell with the burbs. Reward the people who actually support the urban core, and not the suburbanites who are determined to suck the life out of it.
KCMO might get some sympathy if they were not so hypocritical about transit. Their light rail plan is to connect downtown to the Plaza while at the same time people on the east side struggle to move around the city. When you don’t even try to solve your own transit problem why would anyone in the suburbs think you would solve theirs? How many people without any private transportation live along Main Street - damn few, if any.
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Construction costs for a 6 mile light rail line will be over half a billion dollars (operation costs are extra). An ultra-modern BRT bus can be bought for around $200,000. In other words, for the cost of one mile of light rail line, you can buy 250 of these new buses. For a 6 mile line that means you could buy 1,500 buses. Will someone explain this insane desire to spend an obscene amount of money for light rail to voters who are facing $100 per month increases in water/sewer bills? I haven’t found anyone who can explain it.
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KCMO must think that light rail will make them a first class city - wrong. You can’t be a first class city with a last class school system that spends more money per pupil than any system in the area while less than half their students even graduate. You can’t be a first class city when you give millions to billionaire sports team owners at the same time your bond rating is headed into the tank. And lastly, you sure can’t be a first class city when you want to put half a billion dollars into transit along Main while the people on Troost are walking to the hospital.
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drama queen.
I live half a mile West of Main, off 39th street. There are PLENTY of people in this neighborhood who don’t have private transportation. BRT is supposedly better than a regular bus, yet the KCATA seems to not be able to keep the MAX running on schedule. Most people feel much more comfortable with rail transit because, once you’ve ridden it, you know where it goes and since it’s on tracks it cannot deviate from the route. It’s the permanence of rail that gives it its biggest advantage. That and the fact that the Metro doesn’t have the brains to put the right drivers on MAX who realize that staying on time has to be priority #1. Priority #2 should be to have drivers not carry on conversations with passengers. This is not only dangerous, but it makes them drive slower and those buses are ALWAYS late.