Weighing in on light rail

This region has so little density, so much uncontrolled sprawl and so many different metropolitan jurisdictions that light rail is never going to have the capacity to serve this community in any kind of useful, comprehensive way. It would be an impractical, Disney World tourist attraction.

We’ll all spend jillions of taxpayer dollars on it, and only a few will benefit. After the project is done, a big tornado (seen any of those lately?) or flood will probably wipe out a few strategic links and render the whole thing useless for months, if not years.

Meanwhile, the buses will still be running, serving people everywhere who need them, but not as well as they would if the funds for light rail had been invested in a large fleet of new, clean, alternative-fuel buses, great bus stops with services and products and in a much wider range of locations all across the Kansas City area.

I haven’t seen bike trails put in place where they are needed, either.

Oh well, let’s get out the gold shovels.

Katie Grotegut
Plattsburg, Mo.

I live in the Northland and would love to see a light rail starter line from the airport to Grandview. If you only had a north-south route, then the bus lines could run all of the east-west lines to match up with the rail.

With gas prices soaring, a better public transportation system is important. I have a disabled son who lives north of 152 Highway and North Oak. The closest bus service for him is about two miles away. He could really benefit from more services. I am sure there are many more like him.

If we are going to spend money on a light rail system, let’s make it work for all of us.

C. J. Davis
Kansas City

Is it time for us to stop referring to the current plan as “light rail?” Only about 10 percent of the current plan is light rail.

Bob Spence
Jackson County Legislature, 6th District
Lee’s Summit

Comments

[devin]

Almost every other airport in the developed world is served by a rail-line, so I fail to see how it could be that bad of an idea. I've used rail at airports all over the world, and see lots of other people doing it to, so I fail to see the problem. Maybe for people who don't travel much and need two or more over-sized bags for a three-day weekend it's not practical, but for regular travelers who pack well and are used to doing without drive-up gates, rail makes perfect sense.

That said, I just saw by far the most practical suggestion for rail in, of all places, The Pitch:
http://www.pitch.com/2008-05-29/news/while-the-mayor-and-the-ata-bicker-over-light-rail-plans-here-s-one-that-makes-sense/

The general gist of it is to use the existing rail lines that already go from Union Station to Independence, Blue Springs, Lee's Summit, Raytown, and Grandview. KC Southern, who owns at least one of the lines necessary for this plan, is eager to do something along these lines. And it would be the most politically viable since it would require only one county's approval. If it works out, then other counties in the region would be more willing to be included.

BTW, I frequently hear about how only about 200 people currently use the bus service from Blue Springs. After house-sitting for my mom in Blue Springs this winter, I found out why. That's all the buses will carry. Blue Springs doesn't want bus service so they only approved 3 runs/day. Every single bus I've ever been on to/from Blue Springs is standing-room only as a result. Blue Springs would almost certainly support rail because they're finally becoming interested in reviving their Main St, and one of the biggest blights on Main St is the abandoned train terminal at one end. And with added capacity (particularly when that capacity is on a rail-car that doesn't have to compete with I-70 traffic and would therefore be faster), you would see tremendous growth in ridership. I don't know about the other suburbs mentioned, but I do know this plan would make sense for Blue Springs.

[T. Hanson]

Ms. Grotegut,

Your basic feelings is because there is a chance of a natural disaster we should never change? Mmm.. I am not too much in favor of a light rail, but even both sides of the political fence says that something has to be done (more buses up north, better routes, dedicated car pool lanes, or just a non-light rail system).

Now for Davis,
Next time you go to KCI to take a flight out or pick someone up do they carry a lot of bags? Even if you had a standard suitcase that could hold week and a half of clothes or 2 sets of clothes for one week that is still maybe 2 bags that you would have to negotiate on a rail car/rail platform. I don't even see people trying to handle that at Regan International (which does have a subway stop there). KCI to Downtown or even northtowne light rail would not be practical. Funks plan made some sense on that part.

Now for Spence,
It will be called light rail b/c even though 10% is just that, it makes up nearly 80% of the cost.