Unfettered Letters

Cutting bus service to stadiums

Who turns away more than 18,000 customers? Why the ATA, of course. With the announcement that they are cutting the Chiefs and Royals express service (2/19, Local), that is exactly what is happening.

With a little effort, the routes could be reconfigured. Maybe try a rate increase to make it self-sufficient. There are ways to streamline the routes without doing away with them altogether. I proposed two years ago to the ATA that they have a park-and-ride at Union Station. They could eliminate the downtown Crown Center route and maybe combine the Plaza route. I thought this could be a plus for Union Station also, getting people there before and after the games. It would increase riders on the Max, as that route pretty well covers both areas and could funnel them into Union Station.

I got some answer about how they didn’t want to inconvenience any customers. I would say cutting everything is an inconvenience to everyone now.

Besides the growing downtown population, many hotel guests used the express service. What a great way to tell visitors how out of date Kansas City is when it comes to public transportation.

Conrad Knab
Kansas City

KC can’t afford Chastain’s plan

Open letter to Clay Chastain:

Mr. Chastain, if you and your wife want Kansas City to have light rail, I would like to inform you that the only way you are likely to accomplish it is for you to donate the full amount of cash needed to complete the plan you originally presented.

The residents of Kansas City are already faced with such a cash crunch that we cannot afford your plan.

Alice M. Jense
Kansas City

Still fighting for light rail

We are only as free as we are free to govern ourselves.

On Feb. 25 my wife will seek judicial support from the Missouri Court of Appeals for our core position. Giving a government the power to overplay its legislative hand and sweep away the results of an election it disagrees with contradicts every democratic principle this nation stands for.

In that election, 73,998 voters said yes to a citizen-led initiative that called for rebuilding the city, renewing Union Station and laying the cornerstone for a regional transit system around a 27-mile, centrally located, green-light rail spine from the Kansas City Zoo to KCI.

One year later, those 73,998 certified opinions in support of that vision were overruled by 10 opinions on the City Council.

The city lost something that day: a means to power itself into a new green era. The City Council lost something that day: the people’s trust and respect. The people lost something that day: their right to self-determination.

Many citizens probably feel the community has moved on and I should, too. But moving on from an injustice to avoid legal and political confrontation is not my style. That is cowardice.

Clay Chastain
Bedford, Va.

KC’s infrastructure should be priority

The federal government has been looking for projects that can be started quickly to provide jobs and improve the infrastructure quickly. The money will be available for a fast start.

Kansas City badly needs costly sewer repair and light rail that plans are surely ready on. Why do we not read in The Star that the city is now going to implement these projects and tell how it will help the city get through the present crisis?

Could it be that the council and mayor are to busy fighting to consider anything else?

Ted Gault
Gladstone

KCATA should eliminate bus fares

The KCATA seems to be at cross-purposes with itself. Every time ridership increases — when gas prices went up after Katrina and now during the recession — KCATA, rather than celebrating its success, socks it to its riders (1/6, Local, “Bus system budget proposal asks for 25-cent fare increase”).

I propose KCATA take a new approach — eliminate fares altogether. KCATA’s own literature from last year’s successful campaign to renew the bus tax says fares provide only 12 percent of KCATA’s funding.

I’d think that eliminating the printing of bus passes and transfers, not having to count and account for bus fares and forgoing raises in times when unemployment is high may well save enough to take care of that 12 percent and eliminate all those transfers discarded on the streets as well as people asking passersby for “bus fare.”

Our local government has, of late, been mighty kind to developers and others seeking a free ride at taxpayer expense. How about if we actually give those who really need one a free ride?

Larry Roth
Kansas City

Coordinate bus service between KC, JoCo

My wife has been a longtime bus rider to her job downtown. After reading “Transit growth becomes priority” (1/2, Local), I would like to make the following suggestion before $41 million is poured into expanded bus service for Johnson County: Let us try to coordinate services with the Kansas City Area Transit Authority.

For example, by adding an east-west route to Wornall Road in Kansas City, Johnson County riders should have an “all day” access and egress to and from downtown at a reasonable cost.

Kenneth A. McGee
Overland Park

Light rail route must go to airport

Kansas City made the right choice by voting no on light rail. Although there are positives to this idea, now is not the time to try it out. Billions of dollars would have been spent when we have a poor economy. It is important to consider the future, but it seems wise for Kansas City to wait.

Even though light rail would have benefited our transportation, it wouldn’t have benefited our economy. The next attempt for this plan should include a detailed route with the airport as a destination. Why waste billions of dollars on a rail that doesn’t even reach our airport?

Madilyn Roberts
Kansas City

Retrofit existing gas vehicles

There is one question that continues to perplex me regarding any transformation of the auto industry as we know it: What are we going to do with the existing fleet of automobiles currently functioning as America’s primary source of transportation?

Traditionally, consumers have viewed their used vehicles as down payments on a newer model, but if we switch to an alternative method of powering our cars, the value of our existing fleet will become somewhere around zero.

How will the average citizen afford the new generation of automobiles? And how do we deal with the old fleet in a market where recycling has become unprofitable?

It seems to me that we are missing the boat on the possibility of retrofitting our existing automobiles to extend their usefulness as more efficient, greener transportation.

David Haggard
Kansas City

Get rolling on light rail

What a shame the voters weren’t presented a good plan for light rail during the last election. The time is ripe to get federal funding with President-elect Obama’s plans to resuscitate the economy. Building the infrastructure, including mass transit, is one of the main parts of his plan. I hope the local “powers that be” are busy at work developing a regional plan that will be workable before this window of opportunity closes.

This time, the voters need to know the exact route the trains will take. The downtown hub for light rail has to be Union Station, not the River Market. The plan must be saleable to all parts of the metro area on the Missouri side of State Line.

We need a good plan, and we need it as soon as possible. We’ve wasted too much time already.

Larry Bilotta
Kansas City

KC needs transit hub

The article “Transport hub puts end to St. Louis’ ‘Am-shack’.” (11/23, Local) showed the advantage of a transportation hub for that community. While Kansas City’s effort for light rail has been sidetracked, studies continue that should include a more serious look at our need for a transit hub.

Past disagreements over the specific route for light rail in the vicinity of Union Station seem to be controversial. Our Union Station currently handles intercity rail service and will likely handle expanded service that may come about. Therefore, I hope that study committees will seriously include centralizing all our transportation ticketing and transfer exchange at Union Station. This should include local bus, light rail, inter-city bus and even possible air tickets as well as inter-city rail.

Fred Kramer
Kansas City