(Mostly) Private Mass Transit
A trolley line serving the Kansas City Strip recently opened and is slowly building a clientele in the area by providing easy transportation to bar patrons on weekend nights. The Kansas City Star reports:
While ridership has fluctuated wildly depending on the weather, it has ticked up most weekends since June (except for the slow July 4 weekend), reaching more than 800 people on July 30 and 31.
That’s not yet close to the system’s capacity of 1,200 per night.
“You don’t change people’s patterns immediately,” [chief executive of the Kansas City Transportation Group Bill] George said. “Let’s face it, this is not a mass transit town.”
But he said ridership is where he hoped it would be at this point.
Most remarkable of all is that this trolley line receives very little government funding:
KC Strip received $100,000 in tourism tax dollars through the Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund.
The City Council also approved $295,000 in convention/tourism taxes. Of that, $95,000 was a grant and the rest a secured loan, to be paid back over four years.
These are tiny subsidies compared to the $25 million in federal funding that the Loop Trolley in Saint Louis is set to receive. The KC Strip trolley service should prove to be a fairly good market test for trolleys in Missouri’s cities. If it prospers, it will show that such mass transit options do not require lavish public subsidies to survive. However, if it fails to make money, it’s a good indication that people are not terribly interested in riding a trolley system, so we should save our public dollars for more pressing needs.
“However, if it fails to make money, it’s a good indication that people are not terribly interested in riding a trolley system, so we should save our public dollars for more pressing needs.”
I think that we should apply the same criteria when assessing the building of new roads.
Comment by Maria — August 10, 2010 @ 3:16 p.m.
I agree.
Comment by John Payne — August 10, 2010 @ 3:24 p.m.
Its a trolley for drunk people going home from the bars. I don’t see how you can really use it as a test case at all to be extrapolated for more essential mass transit used by people needing to get to work, home, groceries, etc.
Comment by Max — August 11, 2010 @ 10:46 a.m.
I don’t think anyone is arguing that the Loop Trolley would provide essential mass transit. I think it is also meant to cater to tourists and people hitting the Loop restaurants and bars.
Comment by John Payne — August 11, 2010 @ 12:30 p.m.
The numbers you quote do not seem right. Laying trolley track would cost substantially more, as would putting in place the overhead wires. Then add the purchase of steetcars. Are you sure this “trolley” is not an existing bus from the bus company? I know it is not fair to ask conservatives to check their facts before they take off on one of their favorite targets, but in this case I think you should
Comment by dempster holland — August 23, 2010 @ 9:22 p.m.
1) I am not a conservative. I consider myself to be a somewhat left wing libertarian (left wing in the sense that, in general, I have more of a problem with the things the right likes to waste money on than the things the left likes to waste money on).
2. As you note, I quoted the numbers. If you think they are wrong, take it up with the KC Star.
3. That money is not the total cost–it’s the money the company received from the city. KC Strip, a private company, paid the rest, which is why it’s worth mentioning.
Comment by John Payne — August 23, 2010 @ 11:09 p.m.