View Single Post
Old 10-05-2012, 10:33 AM   #25
gblowfish gblowfish is offline
Be Kind To Your Pets
 
gblowfish's Avatar
 

Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Glorious Independence, MO
Casino cash: $17726178
VARSITY
Hey tourists: Good News! The new KC Street Car will be free...so this guy and his buddies will be able to ride for free, and they'll only punch you in the face if you piss them off for whatever reason, you know, like, your age, or the color of your skin for example....

I'm sure the Chamber of Commerce will have a nice PR piece out on this soon!

Story from KC Business Journal:
http://tinyurl.com/9nxq9bn

Rides on the streetcar line planned for downtown Kansas City will be free.

The Kansas City Streetcar Authority on Wednesday voted unanimously not to charge a fare for the 2-mile route, which would operate on Main Street between the River Market and Union Station.

Downtown voters are in the middle of a mail-in election to approve a slate of special property taxes and a 1-cent sales tax along the route to pay for the project.

Tom Trabon, the authority’s chairman, said the group’s primary concern is building interest in the service, currently expected to begin running in 2015.

“We think a fare will drive away ridership,” Trabon said. “We want to encourage people to ride this thing.”

He said the fare question is “open-ended” and could change depending on the streetcar’s financial performance. Trabon added that streetcar systems in other cities, such as Portland, Ore., have kept their service lines in the central city free and charged fares for extensions into surrounding neighborhoods, a model the authority could review in the future.

“For me, success is the most important thing, and success is ridership,” he said.

Planners had included estimates of as much as $529,000 in ridership fares in their projected $10.4 million annual operating and debt-service budget for the system.

But city staff members told the authority that their estimates also included between $250,000 and $300,000 in costs for ticket boxes at streetcar stops — where passengers could buy tickets on the honor system — and for employing “inspectors” to ride the streetcars and make sure passengers had paid their fares.
Posts: 40,810
gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.gblowfish is obviously part of the inner Circle.
    Reply With Quote