Transit in Denver vs. KC
All transit operators in the Kansas City area combined carry about 45,000 passengers per day.
In Denver it is 265,000 per day.
So what's up? Is the Denver metro area six times bigger?
Not exactly. The Denver metro area is 2.2 million while KC is 1.8 million.
Maybe they are just six times smarter?
posted by Brent Hugh @ 10:25 AM
2 Comments:
Not that many riders right now--Denver's transit agency just went on strike today.
They have a regional sales tax for transit there. And they had a decent bus system before they ever got light rail. (Something many Kansas Citians don't understand. Light rail is not the magic end-all be-all.)
I think there are a few important differences between Denver and KC that could account some of the difference in transit usage...
First, the mountains provide some natural limit to how far Denver can sprawl, unlike KC's unlimited sprawl.
Second, Denver's geography makes smog more common than in KC, providing a very tangible consequence to automobile use.
Third, the roads are much more congested in Denver than KC. Imagine if every highway here was as bad as I-70 or I-435, and all day long not just at rush hour. Denver doesn't have the abundance of highways that we do. They are only just now finishing a suburban loop highway.
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