Crazy Train

No, MAX is not light rail. But it's not the 56 local, either. "The message got out that it is something different," Jarrold says.

The millionth MAX rider boarded a bus in July. More important, last November's survey indicated that 27 percent of MAX passengers were new transit riders. "We think that's phenomenal," Jarrold says.

Planning has begun on a MAX line for Troost, with service to start in 2009. A third MAX line (across the river, say) would need a new source of funding. "We can only go so far without Smart Moves," Jarrold says.

Singleton criticized MAX when the transit authority was putting the system together. He wanted riders to be able to pay for fares in advance to make commutes less like traditional bus travel. But after using the MAX on a day he had jury duty, he says he was able to look past the shortcomings and enjoy the ride. Klinkenberg is generally impressed, though he'd like to see the MAX take a less labyrinthine route in downtown. "At that point, it becomes another bus circulator," he says.

Jarrold, too, would like to change the downtown route. But overall, he's pleased with what he sees. At the Plaza stop with the rusting bolt, he boards a northbound bus. The MAX is nearly full, though it's 4 p.m. and most traffic on Main is traveling in the opposite direction. "We got a load going here!" Jarrold says, taking in all the faces.

Of course, for all its nifty features, the MAX is still a bus. As the bus ascends the hill in front of the old H&R Block headquarters, rough pavement jars riders the same way it jars riders of conventional buses. The GPS system also hasn't cured drivers from rolling their eyes at passengers who don't ask for transfer slips at the right time. Increasing choice ridership is an important reason for the MAX's existence, but on the trip with Jarrold, fast-food uniforms outnumber neckties.

Still, the MAX has made the case to one important constituent that bus rapid transit is something different. Highwoods Properties allowed a shelter to be built on the west side of J.C. Nichols Parkway.

"Prior to MAX," Jarrold says, "there were no bus shelters in the Plaza."

Ben Silk watches a westbound Union Pacific freight train rumble under the new pedestrian bridge that connects Union Station with the Freight House District. Its caboose is still in sight when a BNSF train hauling shipping containers appears, chugging along a parallel track. "I think a lot of people don't appreciate how much rail traffic goes through Kansas City," Silk says.

It's 10:25 a.m. on a recent Saturday. His white hair pulled into a ponytail, Silk stands on the bridge with his wife, Gina. They decided to watch the trains after a meal at the Harvey House, the diner in Union Station. The Silks are familiar with the rhythms of the railroad. The BNSF track skirts Roeland Park, where they live. Horns wail at all hours.

Trains move constantly through Kansas City, yet nobody uses them to get to work. Confronted with the high cost of new rail construction, planners are looking at the people-moving potential of existing train tracks.

The Smart Moves plan sketches the possibility of commuter trains running on the tracks that follow interstates 35 and 70. Commuter trains would give suburbanites the opportunity to get out of their cars. A 1998 study of I-35 and U.S. Highway 69 concluded that commuter rail was the most effective way to alleviate traffic congestion.

In the 1990s, Johnson County officials estimated that it would cost about $30 million to build a temporary I-35 commuter rail. The county was hoping to tap into the money that the federal government spends on demonstration projects. But after a proposal was submitted, passenger rail services became ineligible for such funding.

A 2005 estimate put the cost of developing a permanent I-35 commuter line at $200 million. "The longer we've been exploring it, the more those costs have increased," says Chuck Ferguson, the assistant deputy director of Johnson County Transit. Officials are trying to determine if bus rapid transit can accomplish the same goals for less money, Ferguson says.

In addition to cost, commuter rail faces another obstacle: crowded train tracks. Only Chicago handles more rail freight than Kansas City.

Rail traffic is less of a concern on the Missouri side. Kansas City Southern owns the track along the I-70 corridor, and company officials have appeared willing to work with transportation planners. Warren Erdman, a KC Southern vice president, is active in civic causes and chaired a previous light-rail campaign.

Though commuter rail has had trouble getting past the study stage, one city has begun to incorporate the concept into its plans. Working with the Mid-America Regional Council and KC Southern, planners in Blue Springs picked out a site near the city's historic district for a future rail station. Assistant City Administrator Todd Pelham says the station could serve as an icon for Blue Springs. "We want to embrace it, use it as a marketing tool and really build our future planning around this transportation hub," he says.