Pay close attention to sensible parking rules on KC’s downtown streetcar line

Kansas City’s new streetcar is scheduled to roll up and down its two-mile line this week as testing continues for the system. As this happens, the large number of people who drive downtown need to pay attention to some pretty stern and sensible words of advice.

Be careful where you park.

On Monday, Kansas City Streetcar Authority officials reported that three vehicles were towed last week, and 14 tickets have been issued to people who parked illegally along the route. It runs from the River Market down Main Street to Union Station, and back.

Generally, that means the cars or trucks were parked outside the white line that runs along the route. As streetcar officials point out, “every portion of the vehicle, including the side mirrors, must be inside the painted white lines.”

The offenses aren’t cheap to clear up. Towing fees are $275, and the ticket is around $70.

Streetcar supporters have had plenty of push-back on other aspects of the project, especially the disruption it caused to businesses. However, the decision to allow on-street parking along the line was worked out with downtown neighborhood interests.

They wanted the parking to continue serving customers and tenants. In return, streetcar backers developed rules, and the City Council approved an ordinance on parking.

All of this is designed to make sure the streetcar can provide reliable service to passengers. The approach makes excellent sense. The streetcar will be judged, in large part, on whether it can keep to its schedule of regularly picking up and dropping off passengers.

After all, a streetcar can’t exactly veer off its fixed path to avoid a vehicle parked on the tracks.

However, it’s also likely that this new relationship between public transit and parked vehicles will take some getting used to.

The last thing the Streetcar Authority and city officials want to do is appear heavy-handed in carrying out the parking rules. That could create negative publicity for the system even before it begins carrying passengers in early 2016.

To their credit, streetcar boosters have placed hundreds of fliers on the windshields of vehicles in the past few months, telling motorists of the impending changes to parking rules. “Park inside the line” is the simple reminder. Fliers were distributed to businesses and property owners to share, too.

Of course, motorists may not have paid much attention to this information because — until a few days ago — no streetcar was roaming downtown.

But now that the testing is underway, Kansas Citians have a pretty clear choice: Follow the rules while parking along the streetcar route or take advantage of one of the thousands of off-street spaces nearby.

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Pay close attention to sensible parking rules on KC’s downtown streetcar line."