On Episode 8 of Coastless, Melissa and Boyce share some news. Melissa then talks about her recent cross country road trip to Arizona with a brief stop along the way at Dorothy’s house in Liberal, Kansas. They then discuss some of their experiences with public transportation internationally.
Melissa then hands the Coastless hosting baton to Amanda Graor, a local transit innovation specialist, who fills in as guest host on this week’s pod. Amanda and Boyce welcome Tom Gerend, the executive director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority.
Gerend talks about how he came into his position of working with the streetcar, how the streetcar got started, and how he hopes the services it provides will continue to grow in the coming years.
Boyce asks Gerend to explain the decision to make the streetcar free for all riders. Amanda asks about what kind of economic development they have seen on the rail, as well as the impact it has had on those visiting Kansas City.
Gerend talks about the expansion to both UMKC and the Berkley Riverfront and why the expansions are important for Kansas City. Finally, Boyce puts some urban legends to rest by asking about the infamous “streetcar versus Mercedes with JoCo plates” incident.
You can follow Tom Gerend on Twitter at @tomgerend.
You can follow Amanda Graor at @angraor.
Our graphic is thanks to the fine folks at Mind + Matter.
Our music is Clap Guitar Rock 4 by AudioDragon licensed through Audiojungle.
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