RideKC bus is a lifeline for many Kansas Citians. Now is no time to drop Zero Fare | Opinion

Now that Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and City Manager Brian Platt have introduced their $2.3 billion budget proposal for the 2024-25 fiscal year, the highest budget proposal in city history, it is in the public’s interest that the proposal be scrutinized to ensure the final product truly represents the best interests of our community. In the current version of the budget, Kansas City’s bus system once more lacks the priority it deserves, risking serious consequences for the overwhelmingly working-class riders who depend on it to access work, food, health care and more.

I ride the bus each morning to my social work position at a local hospital. I experience the inconvenience and frustration of late or entirely absent RideKC buses frequently, and I see the negative impact that our infrequent, unreliable bus system has on my poor clients’ ability to make appointments, access services and fulfill basic tasks every day. At the neighborhood bus stop, it is not unusual to encounter fellow riders who have waited far too long for a bus that, without prior warning, never comes.

I once encountered an unemployed neighbor who was left waiting for hours for the bus he planned to ride to a nearby temp agency. Fortunately, he was ultimately able to catch a ride with another rider with access to a car, but it is likely he would have been out of luck otherwise.

Rather than continue to neglect public transit, and leave folks unable to fully and easily participate in society, I believe now is the time for our city to make transformational investments which will together make Kansas City a safer, more climate-friendly and more affordable place.

For years, Kansas City’s failure to provide its people with frequent and reliable public transportation has been undeniable. Long wait times, unreliable service and a shortage of drivers have caused residents to lose faith in the system, and opt to drive cars whenever possible. Only around 2.2% of Kansas Citians regularly use public transportation according to one estimate, paling in comparison not only to such giants of American public transportation as New York (55.8%) or Chicago (28.3%) — whose significantly higher ridership comes as no surprise — but also to more modest Midwestern cities such as St. Louis (8.2%) and Milwaukee (7.2%).

Recently, a multiracial, cross-class group of young people with Sunrise Movement KC — many of whom are bus riders — made their voices heard during public testimony before the City Council, calling for $42 million of additional investment in Kansas City’s bus system to address a $26 million shortfall left by the expiration of COVID-19 relief money and increase frequency along seven key lines.

Kansas City Area Transportation Authority officials stated at City Hall this month that if the budget remains as proposed, service cuts will begin in early 2025, a scenario that would be catastrophic for the Black, brown, poor and working-class people who rely most on buses across Kansas City. It is my view that the full $42 million, if adopted by the city’s elected leaders, would represent a much-needed endorsement of the potential benefit a better bus system could bring to our people, and open the door to further crucial investments down the road.

Continuing evidence shows that when cities invest in quality public transportation options, more residents will use them. Besides reducing traffic and saving riders expenses that would otherwise go to things such as vehicle maintenance and fueling, good public transportation brings myriad benefits to communities, from improving the city’s air quality to reducing pedestrian deaths. And yet Kansas City leaders so often seem to lack the motivation to make significant changes. What is stopping them?

Lately, it seems the City Council and the KCATA are most interested in the question of whether to instate new bus fares, often by engaging in judgments based on racist and anti-poor stereotypes. No doubt, this discussion is important, and concerns for driver safety raised by the Amalgamated Transit Union and others must be addressed if the system is to function at all. But given that introducing new fares would raise only a modest sum and potentially reduce ridership by a third, it is difficult to see how this move could be worth it.

A recent study from the University of Missouri-Kansas City for the Urban League of Greater Kansas City showed that more than 80% of bus riders surveyed stated Zero Fare helped them more reliably access food, health care and employment. Would it not be incredibly short-sighted to decimate our public transit ridership given the many benefits higher ridership would ultimately bring us all? Should the goal of our transit policy not be to make our bus system one that people actually use?

I am cautiously optimistic Kansas City will soon answer these questions with a resounding yes. But so far, our proposed budget and local leaders’ responses have shown no signs that they intend to do so. That is why impacted folks are organizing with groups such as Sunrise Movement KC to hold our elected leaders accountable and demand the bus system we deserve.

Jack Niemuth is a leader with Sunrise Movement KC and a regular rider of KCATA RideKC buses.