Dee Iyer moved to Lenexa, Kansas, after graduating from college. She doesn’t have a car, so she relies on her electric bike or the bus to get around. But the two bus lines near Iyer, the 495 and 487, only run once an hour and have no service on the weekends.
When she wants to go into Kansas City for an appointment or to hang out with friends, Iyer has to either get a ride with friends or take the bus during its limited hours. A spontaneous trip isn’t an option.
Iyer is fed up with the status quo. She is one of the organizers launching Kansas City’s Bus Riders Union to try to change it.
“People only take the bus as a statement or out of necessity, and I really want to change that narrative. People who ride the bus do have power, and we want to bring that together and make our voices heard. We want to show that the buses can serve everyone, not just people who rely on them as a lifeline to get to work.”
The union began as part of Sunrise Movement KC’s Better Buses campaign. Sunrise launched the campaign in 2023, calling for fast, frequent bus service and more access to stops and amenities, like benches. The group was at the forefront of demanding that Kansas City provide more funding for bus service during the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority’s budget crisis last year, and fought against catastrophic service cuts.
“We always thought it should be a sustainable movement that continues beyond just our campaign,” Iyer said. “So we wanted to branch off the Kansas City Bus Riders Union from that and establish it as a group of bus riders and their allies that focus on having good bus service in the area.”
The union is similar to longstanding ones in Seattle and Los Angeles, and those closer to home, like in St. Louis. In all, there are more than 30 transit riders' unions in the United States.
The Bus Riders Union was born out of multiple town halls that Sunrise held to inform people of changes to the bus system and understand what people want from their transit system.
Iyer said the overall feedback was that people want higher frequency and reliability in the bus system, and that any service changes should be better communicated.
“As always, we welcome input and would enthusiastically encourage people to reach out to us and collaborate with us," said Cindy Baker, a spokesperson for the KCATA. "We’d love to talk about the idea, but we don’t know much about it."
Representatives for Mayor Quinton Lucas did not respond to a request for comment before the time of publication. KCUR will update this article with his response.
The union will launch Friday evening, beginning with a rally at 4 p.m. at 31st and Troost Park and Ride. The event will continue with a canvass at 5 p.m. to reach more bus riders and culminate with a community event at 6 p.m.
The first order of business for the union is to get Kansas City to increase funding for the KCATA in its proposed 2026-27 budget. The city is hosting three public budget hearings starting Monday to hear more about what residents want in the budget. On Saturday, the union will host a bus rider testimony workshop at 2 p.m. at PH Coffee.
Iyer said the union wants to put pressure on Lucas and the city council to increase funding for bus service to ensure that no more cuts are made this fiscal year. The union also supports a regional sales tax to provide more stable funding to the KCATA.
“It feels like year after year we go into the budget season in kind of a panic mode, because the budget that they propose is not going to serve everyone who relies on the buses,” Iyer said. “We're hoping that we can figure out a way to sustainably fund buses and have that be a priority in each budget season, and make people realize the importance of keeping service and even improving frequency.”
Funding for bus service in Kansas City’s proposed budget will remain the same this year due to flat sales tax projections. That means about $77.8 million for bus service through the KCATA, and about $1.8 million for the city’s rideshare service, IRIS.
Though the funding hasn’t decreased, it will mean less for the transportation authority. After accounting for inflation, that means the KCATA will get about $2 million less than last year.
Iyer said Kansas City’s budget is only the union’s first fight. They plan to tackle issues that affect riders all over the region — like Iyer herself, who rides Johnson County Transit in Leawood — as membership grows. In the meantime, she said the union wants its relationship with the KCATA and the city to be productive moving forward.
“We really think that the strength in numbers is going to help us show that we want buses to be a priority,” Iyer said. “We want the bus system to serve everyone, and make sure that we are hearing the voices of those who are the most underserved by the bus system.”
