bus

After three years of free-to-ride public buses, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority is thinking about charging fares again. Plus: Large areas of Missouri and Kansas are without primary care doctors, but many hope that medical students just starting their careers will help remedy that.

Money collected from bus fares used to make up 7% to 12% of the agency's total revenues, and the agency hasn't found a long-term solution to continue with zero fare.

The three-eighths cent sales tax is one of the largest sources of local funding for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

Kansas City, Missouri, had several ballot questions to vote on — including a sales tax that could determine the future of the public bus system. Cities across Johnson and Wyandotte county also chose winners in local council, mayor, school board and other consequential races.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7! While Kansas City, Missouri, has no candidates on the ballot, voters will have several important questions to answer. In Johnson and Wyandotte counties, voters will have all kinds of local council, mayor, school board and other races to decide.

Kansas City voters will decide Tuesday on whether to renew a 3/8-cents sales tax that provides 30% of the KCATA's funding. If the tax is voted down, routes will be significantly cut and at least 100 workers will be let go.

Local leaders say this year’s sales tax vote could have “substantial and very serious” consequences for Kansas City's bus system.

In Missouri, just under 25% of its Head Start centers are within a walkable distance from a public transit spot — making the early childhood program less accessible to families without reliable transportation.

As Kansas City gears up for the 2026 World Cup, some residents are concerned that the metro’s public transit system can’t keep up with a rapidly growing city. KCATA CEO Frank White III speaks about how the transportation authority is preparing.

The KCATA says Kansas City, Missouri, residents will no longer subsidize the costs to run buses through the surrounding suburbs. That's meant a dramatic increase in costs to individual cities — pushing many municipalities like Gladstone and Liberty to cancel their bus service entirely.

The city’s new on-demand transit service, IRIS, will now serve riders across the entire metro — with the intention of filling in the gaps of existing bus routes. The expansion is happening at the same time that KCATA hikes the cost of providing bus service to surrounding municipalities, causing concerns about accessibility.

Kansas City was once home to a robust streetcar system. Then, the arrival of the car caused it, along with most other American cities, to plan cityscapes for automobiles. As Kansas City works on extending its solo streetcar line, one transit historian says it's time for cities like ours to give residents significantly more options.