kcata

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.

Officials say if the current 0.375% sales tax is renewed, it will generate more than $400 million over the next decade for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

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's transit agency put an end to RideKCDC, the development nonprofit it used to give tax incentives to some controversial projects. Now, the transit agency will directly oversee transit-oriented development, which it says will make the process "better, stronger, faster."

Michael Graham, the former chief financial officer of Kansas City's transit agency, filed a lawsuit alleging that he was pushed out after sounding the alarm about the organization's finances.

Iris is an on-demand ride service app like Uber or Lyft. Scheduled to begin operating on March 15, it is designed to address long-standing dissatisfaction among Northland residents with limited public transit options.

The 2023 men’s and women’s Big 12 basketball championships are getting underway at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center and Municipal Auditorium, respectively. This week's tournament will bring plenty of great games, a lot of disruptions to downtown traffic patterns, and one Shaquille O’Neal.

Chicago-based Mac Properties was seeking tax incentives from the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority for a $100 million apartment and retail project in Midtown with no units designated as "affordable." City Council rejected a similar request last year.

KCATA's development arm aims to create walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods with easy access to public transit. But some Kansas City leaders are concerned about the agency's use of tax incentives — and lack of affordable housing requirements.

Construction on a northbound streetcar extension, from River Market to the Berkeley Riverfront, will begin next year. But there's still plenty of work left to do on the route to UMKC, with an expected open date in 2025.

Under a plan approved by RKCDC, the transportation authority's economic development arm, the Waldo74Broadway project would receive a 75% tax exemption for 20 years. Local residents say they're frustrated about why the plan includes no units set aside as affordable.