public transit

Kansas City has been in the national news a lot lately, including one surprising place: stories about the New York City mayoral election. Many national news outlets, most of them conservative-leaning, have zeroed in on candidate Zohran Mamdani’s proposals for free bus fare and government-run grocery stores, and they’re using Kansas City as a negative example of both.

Kansas City ended free bus fares and saw a grocery store shutter. Both issues showed up in the New York City mayoral race, where conservative outlets used the city's policies to attack leading candidate Zohran Mamdani.

After years of construction, the KC Streetcar has more than doubled its length. The Main Street extension adds 3.5 miles of streetcar track and extends the route south from Union Station to 51st Street and Brookside Boulevard, near the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The traffic cones have all but left Main Street as the Streetcar Extension opens after more than three years of construction, but now drivers will face a new obstacle: transit-only lanes. Plus: Raising giant pumpkins is a labor of love for some Midwest growers, and the pumpkins keep getting bigger and bigger.

The new extension through Midtown and the Plaza area also brings transit-only lanes. Drivers can get fined or towed for driving and parking in the lanes, which are meant to help the streetcar move faster.

"Free buses" is one of the big ideas that helped Zohran Mamdani win the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. But in Kansas City, the bus system is going the opposite direction after years of free fares — mostly because of a lack of transit funding.

KC Streetcar hosted a preview ride Wednesday along the Main Street extension, ahead of its opening on Friday, Oct. 24. Here’s what the Union Station to University of Missouri-Kansas City loop was like.

RideKC is discontinuing the popular Main Max bus line to avoid duplicating service with the KC Streetcar’s Main Street extension. A new route will take riders further south to 75th Street, while other bus lines undergo changes to connect riders to streetcar stops.

A new poll from the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance found that voters in four counties across the metro would support a regional sales tax dedicated to bus service, even as soon as next year.

The streetcar extension will take passengers from the River Market to the Plaza. Multiple days of celebrations are planned along the route. The extension also means changes along Main Street, like transit-only lanes.

Kansas City Area Transportation Authority CEO Frank White III believes that funding for the agency is "more complicated than it ought to be." His vision for the KCATA is to "try to go regional" with its funding structure, in order to better serve the entire metro.

Kansas City and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority finalized a contract last week after months of fraught negotiations, avoiding a possible shutdown of bus service. But the contract brings back fares for most riders.