transportation

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.

Kansas City and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority finalized a contract today, after months of fraught negotiations. The city’s bus service will continue without any cuts, but fares will be reinstated.

Much of south Kansas City, Missouri, and its neighborhoods north of the Missouri River are transit deserts. City council members who represent those areas are focused on improving transit. But without more regional funding, it’ll be a struggle just to keep the few bus lines that already exist.

Bridgette Williams, who represents Wyandotte County on the KCATA Board of Commissioners, remains hopeful that a deal will be made soon with Kansas City, Missouri. The transit agency needs a contract soon to secure funding and prevent bus service cuts.

Kansas City and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority haven’t been able to agree on a contract since May. Unless they agree on one soon, the city’s bus service could be at risk.

A three-day National Transportation Safety Board hearing about the collision of a flight from Wichita, Kan., and a U.S. Army helicopter dug into problems with altimeters, chopper routes and busy airspace.

The Kansas City transit agency has installed narrow "leaning benches" at busy bus stops downtown and touted them as an accessible amenity. But riders and experts disagree and say they’re made to make people uncomfortable.

The January midair collision of an Army helicopter with a flight from Wichita, which killed 67 people, is the topic of a three-day investigative hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board.

IRIS workers say they were misled about pay and aren't being treated fairly by their employer zTrip. Drivers demanded the right to unionize last year.

Final preparations are underway for the KC Streetcar's Main Street extension grand opening on Oct. 24. And the riverfront extension is expected to launch in early 2026.

Kansas City's streetcar has been under construction for years, frustrating some business owners across midtown. The 3.5-mile extension between Union Station and UMKC will begin service on Friday, Oct. 24.

In recent years, most Kansas City suburbs have cut transportation funding, which means fewer and slower buses. Local officials are racing to fix that. Plus: High school graduation rates in Kansas are higher than ever. But some people worry that the growth of credit recovery programs could be lowering standards for students.