Fare is fair
In November 2019, when the idea of eliminating fares for Kansas City Area Transportation Authority bus rides was first discussed, I wrote a letter to the editor on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind’s Kansas City chapter expressing that regardless of what the City Council chose to do, our most important concern was the level of service.
Mayor Quinton Lucas attended our chapter meeting in January 2020 and assured us that fares constituted only about 7% or 8% of the KCATA budget and that the city would find the money. In July 2023, we learned that Gladstone could no longer contract with the KCATA, and we started wondering how much longer it would be before the fare was brought back. We also became anxious about whether bus service in the region would be cut back, which would impair access to housing, employment, medical care and more.
Although we are not calling for the fare to be brought back, our preoccupation continues to be the level of service, and if the fare has to be brought back to sustain the current level of service or improve it, then we do not oppose this idea. (Jan. 19, 1A, “Free bus rides in Kansas City need more dollars to continue”)