Kansas City Freebie Bus Rides Redux

An economic consideration of the Kansas City transit scheme that might or might not spark the broke-ass local economy but will CERTAINLY provide hobos more options for mobile shelter during the harsh winter months . . . Read more:

Should public buses be free? - Marketplace

In 2018, Americans took nearly 10 billion rides on public transportation, according to the American Public Transportation Association. In Kansas City, Missouri, transit officials have proposed making all public buses free for city residents. Proponents say money saved on bus fares would boost the local economy and make public transit more accessible.

Comments

  1. David Johnson @kclightrail

    Congratulations to @staubio on his ascension to Chair of the @KCRTA board. Now let’s make regional funding happen!

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    1. Lil' Davie Johnson, that whisper-thin warrior of boutique rail, heard from yet again.

      Such enthusiasm! It's almost as if we didn't live in a city full of murder, failing schools, rampant corruption and failing infrastructure that should take our attention.

      But isn't that trolley PRECIOUS?

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  2. 8:46 ^^^ Doomed to Fail


    The only reason some city's want to do this is because ridership is plunging for one reason or another and they want to boost ridership numbers so they exploit other opportunity's to try to rob the taxpayers and maintain the image that everything is frosty and vibrant and robust and every one in KCMO is prospering and becoming affluent.

    Which we know is not the case.

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  3. ^^Ugh huh. Hey look...Matlock's on!

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  4. 9:05 ^^^ Would you like us to bring your Metamucil to you while you are watching Matlock?

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  5. ^^No, I'm usually getting head from your wife during MatLock. Thanks anyway!

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    1. Oh Chimpy. They need to find a different program for you to watch in the zoo! Lol

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  6. How much merchandise will the urbanites be able to bring on the bus home after pilfering in the suburbs ?

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  7. if the bus is free then it will make it very slow and bums will ride on hot days or cold days or just for something to do. will make it impossible for actual working people to depend on. will make it very unlikely there will be room for my bike on the rack there will already be two. people who actually ride the bus are not advocating this, only the community development non profit hustler types, i.e. people who don't use the bus. what riding public wants is for me to get a free fare but the rest of you to have to pay a fare haha. but seriously the ATA is giving away fares all the time e.g. veterans get free fare no matter what, and they even give away entire buses, and spend over $50 million needlessly turning the 71 bus into the prospect max. I have spoken.
    THanks, radish

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  8. Backwards justifying of failed toy train free rides.

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  9. There is not such thing as a free lunch.
    Instead of addressing the KC Metro issues such as large Diesel polluting buses which are often rolling around the city completely empty.
    OH, and how about the fact that when you make the Fares free, you will have a group of homeless riding around town to stay cool and warm???

    Could free fares actually end up with an unintended consequence like the Paseo renaming to MLK? Increased violence, reduced ridership by those people who actually use the bus to go to work?

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  10. ^^Oh no!!! Whaaaa!!!!! Matlock's on Maude. Go watch it!

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  11. 10:49: I think most of the buses run on natural gas, but why let facts ruin a good rant? And so what if the homeless use the buses? What's it to you?

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  12. This will be the way to get official ID cards in the hands of illegals, which will be issued to prove KCMO residency in order to get the free bus ride.

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  13. Ummmmm. Can you substantiate that KC residency will be a requirement for the free rides?

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  14. Nothing is free! It will fall on property owners to foot yet another tax to pay! When are you idiots on this Council ever going to learn that there are fewer and fewer people to tax. Just yesterday it was printed that almost half of KC residents are now renters, therefore not paying into the property tax pool and with developers getting exempt status through TIF there is not a lot of folks to tax. And those of us still left in this Detroit wannabe, we are getting the hell out, enjoy your free bus rides!

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  15. The service is subpar at best. RideKC is tasked with transportation services, not social services. Oddly enough, Kathryn Shields is the moderate in the conversation. The number one priority should be improving the regional components of transportation to improve the regional competitiveness. The liberal extremes pushing the issue are going to detract from the more pressing issues.

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  16. At what point did the core function of KCATA become a social services function and not a transportation function? "Free" is not a goal. The goal should be to provide efficient and effective transportation to the metropolitan area.

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  17. For anyone who might imagine a "regional" public transportation system, all you have to do to understand the impossibility of such a thing is to watch the incompetence, arrogance, financial irresponsibility, upside-down priorities, and outright corruption of what passes for local government in KCMO and Jackson County each and every day.
    NO RESPONSIBLE elected official in any other jurisdiction would every sign their constituents on to any projects, much less ongoing services, that involved those two clown shows.
    Behavior has consequences and the sad fact is that JaCo and KCMO are real drags on the success of the entire region.
    Ever notice how many more bi-state proposals were approved after Union Station?
    ZERO.

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  18. What next, free downtown parking lots too?

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