KANSAS CITY COULD DIE WITHOUT FREE BUS RIDES?!?!

Free bus rides might have been one of the worst experiments ever conducted by Mayor Q and the city council. 

The aftermath: 

Riders complain about degraded service and increased danger from vagrants & criminals. 

Moreover . . .

Free rides aren't sustainable and have busted the KCATA budget.

Accordingly, there's a massive effort to justify this pricey plan that really only serves to justify free streetcar rides.

Here's a peek . . .

Researchers studying the public health effects of free-to-ride buses suggest considering a bigger picture before hitting up riders for money.

Public health researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Children’s Mercy Hospital hypothesize that when Kansas City Council voted in 2019 to phase out bus fares— and eliminate them entirely in 2020 — public health gains followed.

“There’s a scientific premise that (the city’s zero-fare initiative) has an impact on public health,” said Jordan A. Carlson, director of community-engaged health research at Children’s Mercy Hospital. “We felt like it was promising enough that we really wanted to do this health evaluation, thinking that if it does impact health, and we can document that, then that could support continuation of these types of policies.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Fare-free buses might be good for Kansas Citians' health

Public health researchers say the KCATA board should look at the research into the effects of free rides before scrapping Kansas City's zero-fare bus initiative