Kansas City will fully fund the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority through October. The plan, which the Kansas City Council voted unanimously to approve Thursday, is an effort to avoid drastic service cuts and preserve existing bus routes while the KCATA works to secure other forms of funding.

The plan will reinstate $2 fares for most people — Kansas City was the first major U.S. city to end fares in 2020 . Under KCATA’s proposed “functionally free” fare model, low-income riders and people receiving aid from social service agencies, such as veterans or unhoused people, won’t be charged fares.

The ordinance gives $46.7 million, or about two-thirds of the nearly $78 million the city already budgeted for KCATA this year, to cover operations for six months. The rest of the money will be set aside for the transit agency in an escrow account.

The city’s stopgap funding will prevent the most drastic measures from KCATA, which had included cutting 13 of its 29 routes . But it’s still not enough funding to prevent all service cuts. Even with the six-month plan, the transit agency said it would reduce frequency on most of its routes and shorten its operating hours.

“The goal of this ordinance is to ensure accountability, right sizing and streamlining processes so that we can create a regional solution that other jurisdictions in this region also want to partner in,” said Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw, who championed the measure. “Because we know it's not sustainable as it is today.”

The agency is supposed to use the next six months to find more sources of funding, like getting regional municipalities to participate and securing more money from the state and federal governments.

The ordinance also gives the city more oversight and control over KCATA. Under the plan, the agency has to meet specific performance standards, such as adhering to a certain amount of missed trips and prompt invoices and improving its financial structure.

KCATA will also have to report its progress to the city council every two months and allow complete audits of the agency.

The city could also end its rideshare service, IRIS, which costs about $7.6 million annually to run, to reduce costs. If it did, that would eliminate more than 100 driver jobs .

Expected service changes

The city and KCATA should approve their contract by May. This ordinance will guide the city’s negotiations for the next contract.

While the six-month funding plan would prevent any weekday route cuts, there would still be changes that would most likely go into effect in May. Buses would run from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., limiting operating hours from the previous 3:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Buses would also come less often. The Main Max, Troost Max, Prospect Max and #24 would run at 15-20 minute headways from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Outside of that window, they would run every 30 minutes. Every other route in Kansas City would be reduced to hourly headways.

A representative for the KCATA was not available to comment on the ordinance by the time of publication.

Changes to the plan

IRIS drivers are currently classified as independent contractors, which means they can’t receive severance or unemployment . The council amended the ordinance Thursday to require the city to hold a job fair for the drivers if the city does end the rideshare service.

Bakar Mohamed, an IRIS driver, said the change gives him and his colleagues a safety net if the city ends the program. He said in the meantime they will work to negotiate a union contract that reclassifies them as employees.

“It was just several weeks ago that the city was contemplating terminating the whole program and what the community has done — the drivers, the riders — collectively made a big difference,” he said. “Six months is plenty of time for us to be part of that discussion and help the city find solutions other than terminating the program.”

Transit activists led by climate group Sunrise Movement KC, low-wage workers organization Stand Up KC and bus drivers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union have been fighting for months for the city to increase funding to the agency.

The groups wanted the city council to amend and even hold the ordinance to allow more changes for preserving the zero-fare structure and maintaining current levels of service without any reductions. While the city still plans to implement fares, council members included a requirement that KCATA has to consult the city before making any service changes.

About 60 people attended the meeting and more than 85 people submitted public testimony online, urging council members to amend the ordinance. Many of the public testimonies, part of a strategy by Sunrise Movement KC, urged the council to provide adequate funding to KCATA and called budget cuts unfair, unjust and unethical.

In a submitted public testimony, Fray Patton wrote about being unable to use many of the lines nearby because of how slow the headways already are, even before any possible service reductions. Once, it took Patton two hours to get to the health department — a trip that was around five miles.

“I use the bus lines to socialize with friends, get to doctor's appointments, volunteer in the community, and even get groceries,” Patton wrote. “This ordinance would make situations like that increasingly more common or worse for people who just want to live in the KC Metro and don't have access to a car.”

Council member Melissa Robinson, who represents the 3rd District, tried to ensure the city has a plan for how to fund the KCATA after October, including giving more money to the agency than is budgeted if it still needed it after making all the changes. That change was struck down by the rest of the council.

“Bus service is critical for our residents,” Robinson said. “To be left to chance, I think, puts us in a very challenging place. I do think it's important that we let the KCATA and bus riders know that we expect to fully fund this with the changes that they're implementing.”

In a statement, Sunrise Movement KC said the six-month plan was the result of massive pressure from their organization and other transit activists. The group criticized the city’s decision to bring back bus fares and said the KCATA and city have yet to create a long-term plan.

“This did not happen because the council made transit a priority,” the statement said. “This happened because thousands of people came out to defend a critical public service while our leaders were asleep at the wheel. City and KCATA officials have floundered with no long-term vision for transit. Bus riders and young people have a vision for a robust transit system, because our livelihoods and futures depend on it.”