The idea of free transit is sold as a benefit to the environment and the city's most vulnerable residents in this editorial by the Kansas City Star.
According to a Kansas City Star editorial, the Kansas City City Council's Transportation Committee this week will consider a resolution that would move the city closer to delivering free public transit service on Kansas City Area Transportation Authority buses.
The free fares are included in a larger package of "priority policy" for public transit, which would fund free transit and other programs in next year's budget. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas sponsored the resolution, so the idea comes from the top of the city government.
"Finding that money will be challenging but not impossible," according to the editorial. "A good first step would be to stop giving away tax revenue to developers. Other efficiencies, including elimination of fare boxes on buses, could help. So could reclaiming sales tax dollars now subsidizing the streetcar."
A political key for the free transit program, according to the editorial: not waiting for surrounding suburban communities to get on board with the idea. The editorial cites the examples of Denver and Salt Lake City as evidence for the viability of the idea in other cities, and as a possibly emerging trend in the world of transportation planning.
Read the full story: Will Kansas City become the first major city with free bus service?
Zero Fare Transit Approved in Kansas City, Missouri
While the details of funding are undetermined, Kansas City, Missouri took a monumental step in the history of U.S. public transit yesterday.
Report: Reduced Fare Transit Programs Reach Less Than Half of Eligible Riders
Discount programs designed to help low-income transit riders have participation rates that rarely hit 50%, signaling a lack of effective outreach to eligible households.
A Brief History of Kansas City’s Microtransit
The city’s costly experiment with on-demand transit is yielding to more strategic investment.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future
Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.
NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project
New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.
One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’
The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority