Can Microtransit Replace Buses in Missouri?

On-demand, point-to-point ride programs in Missouri cities are receiving mixed reviews, reports Meg Cunningham of the Kansas City Beacon. This type of publicly funded service, also known as microtransit, has been touted as an alternative to fixed bus routes in Kansas City and St. Louis and a way to improve mobility in smaller cities and towns without public transportation.

Microtransit was initially launched in Missouri in response to declining bus ridership, exacerbated by the pandemic. Transit agencies cut routes and frequency, which resulted in even fewer riders. But people still need to get where they’re going, and within their budgets.

Funded by a combination of tax dollars and grants, public microtransit services hire private drivers in a similar fashion to ride-share services like Uber and Lyft. The original vision was to extend the reach of public transportation—for example, by connecting suburban riders to the nearest bus line—or providing affordable rides in service zones without frequent bus service. 

While demand for microtransit is high and increasing, some locales are finding it’s not as cost-effective or efficient as a fixed-route bus system, Cunningham reports. “Kansas City’s microtransit program, IRIS, launched in March. On average, it costs the city about $29 a trip. Kansas City is seeing much of its demand for microtransit come from those traveling into the city from the Northland or Martin City. For the KCATA system as a whole, the cost per passenger in October was $1.88.”

As Missouri’s microtransit experiment continues, officials and advocates are still hopeful it can become a cost-effective way to meet a growing need, particularly in rural areas. 

“Missouri has to think creatively about how to connect rural and urban communities,” Tyler Means, the chief mobility and strategy officer at the KCATA, told the Kansas City Beacon. Rural communities “are going to shrink and age, and they’re going to need more services in areas that have just kind of been forgotten about,” he said. “So they need solutions like this to allow them to gain access to the resources they need.”