Earlier this month, Mayor Holland asked me to represent the Unified Government on the Regional Transit Coordinating Council (RTCC). This council is chaired by representatives of the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) and includes representatives from all of the cities and counties in the metro area who are working to create a uniform approach to public transportation throughout the area.
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| New transit centers at 7th & Minnesota and 47th & State are among the many reasons that ridership is skyrocketing on the State Avenue Connex bus route. |
I've begun doing my homework to educate myself on the scope of the system around Kansas City and I have discovered that there are a ton of moving parts (pun intended) associated with public transportation in the metropolitan area.
Today, I'll share some of what I've learned about the challenges of providing efficient and effective bus transportation. Although we love our cars in the Midwest, many people depend on busses for transportation and many others are making the choice to park their automobiles and take advantage of public transportation like busses.
First, let's look at the metropolitan area as a whole. There are four agencies / governments that provide bus service: 1) KCATA; 2) Wyandotte County; 3) Johnson County: and 4) the city of Independence, Missouri). KCATA is the umbrella organization that is set up to serve the entire metropolitan area.
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| Here's a map of all "fixed route" bus service in Wyandotte County. The UG and KCATA team up to service these routes. I left the image big so you can click on it and see a bigger version, I've also included a picture of each individual bus route below. |
According to Wikipedia, "The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) is a public transit agency in metropolitan Kansas City. It operates the Metro Area Express (MAX) bus rapid transit service in Kansas City, Missouri, and 69 local bus routes in seven counties of Missouri and Kansas.
Although KCATA was formed in the mid 1960's by an interstate compact and an act of Congress, it was not given any taxing authority (i.e., the ability to raise its own money). Since only about 15% of its $83 million budget comes from operating revenues, most of the rest comes from payments made by the cities and counties it serves.
The Unified Government pays KCATA about $3.5 million annually to operate 4-1/2 "fixed route" bus lines in Wyandotte County. In return for our payment, KCATA provides all the equipment and personnel to run the routes. Why is it 4-1/2 routes instead of 5? Here's the breakdown...
#101 - State Avenue Connex
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#107 - 7th Street
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KCATA operates these routes using their standard 30-foot "The Metro" bus.
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| This is the standard 30-foot ATA bus. |
None of these routes have enough ridership to qualify as a KCATA "MAX" line (yet), but Emerick Cross (Director of Transit for the Unified Government) says that ridership on Route 101 (the State Avenue Connex line) is growing so fast that it may soon qualify to have the 45-foot Metro Area Express (MAX) bus.
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| Here's the 45-foot MAX bus. None of these run in Wyandotte County yet. |
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| The UG owns 17 of these 22-foot buses. They are mainly used on routes that KCATA does not cover. |
Since the routes operated by KCATA don't really cover all parts of Wyandotte County, the Unified Government operates its fleet of 17 smaller buses on four additional "fixed route" lines on weekdays. We spend another $1.7 million to operate these routes and provide other specialized transportation services in the county.
#103 - 3rd St./Fairfax
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In conversation with Mr. Cross, he pointed out that there are many challenges to providing effective and efficient bus service in Midwest cities like Kansas City.
First, our Midwest cities tended to grow "out" rather than" up", which means that the routes stretch out for long distances. This increases wear and tear on the buses and adds to fuel consumption.
Additionally, ridership is typically very heavy during morning and afternoon rush hours, but may be very light in other parts of the day. This creates a very challenging staffing problem. If we don't provide enough drivers and equipment at rush hour, we frustrate (or strand) those people who are trying to ride the bus to and from work. However, if we keep all of those drivers and buses on the street during the non-peak hours, we run the risk wasting money as the buses may drive around empty.
Here are a few other things I learned today about bus transportation in Wyandotte County:
- Ridership is up 21% county-wide over the past two years. The State Avenue Connex route, in particular, is exploding with riders.
- The Unified Government recently switched all 17 of its smaller 22-foot buses to propane fuel instead of gasoline. So far, this move has yielded a 40% savings in the cost of fuel!
- The Unified Government only gets about four cents back in rider fares for every one dollar it spends on operating the bus system.
- The Unified Government is the only government / organization in the metro that provides specialized bus services like Senior Group Transportation and "Aging Transit" services for medical visits or grocery shopping.
Your can learn more about all the transportation services offered by the Unified Government on the UG Transit page of our web site.
Have a great week!
~ Brian
bmckiernan@wycokck.org
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