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Posted on Mon, Nov. 02, 2009 10:33 PM
UMKC fee would give students unlimited bus access
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The University of Missouri-Kansas City is proposing to charge students a transportation fee that would give them unlimited rides on the Metro bus system.
The university wants to charge students $1 per credit hour to pay for a $186,000 contract with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority to provide the bus passes.
The ATA signed off on the idea last week, but it still needs approval from university students as well as the University of Missouri Board of Curators.
If approved, the fee and the bus passes wouldn’t start until August 2010 or January 2011. The program would benefit nearly 13,000 students at UMKC.
Students already pay ancillary fees for services they receive beyond coursework. For example, they pay $4.39 per credit hour as a student activity fee, $4.42 per credit hour as an athletic fee and 69 cents per credit hour for building upkeep.
The unlimited pass idea is seen as mutually beneficial to the university and the ATA.
University officials hope it will encourage students to ride the bus instead of driving to a campus where parking is increasingly in short supply.
The school has about 4,600 parking spots at its Volker campus and is approaching capacity, said Dennis Cesari, the university’s assistant vice chancellor for business affairs.
The university is expected to need 500 to 700 more parking spots within two to five years because of building construction and renovation, Cesari said.
The contract, meanwhile, would give the ATA a steady stream of revenue as it dips into reserves to maintain bus service.
If the fee is approved, UMKC would end a shuttle it operates between its Volker Boulevard and Hospital Hill campuses. It would, however, run a shuttle that would basically circulate within the Volker campus.
The UMKC Student Government Association is expected to take up the issue today, Cesari said.
The proposed contract for the unlimited passes would last one year. The terms could be renegotiated if ridership turns out to be higher or lower than expected.
To reach Brad Cooper, call 816-234-7724 or send e-mail to bcooper@kcstar.com.
Posted on Mon, Nov. 02, 2009 10:33 PM
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