Free bus service in Kansas City? Do careful research first

Kansas City made news around the country late last year with reports that city officials had done away with bus fares. The reality is that Kansas City has not adopted a fare-free bus system, nor has it considered the broader implications of doing so. In fact, city leaders have no idea how they will pay for it.

What actually happened: The Kansas City Council instructed the city manager to work with transit officials on a policy that would “include a funding request in the next fiscal year budget to make fixed route public transportation fare free within the city.” The next fiscal year does not begin until May 1.

One reason for all this is the 2.2-mile streetcar the city completed in 2016. The streetcar, which is free to ride, also receives $2 million from sales taxes meant to fund regular transit. Advocates of the free-fare proposal argue that the move to ditch fares on the bus system would address inequality without risking a drop in ridership that a streetcar fare would cause.

Locally, the idea has been making inroads for a while. The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority issued free bus passes to veterans two years ago, and since then to students. Over the past few years, 23% of riders have paid no fare.

Making the entire system free is not without considerable risks — risks that seemingly haven’t been assessed. This was underscored when, in an interview with local newspaper The Pitch, KCATA CEO Robbie Makinen offered: “Just because nobody else is doing it, that’s not a reason for us not to do it. What’s wrong with trying it? What’s the worst thing that happens? It doesn’t work, and Robbie gets fired.”

But other cities have offered fare-free bus service — and abandoned it. A 2002 study by Jennifer Perone and Joel Volinski of the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida concluded:

“A fare-free policy might be appropriate for smaller transit systems in certain communities, but is ill-advised for larger transit systems in major urban areas because experience shows that in larger systems, a tremendous amount of criminal activity, as well as a sharp increase in ridership, caused higher maintenance costs, labor costs, and operational costs and drove away existing riders.”

In a 2012 book, “Implementation and Outcomes of Fare-Free Transit Systems,” Volinski detailed a fare-free pilot program in Austin, Texas. Ridership increased by as much as 70%, but there were issues of “overcrowded buses, disruptive passengers and unhappy bus operators.” The program was discontinued. Denver tried a similar program and also discontinued the effort.

Riders get it. According to a 2019 passenger survey from the public transportation foundation Transit Center, “most low-income bus riders rate lowering fares as less important than improving the quality of the service.” (KCATA is has not yet completed the RideKC Next project, a “comprehensive review and redesign of transit service.”)

Then there is the cost of going fare-free, estimated between $8 million and $12 million annually in Kansas City.

Given the ridership increase in other places that have tried it, the KCATA would also face costs due to increased demand. During legislative discussion on the resolution, Mayor Quinton Lucas raised the possibility of returning the $2 million currently diverted to the streetcar. Councilwoman Kathryn Shields offered an amendment, adopted by the council, that also instructs the city manager to report how this potential budget outlay would impact other city services.

Again, none of this is known.

Good policies go beyond good intentions. They serve a public need with as few negative consequences as is possible. Our national experience with large-scale, fare-free transit has been a bumpy ride. Kansas City needs to consider all the options and trade-offs before adopting such a significant policy change.

This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Free bus service in Kansas City? Do careful research first."