By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
November 23, 2011

Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) hasn’t overhauled its Metro bus routes since 1995. And change is now overdue.

“Cities change. We have new developments in different parts of town,” said Danny O’Connor, director of planning with KCATA.

Bannister Mall is now defunct and Zona Rosa continues to gain popularity, he said. KCATA wants bus routes that compliment Kansas City’s layout and maximize efficiency.

“We want a better product for our riders. We want a better product that works,” O’Connor said.

During the past year, KCATA has been working with Nelson/Nygaard, a transit and multi-modal transportation planning firm in Boston, Mass., to evaluate Kansas City’s Metro bus system from top to bottom. Nelson/Nygaard studied each route and recorded its effectiveness and ridership levels and provided recommendations.

The goal is to improve existing service for riders, attract new riders and work within budget confines.

Current recommendations to routes include realignments to 11 routes, four new routes and elimination of two routes. Forty-one routes will remain unchanged. In terms of the number of trips per route, 25 routes will receive more service, 17 routes will receive less service, 11 routes will receive the same service and four routes will receive new service.

“We’re trying to basically run the best system we can with the amount of funding that we have and that means doing some changes here,” O’Connor said.

Rider fees only account for 15 to 17 percent of the cost to operate the KCATA Metro system, he said. The service is primarily funded through federal funding and two Kansas City sales taxes. Both state and federal funding continue to decline as the cost of diesel fuel rises, he said.

KCATA will continue to accept public comment through the end of December. To date, KCATA has received more than 400 emails regarding the proposed route changes and O’Connor said approximately 13 routes have been changed to reflect public suggestions.

“What you say is really important to us,” he said.

Final route recommendations will be presented to the KCATA Board in January and changes will be phased in beginning in April of 2012.

Proposed changes to Northeast routes
Route 30 Northeast, which currently operates between residential areas in Northeast and downtown Kansas City, would be extended into the Northeast Industrial District via Chouteau Trafficway to replace Route 126 East 5th Street. In addition to consolidating routes to save money, the proposed route would offer more frequent service to the Northeast Industrial District. Route 30 service would be available every 30/45/30/45 minutes instead of the current 20/60/20/60 minute intervals. Due to low ridership in the early morning hours, weekday service would end at 10:30 p.m. instead of 12:11 a.m. Saturday service would end at 9:30 p.m. instead of 12:11 a.m. and Sunday service would be available from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. instead of 4:58 p.m. to 10:19 p.m.

Route 109 9th Street, which operates between Kansas City’s east side and downtown, and Quality Hill and the West Bottoms areas west of downtown, would see improved morning peak service with frequencies of 20 minute intervals and service with clockface headways. The southern branch to Nowlin Hall via Hardesty Avenue would be rerouted to allow a simplified Route 12 to continue to 12th Street. Weekday service would end at 6:30 p.m. instead of 7:01 p.m. and Saturday service would begin at 6:30 a.m. instead of 5:19 a.m. due to low ridership during those time periods.

A complete list of proposed changes can be found on www.kcata.org. Click on the link “changes to more than 50 Metro bus routes” located on the home page. To fill out a feedback form, visit www.kcata.org/metro2012. The public may also submit comments by emailing metro2012@kcata.org, by calling (816) 346-0300, or by mail: KCATA Planning Department, 1200 E. 18th St., Kansas City, MO 64108. Those who comment are asked to be as specific as possible.