Blue Springs becomes fourth city to drop RideKC: Services to end in October

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (KCTV) - On Wednesday, the availability of public transportation in the Kansas City metro took another hit as a fourth city decided not to re-up its contract.

The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) confirmed on Aug. 28 that the City of Blue Springs has chosen not to renew its contract for bus services.

In a flyer handed out to riders, KCATA said bus services will be suspended on Oct. 6, 2024, and asked that all questions be directed to the city.

A KCATA representative said they are “disappointed” that Blue Springs will not continue its contract, believing it to be an important route.

In a statement, the City of Blue Springs pointed to increasing costs:

“The costs for this service increased from $73,348 in 2022-2023 to a proposed $122,899 in 2024-2025 without much justification for the increase, despite repeated requests. The best ridership data that was provided was that the route was averaging 6 round trip users. While our research showed less, even those numbers amount to about $20,483 annually per rider, but it could not be confirmed if these were even Blue Springs residents. The City Council made the decision to transfer these funds to another public transportation system, our OATS contract for senior and disable transportation services, that is being heavily utilized by our residents.”

Blue Springs is the latest in a series of cities to drop the public transit service in 2024.

In May, Grandview announced it could no longer continue a contract for RideKC, citing an increase in cost that city leaders agreed was not sustainable. The city said it would continue working with KCATA with hopes of reinstating the service.

The next month, Raytown announced it would no longer offer fixed-route transit services and would instead opt for an on-demand service.

Last July, Gladstone stated that it could no longer afford to keep the service running. City officials said their contract with KCATA jumped from a previous price of $87,000 to $340,000 with its new contract starting July 1, 2023.

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