KCATA announces layoffs, bus route cuts due to funding shortage
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) announced Thursday it will be laying off bus drivers and reducing bus routes.
The KCATA Board of Commissioners met Wednesday, and the transit authority announced that the current level of proposed funding provided by the City Council (in Ordinance #250247) is not enough to maintain current levels of bus service.
KCATA outlines proposed service cuts that would eliminate routes
This means union drivers will be laid off. It also means weekend bus services will be limited to just seven routes, with reduced frequency.
One week ago, the Kansas City Council approved the $2.5 billion fiscal year 2025-26 city budget – allocating $71 million for the KCATA, with an additional $6.8 million from a budget amendment to support the transit authority and prevent extensive route cuts. However, it still wasn't enough to prevent layoffs or cuts.
Nicholas Miller, President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287, previously told FOX4 in 2024 that about 160 people could lose their jobs if the funding shortage isn't resolved. FOX4 has reached out to KCATA to ask how many people will be laid off.
Sunrise Movement KC – a national organization fighting for economic justice, among other issues – released the following statement, which reads, in part:
'We are shocked at KCATA's proposal for drastic reductions in frequency and service. Mayor Lucas, Mayor Pro Tem Parks Shaw, and City Council members went on the record to the press and at City Hall claiming this ordinance fully funds our buses with no service reductions, even if just for six months. It now appears those claims were incorrect.
As written, this ordinance will not only eliminate Zero Fare, but it will fail to do the very thing it set out to achieve: prevent service cuts. Council has repeatedly made demands around fiscal responsibility and measured solutions, yet they have put forward a rushed deal, with devastating implications for the Kansas Citians who depend on bus service.
Bus riders know it best when we say frequency is freedom—cuts to frequency are effectively a cut to our routes, leaving us stranded at bus stops with longer wait times, and increasing crowding on buses which may lead to drivers passing us at stops. Reduced frequency and weekend service actively cuts us off from accessing what we need by bus.
Kansas City must choose to build a transit system that serves us all. That means fast, frequent, reliable and universally Zero Fare public transit.'
The group is demanding that the City Council uphold Ordinance #250247 until the following demands are met:
Immediately work with KCATA to provide sufficient funding for current levels of bus service, without any reductions of bus frequency or weekend service on ANY bus routes.
Pass legislation to require KCMO to allocate 90% of the Public Mass Transit Fund to KCATA, ensuring taxpayer money designed for mass transit is truly used for preserving fast, frequent bus service powered by union jobs.
Protect zero fare—a system that is proven to make our buses faster, more frequent, safer and more popular. The ordinance's timeline and imposition of a $2 fare – the highest in Kansas City's history – is rushed and setting KCATA up to fail, and it will cause significant harm to the bus system and its riders.
Do not approve any plan that leads to losses in unionized jobs.
Guarantee severance for IRIS workers.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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