(Kansas City, Mo. – September 25, 2014) Today, the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners – Committee of the Whole gave the nod for Johnson County and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) to develop a Cooperative Agreement that will lead to the management consolidation of Johnson County Transit.
The management consolidation will result in an approximate savings of $450,000 to $510,000 for Johnson County, Ks. The major component of the savings are personnel costs, which result directly from KCATA utilizing existing staff, in addition to several new staffing functions.
“We are excited about this opportunity to build a better regional transit system,” said Penny Postoak Ferguson, Deputy County Manager.
For customers, the consolidation should be transparent. KCATA will still contract with First Transit, and they will continue to operate the system with the same bus drivers and buses. Routes and schedules will not change.
Johnson County will continue to have control over all policy, budget, routes and schedules related to The JO.
Implementation is expected to be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
“This is the first of what we hope will be many strides to better integrate transportation for our citizens throughout the metropolitan area,” said Robbie Makinen, KCATA Board chair. “I applaud Johnson County for taking this first step and congratulate them on providing a model for other communities.”
Approximately three months ago, the Johnson County Transportation Council (JCTC) and the Board of County Commissioners invited the KCATA to join in discussions regarding potential opportunities for greater integration and/or consolidation of operations and management. A joint staff study group prepared a final report, which was presented to the KCATA Board of Commissioners and the Johnson County Transportation Council earlier in the week.