Reporter-Kansas City Business Journal
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority is opening the door for reorganizing the metro area’s disparate transit organizations under a centralized leadership structure.
The KCATA met with representatives of transit organizations from Kansas City and its surrounding counties to discuss possible reforms that would increase the effectiveness — and reduce the cost of operating — the metro area’s transit organizations.
KCATA General Manager Mark Huffer said the Wednesday meeting was meant to “advance the conversation” about how regional transit services can be improved.
Huffer said the region’s transit organizations have become increasingly fragmented during the past two decades.
With the addition of new organizations to run Kansas City’s planned 2.2-mile streetcar lineand possibly another for Jackson County’s commuter-rail system, the area could have as many as seven or eight organizations all trying to accomplish the same task.
The KCATA is not proposing a takeover, however, and did not make a motion or formulate a plan to start running other organizations during the meeting.
Huffer said the KCATA is looking into rebranding or consolidating operations to save money on fuel, service contracts and equipment while reducing administrative overhead. Because the KCATA owns and maintains the lion’s share of the regional infrastructure and equipment, Huffer said it would make sense for the organization to play the largest role in reorganized regional operations.
Analysis of just how much could be saved has not been conducted, but Huffer said the organizations would save on fuel, communication technology and contracts with third-party operators if they were able to buy and negotiate as one.
Any lasting changes would require amending the KCATA’s organizing compact. Huffer said that if changes happen, it will be a long process — Congress and the Missouri and Kansas legislatures must approve any changes.
He estimated that it could take as long as two years to change the compact.
Huffer said the KCATA will keep the ball moving by organizing public outreach sessions and continuing to talk with the region’s transit organizations. However, he said, an “elephant in the room” — limited funding coming from Kansas City and other sources — will continue to limit the effectiveness of any changes.
A real sea change will require broader investment from Missouri and Kansas, as well as the counties in the metro area that do not directly contribute to the KCATA.
“Until we can move forward funding regionally … we’re never going to have the kind of transit you see in Denver, St. Louis or Minneapolis,” Huffer said. “They fund (transit) at a higher level, and they have for decades.
“We’re behind in what we can provide. Until we can broaden (our) funding base, we know that you’re not going to see dramatic change.”
The KCATA is financed exclusively by Kansas City tax dollars. No regional or county taxes go into Kansas City’s transit operator, Huffer said.