The Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance (KCRTA) recently released polling showing support in four counties for a transit funding referendum. Counties with a majority ‘yes’ included Clay, Jackson, Johnson and Wyandotte. The poll, conducted in late July 2025 by EMC Research, reached 400 voters in each county and has a regional margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points (county-level margins of error vary and are available in the memo for each county).
Regardless of whether they personally use public transit, a majority of voters expressed the belief that public transit is a public good that deserves additional public funding.
According to KCRTA, the proposed strategy is looking for each county to establish their own dedicated transit funding stream for operations and then, if voters approve on that county’s timeline, the county would determine the governance model and services for that transit investment.
Currently, individual governments fund transit from their general revenue. However, Kansas City, Missouri, currently has two dedicated citywide transit sales taxes and a special district to fund the streetcar.
Additional information is available here: KCRTA Polling Shows Majority Voter Support for Transit Funding Across the Kansas City Metro – KCRTA