TKC TOLD YOU SO!!! FACT CHECK REVEALS ZERO FARE TRANSIT SCHEME THREATENS TO RUIN KANSAS CITY BUS SERVICE!!!

Desperate for a win amid rising crime and failing infrastructure, Kansas City politicos champion freebie bus service in a desperate attempt to quiet complaints from the plebs by way of handouts. Sadly, their plan is already falling apart under close scrutiny.

Real talk . . .

RECENT HISTORY SHOWS US THAT FREEBIE TRANSIT CONSISTENTLY FAILS AND NOW KANSAS CITY IS ON A COLLISION COURSE TO MAKE RIDING THE BUS AN EVEN WORSE AND MORE DANGEROUS EXPERIENCE!!!

Remember that our blog community warned against the danger of free bus rides LAST YEAR. Credit where it's due, here's a fact check editorial in today's newspaper via Patrick Tuohey guest column . . .

Paper: Free bus service in Kansas City? Do careful research first

Money line:

Making the entire system free is not without considerable risks — risks that seemingly haven’t been assessed. This was underscored when, in an interview with local newspaper The Pitch, KCATA CEO Robbie Makinen offered: “Just because nobody else is doing it, that’s not a reason for us not to do it. What’s wrong with trying it? What’s the worst thing that happens? It doesn’t work, and Robbie gets fired.”

But other cities have offered fare-free bus service — and abandoned it. A 2002 study by Jennifer Perone and Joel Volinski of the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida concluded:

“A fare-free policy might be appropriate for smaller transit systems in certain communities, but is ill-advised for larger transit systems in major urban areas because experience shows that in larger systems, a tremendous amount of criminal activity, as well as a sharp increase in ridership, caused higher maintenance costs, labor costs, and operational costs and drove away existing riders.”

In a 2012 book, “Implementation and Outcomes of Fare-Free Transit Systems,” Volinski detailed a fare-free pilot program in Austin, Texas. Ridership increased by as much as 70%, but there were issues of “overcrowded buses, disruptive passengers and unhappy bus operators.” The program was discontinued. Denver tried a similar program and also discontinued the effort.

Riders get it. According to a 2019 passenger survey from the public transportation foundation Transit Center, “most low-income bus riders rate lowering fares as less important than improving the quality of the service.”

Sneak past the paywall to read the whole thing.

You decide . . .