Frequently Asked Questions
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Q. Where does this money go, and how many people really benefit?
Modern, dependable bus service is an important part of a comprehensive transportation plan, and helps guarantee economic opportunity and growth, cultural vitality, and varied choices of places to live, work, shop, learn, worship and play.
Among the riders who board ATA buses some 50,000 times each day, 73 percent use the bus to go to work or school, according to an on-board survey done by the ATA. Forty-six percent of riders have no other form of transportation, making continued bus service critical for Kansas City's economy.
Kansas City's buses rolled over 11 million miles in 2007, and provided more than 15 million trips.
First approved with 66 percent of the vote in 2003, the 3/8-cent sales tax funds approximately 30 percent of the ATA's entire annual budget. This stable base of funding has enabled the ATA to maintain and improve service and increase ridership.
Once renewed on April 8, the revenue from this small, fundamental sales tax can only be used for buses.
Q: Why are you supporting a bus tax that lasts 15 years, especially with light rail coming? Won't light rail reduce the number of people who take the bus?
When light rail comes to Kansas City, it will be essential that effective and comprehensive bus services are closely coordinated with rail in order to maximize the effectiveness of light rail. Both bus and rail service are necessary to create a comprehensive, multi-modal public transportation system.
Fifteen years is necessary to support long-range planning and to assure continued innovation in delivering services. The expected useful life of a bus is 12 years, and major corridor capital projects such as MAX can easily take three to five years to secure federal funding. A tax of shorter duration makes it virtually impossible for ATA to engage in long-range planning, realistically upgrade buses and other equipment, or provide sufficient time to develop new markets or transportation initiatives.
Q: How does this affect the light-rail plan that would have used the ATA's 3/8-cent sales tax?
Whatever happens in Kansas City's push for light rail, our citizens will still need transit services in the areas of the city that aren't covered by a future rail route - which means that our bus service will need to be properly funded. What's more, light rail itself will depend on the bus service: We cannot realistically operate rail without a viable interconnecting bus system.
In any event, bear in mind that the light-rail process - such as the planning of routes and possible initiative petitions - has not yet played out. Light rail is an ongoing process; the transit needs of our citizens are a day-to-day necessity.
Q: Why doesn't the ATA wait till the November election for this renewal, when we can have a comprehensive plan, including light rail, on the ballot?
By law, we cannot receive federal funding for light rail without demonstrating the ability to continue funding existing bus services. By renewing this tax now, we can demonstrate the necessary financial capacity for existing transit services before a separate light-rail vote.
Additionally, waiting until November means the tax expiration date would only be four months away. It is dangerous public policy to wait that long prior to knowing what happens to critical transit services in 2009.
Light rail, we believe, will someday be an important part of Kansas City's transit system. Until then, Metro riders - 46 percent of whom have no other form of transportation - need to be able to live their day-to-day lives.
Q: Why should we continue to help support the ATA's basic bus operation, considering their lack of progress on a light-rail plan?
Light rail is a major new enhancement to our transit system, which requires extensive and detailed planning. Since November 2006, the KCATA and the City of Kansas City, Missouri have worked at an aggressive pace to complete its Light Rail Alternatives Analysis in time to give Kansas City’s light rail system the best opportunity to receive New Starts federal funds. The KCATA, in Phase I of the Alternatives Analysis, developed an alternative light rail concept route that will be examined more closely and refined in Phase II planning in order to be ready in time for a November election.
In the meantime, though, many thousands of our fellow citizens will continue to depend on the bus system to meet the needs of their day-to-day lives. The ATA already has a proven, and impressive, track record of success at providing that essential public service. Since the 3/8-cent sales tax was approved in 2003, that funding has enabled the ATA to:
- Stabilize operations
- Add service (9 million miles in 2003; 11 million miles in 2006)
- Increase ridership (13.2 million in 2003; 15.1 million in 2007)
- Increase fare revenue ($6.4 million in 2003; $8.4 million in 2006)
So yes, the ATA has made its case for the value of this sales tax to Kansas City - and proved its ability to continue improving service.
Q: With the sales tax in 2003, you increased the bus service's budget 40%. What have we gained from that?
The ATA has produced noticeable increases and improvements in service since 2003 (such as the 40 percent increase in ridership on the Main Street Corridor route). It is also important to understand that the first priority for the sales tax was to reverse many years of steady revenue declines and forced cuts in service. Prudent management of this important public resource requires adequate financial reserves - and their continuation through the renewal of the sales tax.
For an example of the ATA's ability to creatively provide and improve service despite its low funding levels, consider how the ATA's expenses per mile of service compare with national averages:
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| KC's Metro cost per mile: Source: National Transit Database |
$6.44 | $6.85 | N/A |
| National average cost per mile: Source: National Transit Database |
$7.80 | $8.30 | N/A |
Q: Is the ATA sales tax subject to TIF?
Yes, it is. However, legislation has been introduced to exempt this tax from TIF.
Q: Who controls this funding? Can it be diverted away from transit needs?
The ballot question specifically states that the funding can go only to local bus service. The ATA is a bi-state compact, created by the Missouri and Kansas Legislatures and approved by Congress. The Authority is governed by a 10-member Board of Commissioners with equal representation from both states.
(Note: The ATA has a seven-county jurisdiction - the counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, and Platte in Missouri; and Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte in Kansas.)
Q: Transit service is inefficient and would be more effective if privatized.
A recent study conducted by the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations and the University of Michigan concluded that there was "no difference in cost between in-house and fully contracted operations."
Q: Traditionally, the Northland has been underserved by our bus service. How can you expect anyone in the Northland to vote for this renewal?
In fact, there has been tremendous improvement in public transit for the Northland since the sales tax was approved in 2003. Since then:
- Service north of the river has increased 30 percent.
- Ridership in 2006 was 43 percent higher than it was in 2003.
- The Metro provided additional service during the recent closing of the Paseo Bridge - and will also provide service to help reduce the impact of the upcoming closing for the construction of a new Paseo Bridge.
Q: ATA runs diesel buses that are unfriendly to the environment - we need clean light rail.
Today's diesel engines, combined with new ultra-low sulfur fuel, are considerably cleaner than the diesel engines of the past. Additionally, one full bus removes 40 cars from our already congested highways. The greenhouse gas emissions of one bus are substantially less than the equivalent of 40 cars.