Kansas
Kansas City will lose nearly half its bus routes under transit agency's drastic cost-cutting plan
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority is bracing for drastic cuts to service if Kansas City passes its proposed budget, according to documents obtained by KCUR.
To maintain the current status quo for its Kansas City operations — which already includes long wait times and the fewest bus routes the agency’s had in decades — the KCATA needs about $117 million. The city plans to give the agency $71 million in its 2025-2026 budget.
Without any more funding, KCATA will cut 13 of its 29 routes in Kansas City, Missouri. Those cuts would affect more than 6,500 people, about 18% of the city’s total weekday ridership.
Anthony Cunningham is a leader with Sunrise Movement KC, a climate activist organization that’s been pushing the city to increase funding for KCATA for years. Cunningham relies on the bus and says fewer and less frequent routes will make it harder for him and other riders to get to work, school, the grocery store and doctor’s appointments.
“These proposed cuts to our bus and paratransit services are excessive, and are a slap in the face to poor and working-class Kansas Citians who rely on these services every single day,” Cunningham said.
The agency will also stop service at 11 p.m. instead of 1 a.m., and will only operate seven routes on the weekends, about a third of what it currently operates on weekends. The agency will also run fewer buses on its remaining 16 routes, leaving riders waiting even longer.
The proposed route cuts are:
- #9, 9th Street
- #11, Northeast Westside
- #19, Crossroads
- #21, Cleveland Antioch
- #23, 23rd Street
- #25, Troost Local
- #27, 27th Street
- #28, Blue Ridge
- #29, Blue Ridge Limited
- #57, Wornall
- #63, 63rd Street
- #71, Prospect Local
- #75, 75th Street
Savannah Hawley-Bates
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KCUR 89.3
The agency would lay off about 28% of its total workforce, or about 171 staff members. That includes 130 drivers as well as maintenance and administrative staff. It would also reduce quarterly attendance bonuses and overtime bonuses.
The agency’s plan assumes the city will cut the on-demand transit service IRIS, which costs the KCATA about $7.6 million. But the city council has not yet introduced cutting the rideshare program.
Reginald Townsend, chair of KCATA’s board, said that the agency is committed to working with local, state and federal partners to secure more funding.
“Our focus remains on providing safe, efficient, and accessible transportation options that support the economic vitality and mobility needs of our communities,” Townsend said. “While ridership remains strong, we recognize the need to make strategic adjustments to right-size the agency.”
Nic Miller is president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287, the union that represents KCATA’s bus drivers. He said his members are angry and terrified because they don’t know what will happen to their jobs.
“It’s very hard for me, as a president, not to have the answers,” Miller said. “It’s hard for the company not to have the answers when all the answers rely upon the city. So now everyone’s just kind of left in limbo.”
Kansas City has not decreased its funding to KCATA in the past few years, but operational costs have risen drastically since 2021 due to inflation and increases in wages, security costs, marketing and paratransit. The agency’s total operating cost went from about $84 million in 2021 to $113 million last year.
If the KCATA’s costs this year mirror last year’s, its funding will fall $28 million shy of expenses, a gap that it covered last year with a sales tax reserve and federal COVID relief funds. But KCATA expects that it will need about $117 million to maintain the status quo of bus service due to rising costs, making the real funding gap about $32 million.
Other U.S. transit agencies are facing similar financial crises. In 2024, the Mid-America Regional Council released a study comparing Kansas City’s bus system to 10 peer cities and four aspirational cities, like Minneapolis and Denver. It found that KCATA had the second-lowest operating expense per passenger trip, while still ranking as the second-most productive agency.
Carlos Moreno
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KCUR 89.3
Kansas City Council members discussed the funding gap with KCATA CEO Frank White III at a business session last week. Melissa Robinson, 3rd district councilmember, said many of her constituents use public transportation to get to work. She said she worries that if bus lines get cut, economic mobility will decrease and crime will increase because of poverty.
“If we’re wanting to be real about crime prevention, real about homicide prevention, real about helping people to achieve their economic potential, we should not be cutting their lifeline,” Robinson said.
“I implore us to give our KCATA the same opportunities that we give our men and women in blue, our firefighters. We give them what they need in order to do their jobs. Transit is no different.”
Johnathan Duncan, Crispin Rea, Eric Bunch, and Darrell Curls also spoke against cutting bus lines.
Many of the people who attended each of the city’s three public listening sessions called bus funding a top priority, and urged city council to increase funding for KCATA. The city is set to approve the budget at the next council meeting on March 20.
Council members Rea and Bunch introduced a budget amendment to redirect $2 million from the Public Mass Transportation tax that was meant for LED streetlights to the KCATA.
That money could be enough to save the #25, #27 or #71, each of which cost about $2 million to run. But unless the city council amends the budget to provide more money to KCATA, most of the service cuts would still be necessary.
Savannah Hawley-Bates
/
KCUR 89.3
Kansas City gives nearly all of the 3/8th-cent KCATA sales tax to the transit agency. But about 15 years ago, it began decreasing the amount it gives the agency from its half-cent public mass transportation tax.
In this year’s proposed budget, only about two-thirds of the tax, or about $30.4 million, will go to the KCATA, with the remainder going to traffic safety and infrastructure.
At the business session, Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw told White she still has “heartache” from route cuts the KCATA made several years ago that affected her district, the 5th, but didn’t seem to save any money in the long run.
“Kansas City taxpayers just continue to add to an inefficient program,” Parks-Shaw said. “Before we even put a bus on the street, we pay $19 million (in administrative costs) off the top. And that’s the piece that is unsustainable.”
White said the agency is considering introducing a “functionally free” fare model, instead of the zero fare model it’s currently using. Under the new system, only those who could afford to pay fares would.
He said that could give KCATA about $10-13 million in revenue, but it would take the agency more than a year to implement.
In the past few years, Independence, Blue Springs, Gladstone, Raytown, Liberty, Parkville and Riverside have cut their funding to the agency. White told city council he was working to bring those municipalities back on the system. Without their funding, Kansas City bears the brunt of the agency’s $19 million in administrative costs.
White said the KCATA is working toward becoming more of a regional transportation authority, as it was created to be, and is seeking more funding from Missouri and Kansas.
“It’s a crisis created by the city,” said Miller, the transit union president. “I believe that the city just wants to privatize the company. KCATA has pretty much exhausted all of its funds. The only thing that they can really start to look at now is reducing service, which is what the city wants them to do.”
The KCATA will hold two public meetings about the proposed cuts. The first will be Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at the East Village Transit Center at 12th and Charlotte Streets. A virtual meeting will be held Friday from 12-1 p.m. over Zoom.
HUTCHINSON — Throughout their formative years, they grew up playing side-by-side, on rival teams or simply admired each other’s success from afar.
Now that their high school football careers are over, Salina Central’s Cooper Reves and Jesus Delgado, Salina South’s Jaxon Myers and Brody Chambers from Southeast of Saline, share the honor of playing for the West team in this weekend’s Kansas Shrine Bowl.
Perhaps just as important in their minds, they get to represent Salina for either the first or the last time wearing identical uniforms.
Jesus Delgado
“Us Salina guys are kind of sticking together, I like to say,” Delgado, an all-state linebacker on Central’s 2025 Class 5A state championship team, said Tuesday during the West training camp Tuesday at Hutchinson Community.
On Thursday, the East and West teams convened in Emporia, site of the 53rd annual Shrine Bowl, set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium. But not before four days of intense practice at their respective camps in Hutch and Ottawa.
For the Salina contingent, the free time between workouts and meetings was an opportunity to connect, reconnect and reminisce.
Jaxon Myers
“We’re all from near each other, so we kind of know each other, or we’ve heard of each other,” said Myers, a standout wide receiver at South. “We’ve got some pretty good dudes in Salina.
“It’s not just us, but there’s a lot more that could have been here.”
While Reves, an all-state running back, and Delgado helped lead Central to a 12-1 record and its first state title since 2005, Myers was part of a struggling South team that suddenly caught fire in the playoffs after a 1-7 regular season. Road victories in the first two rounds led to the Cougars’ first postseason showdown with their crosstown rivals since 2004.
“That was one of the craziest football games I’ve been a part of in my entire life, just from the fan bases to everything building up to it,” Delgado said of Central’s 49-24 victory after trailing 17-14 at halftime. “But as of right now, it’s really just trying to soak everything in, going to college, and we’re all going on to different opportunities.”
“Some people are playing ball, some people are doing other things, but we’re really all just trying to get to know each other, build some connections and embrace it.”
While Myers’ memories of the playoff game aren’t as fond as those of his rivals, he said it spoke to the mutual respect the teams shared amid all the hoopla.
“It was fun, but not fun at the same time,” said Myers, who did catch a touchdown pass in the game. “You want to win those types of games and you want to keep the Cinderella story going, but they’re a tough team and they won state, so it’s not much you can do about that.”
“You’ve got to eat it from time to time, but this is a part of the game, and it’s all respect. We all respect each other.”
Myers, a Class 5A all-state selection by KSHSAA Covered, caught 45 passes for 871 yards and 10 touchdowns in just nine games for South as a senior. He will play at Garden City Community College this fall.
“Jaxon’s been killing it,” Reves said of Myers’ early West camp practices.
Cooper Reves
Reves, a KSHSAA Covered Top 11 selection and first team 5A pick, knows a little about killing it. As a senior, he rushed for 2,814 yards and 32 touchdowns, including 243 with four scores in the Mustangs’ 51-34 state championship victory over Basehor-Linwood.
Reves also caught 28 passes for 256 yards and another touchdown to finish with 3,070 total yards for the season.
Reves is not the only KSHSAA Covered Top 11 pick representing Salina. Chambers, a 6-foot-1, 285-pound lineman, helped Southeast of Saline to a Class 2A runner-up finish, one game shy of a second straight state championship. While also starting on the offensive line, he had 85 tackles, including 17 for loss, for the 12-1 Trojans.
And then there’s Delgado, the heart of Central’s defense, a first team 5A all-state selection, who had 145 tackles, 21.5 for loss, a sack and an interception in the Mustangs’ championship run.
Among the Salina players, there are several unique connections.
Cooper Reves and Jesus Delgado: One last game together
Delgado, who has signed with Butler Community College in El Dorado, will play his final game alongside Reves, who is headed to Northern Iowa on a wrestling scholarship after winning two state titles at Central.
“Having that state championship, there’s not really much like it,” Reves said. “I feel like me and Jesus were leaders, and we kind of felt like we’d take that role on this year.”
“Just having someone like that next to you the whole way and being able to bring each other up and be there for each other has been great.”
Good memories, indeed, Delgado agreed.
“Early on, when we got (to camp), we were kind of chatting about what it’s going to be like in a different environment,” he said. “We’ve been looking back on old memories, videos and things like that with the guys.
Jesus Delgado and Jaxon Myers: Teammates for just one game
For Delgado and Myers, their history as rivals also represents the future. After teaming up in the Shrine Bowl, they are headed back to rival camps in the Jayhawk Conference.
“He’s like, ‘Some things just never change.’ But right now, for one week, we’ll just let it slide,” Delgado said with a smile. “What some of the guys are doing is putting some of the other team’s decals on their helmets. It might be the only time I agree to put some of the other guys’ decals on.”
Myers, for his part, isn’t too worried about future rivalries.
“It’s fun not having to go against them just because of how good they are and seeing how hard they work,” he said. “It’s a lot different, but it’s fun watching them play.”
Appreciating success at different levels
While South and Central were doing their thing, including the historic playoff clash, they were not too busy to appreciate what Chambers, all-state running back Grady Gebhardt and Southeast of Saline were accomplishing just 15 miles away near Gypsum.
“They’ve been successful, and I think Brody’s been a big part of that,” Reves said. “He’s a good dude and amazing athlete.”
Chambers has something else in common with Reves as a two-time state wrestling champion, and he played both football and baseball with Delgado growing up.
Like his South and Central counterparts, Chambers kept an eye on their postseason successes.
Brody Chambers
“It was definitely fun to watch Central’s run to the state championship and winning it,” said Chambers, who will continue his football career at Grand View University, a high-level NAIA school. “We kind of came up short, unfortunately, but it was really cool that we had two Salina teams I the state championship.”
“We didn’t watch any of the games because we were still focused on us, but I did see a whole bunch of Facebook stuff about (the South-Central playoff game), and we were excited for them. We root for each other since we’re not in the same division.”
Proud to represent Salina in Shrine Bowl
When the final whistle blows at the Shrine Bowl on Saturday, Delgado, Reves, Myers and Chambers all will go their separate ways.
But not before proudly representing their hometown.
“It’s awesome to say that we have four guys from Salina be on this team when there’s only 40 guys from around the state,” Reves said. “So, that’s 10% of the team just from Salina.
“It says we have the right people doing the right things, and I think that’s pretty special.”
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Colorado-based chicken restaurant Birdcall is expanding into Kansas.
The company announced Friday its plans to expand into Kansas and five other Midwestern states over the next five years. Birdcall plans to add six to eight fast-casual restaurants in Wichita and Topeka.
“The Midwest represents a tremendous opportunity for Birdcall,” CEO Mark Lohmann said. “From our award-winning chicken sandwiches and other handcrafted menu offerings to our commitment to innovation and community, we believe Birdcall offers an experience that resonates with today’s guests and is a natural fit for the region.”
Other locations announced are:
- Indiana – 10 to 15 restaurants across Indianapolis, Bloomington, Evansville and Fort Wayne
- Missouri – Up to 18 restaurants across St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City
- Nebraska – Seven to 10 restaurants across Omaha and Lincoln
- Ohio – Up to 20 restaurants across Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo
- Wisconsin – 10 to 15 restaurants across Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton
Birdcall’s menu features a variety of chicken sandwiches, chicken fingers and nuggets, salads, tater tots, fries, and more. The restaurant also makes its own in-house sauces and serves up draft beer and house-made margaritas, with happy hour specials.
The company said each restaurant will use self-service kiosks and occupy about 2,300 square feet, with indoor and outdoor seating that can serve up to 150 people.
Birdcall currently operates 17 restaurants across Colorado, Arizona and Texas.
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KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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A video shared by a viewer, shows a resident speaking at the Osawatomie, Kansas City Council meeting being escorted out by police on Thursday evening.
The video shows a man holding a “Hell No Alcove” sign, while commenting about a blighted property, which according to public records is owned by Pacific Apartments, LLC, operating out of the same address as Alcove Development in Lawrence, Kansas.
KSHB 41
Alcove Development is behind the effort to build a $1 billion, 283-acre data center development in Osawatomie’s northland property.
The video, shared by a viewer, goes on the show two law enforcement officers approaching the individual, who is Lee Brewer, at the podium, after he begins to yell, while the crowd joins in behind him. Lee Brewer reached out to KSHB 41 late Thursday night, identifying himself as the person who was escorted out.
Osawatomie, Kansas Police Chief Dave Stutteville is seen in the video also approaching the man.
Fabian Rosales/KSHB
KSHB 41 Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa reached out to the Police Chief, City Manager, and Mayor Nick Hampson for comment late on Thursday night and is waiting on a response.
Residents in contact with Gamboa attending the meeting shared the meeting was still in session after 9:30 p.m.
Thursday night’s meeting was the city and Alcove Development’s attempt at sharing potential benefits of a data center for the community.
Gamboa has long covered the data center project in Osawatomie, Kansas — and neighbors to the project have voiced their opposition to the proposed development.
Brian Luton/KSHB
This is the first time Alcove Development has approached the public, but not the first time it has worked with the city of Osawatomie.
In late 2025, Alcove Development approached the city with the project and weeks later, a pre-development agreement was signed giving Alcove exclusive rights to the development for three years.
But city council meeting records from 2023 show, the city of Osawatomie entered into a pre-development agreement with Alcove Development to redevelop a property known as Old Swenson School.
Alcove Development had six months to asses the condition of the property and determine a course of action for redevelopment, and the overall agreement would last 18 months, according to public records.
Will Shaw/KSHB
The pre-development agreements states, Alcove would consider asking for tax breaks on the project, including utilizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
At the time, the property had sat in disrepair since 2016, according to the records, and was frequently found in violation of city code.
If the re-development were to fall through, the city would be on the hook to purchase the property from the developer for $25,000, with unclear total costs for infrastructure improvements.
KSHB 41
KSHB 41 will follow up on the status on this project at a later date.
Earlier this week, Miami County Reporter Ryan Gamboa, sat down with Donna Ingram who doesn’t live far from the data center site.
Ingram expressed her concerns about the amount of infrastructure that would be built to operate a data center, and how it might overtake the land around her home.
Ryan Gamboa/KSHB
She expressed concerns because the City of Osawtomie changed the public comment guidelines of a promise town hall with the developer.
“Watching this process play out is disheartening,” Ingram said in an interview on Monday. “A town hall was promised that didn’t come to fruition… I don’t believe it’s the definition. This is a city council meeting. We’re the ones that are gonna live next to it. We’re the ones that live in the path of the infrastructure.”
The city told KSHB 41 on Monday in a statement, they changed the format to prioritize the voices of city taxpayers, as county taxpayers have dominated the public comment periods over the past couple of months.
Brian Luton/KSHB
Mayor Nick Hampson also told Gamboa in an earlier interview he was hoping to have a productive “town hall” — instead, the first meeting with the public and the developer of the project was during a formal and regularly scheduled city council meeting.
The city also required residents to submit questions ahead of time, and the city would filter questions to the developer, while limiting public comment to three minutes.
“We have been and will continue to hear from the residents that are in the county and closest to this project,” Hampson told KSHB 41 in an email on Monday.
Miami County, Kansas
Residents shared a record to KSHB 41, submitted to the city for a formal investigation into 1009 Pacific Avenue in Osawatomie, which is owned by a company operating out of Alcove Development’s address.
The dilapidated property is the a former school house, that sits with broken windows, and other parts of the building breaking down.
The Miami County Republic reporting on Thursday, the city launched an investigation into the building.
Ryan Gamboa/KSHB
Residents cite the buildings deteriorating condition and potential danger to the public, and lack of property maintenance.
Lee Brewer issued a comment regarding the incident at Thursday night’s meeting, stating he was escorted out after the Mayor closed public comment, and he was not on the list.
Brewer told KSHB 41, he has a time -stamped email of pre-submitted questions ahead of the meeting. KSHB 41 asked Brewer to review the email, and is waiting for an answer.
I am severely disappointed in our Mayor and the city council. They told us we were required to send in an email with our questions and our address to prove we were citizens of the town by Wednesday the 24th at noon. I have my email which is timestamped at 10:26 a.m. Wednesday the 24th. They shut me down and first told me I didn’t put the email in and then once I was kicked out of there I was told by people coming out that they were told I turned in my email too late. I’m not a math teacher but last time I looked at my clock 10:26 a.m. falls just over an hour and a half before noon. I mean correct me if I’m wrong. I thought because the mayor and I were having decent conversations on Facebook Messenger, whereas I would ask him questions and he would answer to the best of his ability. And I would thank him I thought we were pretty cordial. So to basically call me a liar in front of the entire town on video recording, take away my freedom of speech My first amendment right, and have me removed from a public building was completely wrong I am very disappointed in our city council and mayor. When I approached the podium all I was trying to do was point out that resolution number 1169 in Osawatomie Kansas refers to Alcove development LLC being the owner of the old Swenson School at 1009 Pacific. As I pointed out in these earlier messages to you Alcove has left this building dilapidated in ruins and a danger to our community. Our great city council and mayor seem to have other plans for me being able to speak though.
Lee Brew, via Facebook to KSHB 41 News
KSHB 41 reached out to Alcove Development late on Thursday night, and is waiting on a response.
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