ENVIRONMENT
In early December, Kansas City in Missouri voted unanimously to introduce free public transport citywide. The city’s streetcar service is already free, as is transport for veterans.
“The City Council just took a monumental, unanimous step toward #ZeroFareTransit — setting Kansas City up to soon become the first major metropolitan city with a free public bus service,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted. “This is going to improve the lives of so many and help fuel the local economy.”
A six-month study by Citizens for Modern Transit found Missouri’s public transport sector provides “an annual average of 60.1 million rides, which is equivalent to 9.8 rides per year, per Missouri resident.” That number is expected to rise with this new Zero Fare Transit program, especially in Kansas City.
The new legislation has already garnered attention and praise outside Missouri, with advocates in Nashville, Portland and Toronto, Canada seeking similar measures in their respective cities.