Lee’s Summit looks to add more bus service

KC Light Rail and Let’s Go KC both point out an article about Lee’s Summit buses to Downtown KC are running and capacity and the city is scrambling to find money for more buses – and make the argument that this is exactly the kind of problem that would be solved by regional transit funding.

You see, KCMO is the only city with a dedicated transit tax to fund bus service.  Every other city in the metro area with bus service pays for it out of the general fund.  This means that transit has to compete for money with other needs like police, fire, sidewalks, etc.  It also means that cities are limited in their options to respond to increased demand like Lee’s Summit is experiencing.