KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. Share your story with Isabella.
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A Kansas City, Missouri, City Council committee took no action Tuesday to fund the ongoing operations of the IRIS on-demand transit service. Therefore, the micro transit ride share will be suspended in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday night.
The City Council’s Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee reviewed an ordinance at its Tuesday meeting that would have tasked the city manager’s office with coming up with funding to support IRIS micro-transit service for the 2025-26 fiscal year and for the city to negotiate a 60-day agreement for the service with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
The committee voted three to two against sourcing out additional funding, with council members Duncan, Bunch and O'Neill voting no.
The item will not go to the full council for consideration, leaving the service without additional funding before its contract expires May 1. Tuesday's vote comes after a months-long debate with the Kansas City Council and KCATA over how much funding public transportation should get.
The decision to not find more funding for IRIS came as a shock to drivers, riders and even zTrip officials, IRIS's parent company. Hundreds of drivers and riders are now heading into a period of uncertainty, doubled by the fact that the bus system is fully funded only until November.
IRIS driver Christopher Brake had high hopes heading into Tuesday's meeting.
"I can't believe that they let us down on this," Brake said. "It's going to hurt a lot of people's bank accounts and their wallets. When it does that, it's going to hurt their families."
Dozens of IRIS riders and drivers showed up to Tuesday's meeting to offer public testimony in support of the ride-share program. But it wasn't enough to win the committee's approval.
"There's going to be thousands of people who are going to be depending on trying to find another way to get back and forth throughout the city," Brake said.
Ashley Ball is one of those IRIS riders. She explained she uses IRIS to get home from her overnight work shift.
"My car is not dependable, but I still have to be [dependable] as a mother," Ball said. "I still have to be dependable as an employee to ensure success for the company I work for as well as my family."
Councilwoman Melissa Robinson explained it was a tough decision to vote down the IRIS funding ordinance just one day before the contract expires, but funding Kansas City buses is a bigger priority.
"Unfortunately, we don't have all of the revenue that's needed in order to address our transit system and needs, that includes IRIS," Robinson said.
zTrip President Terry O'Toole explained Kansas City makes up more than 80% of total IRIS operations.
"It's a huge loss to the program," O'Toole said. "We're extremely disappointed."
According to O'Toole, more than 300 people per day depend on IRIS to get to work.
"Thursday morning, people who are expecting rides at 4 a.m. won't be there to get them," O'Toole said. "It shouldn't have been shut down this late, to the end of the contract. People do not have time to react. We're giving people 36 hours to say you don't have a ride."
IRIS and other public transit users are still hopeful that Kansas City leaders will come up with a sustainable solution, like a regional transit system, soon.
"It's going to be tough," Brake said. "I guess I got one more day of driving IRIS."
The council committee expressed its priorities in finding a long-term solution to Kansas City's public transit funding. Robinson brought up the idea of a regional tax.
"We have to do the hard work of addressing a comprehensive approach," Robinson said. "That's going to rely upon a regional taxing system to do that."
While the committee did not approve additional IRIS funding on Tuesday, it did approve an additional $2.75 million to go toward the bus system. That money will ideally keep the same number of buses running, so people don't have to experience longer wait times after KCATA announced route cuts earlier this month.
That ordinance will go before the full council on Thursday.
Last month, KSHB 41 spoke with IRIS drivers who were waiting for clarity on the future of the program. You can watch the report in the video player below.
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