‘Zero fare, zero emissions’: First two electric buses unveiled for RideKC
Kansas City’s regional public transit took a step toward becoming emission-free Friday with the unveiling of two 40-foot electric buses that will be added to the RideKC bus fleet.
“Zero fare, zero emissions,” Kansas City Area Transportation chief executive officer Robbie Makinen said during a press conference Friday morning.
“I think that’s the way to go, right? If we can get people out of their cars and ride public transit, but then do it in an efficient, safe, environmentally friendly way, why wouldn’t we do that?”
The KCATA is partnering with Evergy to bring the electric buses, manufactured by GILLIG, to Kansas City.
“At Evergy, we believe that electric transportation is no longer the future, but it’s happening now,” said Kim Winslow, Evergy’s senior director of energy solutions.
Evergy has seen tremendous growth in the adoption of electric vehicles across it’s territory, she said.
Zero emissions fits with the free bus fare that Kansas City has been providing for a year to create social equity by providing access to jobs, education, health care and housing, Makinen said.
“When everybody else’s public transit agency went down to to 20% ridership, yours didn’t go below 60%,” Makinen said. “We’re still doing 30,000 to 40,000 trips a day.”
That keeps the city breathing by getting essential workers to their jobs and people to grocery stores, he said.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver called Friday an important day for Kansas City’s public transit because it separates Kansas City from other metropolitan areas around the country.
“If we can get a whole fleet of these buses and zero fares, we’ll put ourselves in a position that no other city can compete,” Cleaver said. “Now what CEO around the country is not going to be excited about bringing his company or her company to town when their employees can get free rides to work?”
The buses will be put into service later this spring, offering a smoother, quieter ride while reducing the carbon footprint of the region’s public transit service. The buses will have easy-to-clean vinyl seats, USB charging ports, high definition cameras and drivers’ protection barriers.
One of the new buses will operated on RideKC’s MAX lines while the other will be used on local routes throughout the community.
Charging stations are being installed at KCATA. The project is funded by the Federal Transit Administration and matching funds from the Kansas City’s 1/2-cent transportation sales tax. They will take advantage of off-peak charging times, so that they will be less of a strain on the energy grid.
“These zero emission buses are an essential part of the transition to a more climate-friendly and sustainable technology,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. He added that this is one one step in an ongoing process to have transit oriented development in Kansas City.
“We need to make sure at City Hall we do our work to have good development near them, to make sure when people are building things nearby, they’re not building gigantic parking garages but instead making things that are about our riders or pedestrians and transportation for everyone in Kansas City,” Lucas said.
