Blue KC Assisting Free City Transit Efforts

Last night during his state of the city address, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said that Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Kansas City is in the works to make a major contribution to the city’s “Zero Fare Transit” initiative, which provides free bus rides to residents, an effort he has said is important to ensure that low-income residents can afford to get to work.

Blue KC is committed to $1 million for at least the first year to support the initiative, which is a public-private partnership that is helping make the effort sustainable within the city’s budget, though many details are yet to be determined.

Other items Lucas addressed include:

• Improving the city’s street infrastructure to address the issue of several potholes throughout the area with a $17-million roadway-resurfacing plan, even naming acting city manager Ernest Rouse as a “Pothole Czar.”
• Working with federal regulators to help reduce water rates in the city.
• A proposed city budget reduction of $500,000 for the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City so that those funds can be used to focus on blighted neighborhoods.
• The continued effort to end gun violence in Kansas City.