We Need to Keep Our Buses Rolling!
Emergency Action Required to Attain Needed Funding!
Call On the City Council to Support d Cent Sales Tax Increase!

The cuts to Metro bus service scheduled for January would be devastating to our community.

!For the first time in 125 years Kansas City would have no transit service on Sunday.
!No Saturday evening service.
!Ten routes, including the highly popular Casino Cruiser and the Chiefs Express, would be eliminated.
!Remaining service would be slashed leading to longer waits and overcrowding.
!Service reductions will mean many riders will no longer be able to get to work.
!Inconvenience will push many current passengers off the bus and back into their cars.
!Dozens of Metro employees will be laid off.

A Vital Public Service In Danger
Thousands in our community have no access to a car and are totally dependent on the Metro. Thousands of others with cars regularly ride the bus because it is cheaper and more convenient than driving to many destinations. There are many more who would ride the bus if adequate service was available.

Just as all of us benefit from services such as schools, police, and fire protection, even if we never personally use them, the whole community has a stake in public transit. Expanded transit service could help clean up our air, cut time wasted in traffic congestion, lessen the demand for new roads, help unite a city fragmented by sprawl, attract new conventions and investors, and save some lives by reducing traffic accidents.

If we allow our transit system to collapse air pollution will continue its unhealthy rise, more tax money will be spent on taking more land for road construction, unemployment will rise as the inner city is cut off from job opportunities in out lying areas, more gasoline will be consumed, traffic congestion will worsen, traffic fatalities will go up. And how can we claim to be a major city with a six-day a week bus system that can’t even get people to the casinos, ball park, or Worlds of Fun?

There’s been a lot of talk about transit in recent years—but little action. Now we face the worst transit crisis ever.

We applaud the efforts of MARC and the ATA in promoting the "Smart Moves" concept for transit expansion. We agree with those who say we must develop a fair, more substantial form of regional funding for transit. But we can’t afford to wait for these long term solutions. We need help now to keep our bare-bones system alive.

We, of course, are reluctant to call for a tax increase. We are particularly sensitive to the regressive nature of sales tax which places a greater burden on those with low incomes. But the harsh reality is that a sales tax increase is the only practical option for getting funding in time to keep the buses rolling in January. While continuing to work for long range regional commitments, we urge the City Council to put a proposal on the November ballot for a d cent sales tax dedicated to transit. The ATA has said this would not only hold off the cuts but could provide some modest service increases.

Let’s all work together to let our government and business leaders know we want to save and expand the Metro!

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1287
Representing the drivers, maintenance, and clerical workers at the Metro

816-361-8400