KC Regional Leaders Celebrate New Connections

Regional leaders celebrated the start of new transit service linking Wyandotte and Johnson counties with a special ribbon-tying event Jan. 15, near the University of Kansas Medical Center.

The event will featured Mark Holland, mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, and Steve Klika of the Johnson County Commission. Dick Jarrold, senior vice president of regional planning and development for the KCATA will preside as master of ceremonies.

Wyandotte County, Johnson County and the KCATA partnered to develop the service expansion, which fills a key gap in public transportation.

The entire route operates from the transit center at 47th Street and State Avenue in Kansas City, Ks., to the University of Kansas Medical Center and on to Mission. The route includes downtown Kansas City, Ks., at 7th Street and Minnesota Avenue.

The new service extends the current 107-7th Street/Parallel route 3.5 miles south from 43rd Avenue and Booth Street to the Mission Transit Center at 5251 Johnson Drive.

Operating hourly each weekday, the expanded service provides four roundtrips in the morning and four more in the afternoon between Mission and the medical center.

Currently, there are only two one-way northbound trips in the morning to the medical center from Mission and two one-way southbound trips in the afternoon.

The expanded service will give Wyandotte County residents better access to jobs via the Mission Transit Center, which offers connections to major Johnson County employers.

In Johnson County, the new service will give residents better access to the medical center complex, where roughly 10,000 people work each day. The new service will relieve parking demands in an area where there are only about 5,000 parking slots.

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