Guest Blog: Hundreds of Metropolitan Community College students ride the bus every day

The following is a guest blog from Shelley Temple Kneuvean, Metropolitan Community College vice chancellor for financial and administrative services. 

This school year, Metropolitan Community College partnered with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority for the U-Pass program, and we have been thrilled with the number of students taking advantage of this community effort.

Since fall classes began Aug. 22, MCC has had about 6,200 students riding each week — about one-third of our students. This breaks down to about 1,240 MCC riders per day.

We have already seen this partnership work on so many levels. The initiative has helped remove barriers to accessing higher education, and it is encouraging the next generation to support public transit.

In the Northland, there’s been so much interest among our students that KCATA expanded service in the evenings to the more than 4,600 students enrolled at MCC-Maple Woods.

We are extremely appreciative of the proactive planning and responsiveness by KCATA based on the increasing demand at our five campuses across the city.

A little background about the partnership:

• With the start of fall classes, our students got new Metropolitan Community College IDs that double as an all-access RideKC bus pass -- at no additional cost to the students. With just a swipe of their MCC student ID, they’re on their way to school or anywhere else they want to go in the metropolitan area.
• The unlimited bus service is a two-year pilot program and a partnership between MCC and the KCATA. MCC’s Board of Trustees approved the program May 19, 2016; the KCATA Board of Commissioners approved it May 25.
• U-Pass provides all of our credit students, both full time and part time, with free, unlimited access to all RideKC transit, including bus service operated by KCATA, Johnson County and Independence, including the Flex routes running in the northland, south KC and Johnson County.
• MCC has about 18,000 students a semester attending five campuses on the Missouri side of the Kansas City area, including the Northland, Independence and Lee’s Summit.

For some students, the only obstacle on their road toward a college degree is lack of transportation. I know this joint effort is making it easier for them. I am excited to see the U-Pass program truly make a difference in the lives of MCC students. It is a win-win for the College, the KCATA and the community.