“This is that job where you can affect more people’s lives in a day than most people get to do in a lifetime.”

The passion in this week’s Transit Unplugged guest is second to none. Robbie Makinen came from a social work background and brought that mentality into the public transportation picture. He also served on the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) Board of Commissioners and has been its chairman before transitioning to CEO of KCATA. 

Makinen lost his vision six years ago, but that hasn’t stopped him trying to change public transit with innovative ideas. He talks about the transition to using a paratransit system he wasn’t used to and how the lack of connections is terrifying to people with diverse-abilities. One of Makinen’s main focuses is the RideKC Freedom program. He notes that the reason for its success is because the program was built by focusing on the most vulnerable first, instead of thinking about them second as is often the case.

His passion runs strong throughout the entire episode as he explains that public transit ‘isn’t about inanimate objects that just go from point A to point B. [It’s] about people.’ Some of the ways Makinen and KCATA are doing this is with other programs like RideKC Job Access and figuring out ways to diversify their funding streams so that public transit can positively affect as many people as possible.

This episode dives deep into the items mentioned and so much more. You won’t want to miss it or Robbie Makinen’s passion – it’s contagious.  

If you want to know more about KCATA, you can check out their website.

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