RideKC rideshare riders share frustrations and video

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — RideKC launched IRIS in the spring of 2023. The app-based, on-demand rideshare service provided by Kansas City, in partnership with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, zTrip, and RideCo. was meant to  expand connectivity for residents to fill in gaps where a bus stop or other transportation service may not be as accessible.

But after receiving several complaints for weeks from multiple customers, FOX4 investigated why the service does not seem to be working for customers who say “you get what you pay for.”

IRIS operating in Kansas City, Gladstone, Riverside, Liberty, and Raytown and the similar RideKC service in Johnson and Wyandotte County, Micro Transit, are ride share operations in the truest sense of the term.

“They do have other stops that they can make picking them up dropping them off it takes a little longer. It’s a little cheaper,” passenger Dustin Willoughby explained.

According to numerous passengers that contacted FOX4 the service is often late, if it comes at all.

“I have lost two jobs because I have been late so many times relying on IRIS. I will set it to drop me off 30 minutes to an hour early and they will still manage to make me late,” Alyx Wenneker said.

Passengers say the app cancels the ride when it doesn’t arrive within 30 minutes of schedule.

RideKC blamed new software for issues that started last month, though some customers think its a lack of drivers. While RideKC says it has a “no strand” policy and drivers should send a road supervisor to come to the scene, Wenneker said that didn’t happen close to the end of the 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. operations after her 9:45 p.m. scheduled ride timed out.

“I ended up walking eight miles home from 10 p.m. to one in the morning,” she explained.

Dustin Willoughby started recording last week when a driver maybe seemed to be trying a little too hard to make up time.

“I’m getting it all too, you are driving crazy,” he told the driver explaining he was recording.

RideKC says the vehicles have video of their own.

He then kept recording when the driver’s card reader wasn’t working and a dispute arose over the driver keeping the change.

“You ain’t going to give me my change?” Willoughby asked in the video.

“She told me to give me the change,” the driver said pointing to his fiancee.

“I’m telling you that’s out of my wallet give me my $2,” Willoughby responded.

The driver exited the vehicle after Willoughby said there would be a problem if he didn’t comply.

“What problem is there going to be?” he said repeatedly getting in the passenger’s face.

“Where’s my $2?” Willoughby continued to ask.

“That’s not how any adult should act especially for a service as an employee,” Willoughby said of the incident.

Medi Coach a subcontractor for IRIS issued a statement saying “We have reviewed the incident as reported. We also have had to opportunity to review the entire interaction from the interior vehicle camera system. We are dealing with this with both the driver and the passenger under the terms of our contract.”

Wenneker was not surprised by the video saying she had been forcibly removed from a vehicle by a driver on her first ride after a dispute over prepayment and shoved out by a passenger on her most recent one after delays involving the driver’s demands for correct change when the card reader wasn’t working. That incident Monday was also captured on video.

“She’s getting in my face,” she told the driver.

“I’m not in your mother*##*ing face,” the passenger responded.

“Do you hear the way you are acting?” Wenneker said expressing frustration the driver did not remove the passenger.

While customers tell FOX4 they’ve had trouble getting help from dispatch or supervisors Ride KC says they want continued feedback on how the program is working and encourage people to reach out with concerns.

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