May 9—Wichita bus rides are free "until further notice," the city announced Thursday as it grapples with a cyber attack that forced government to shut down many of its payment systems.
Wichita's bus system had initially switched to a cash-only payment system after the city discovered the ransomware attack on Sunday.
"Attention Riders," Wichita Transit announced on its Facebook page. "All Wichita Transit and Paratransit services are fare-free until further notice. If you are looking to request Paratransit services please call 316-352-4824 or 316-352-4810."
Wichita Transit's Paratransit Division provides accessible van service to people with physical or cognitive disabilities that prevent them from using the fixed route bus system, according to the city's website.
For maps and schedules of the city of Wichita's buses, visit wichita.gov/1460/MapsSchedules.
Some Facebook users immediately celebrated the news.
"Great!" wrote Zack Fantastic, pointing out that Kansas City, Missouri, has had free public transit services since 2019. "Keep it this way forever. the system makes so little from fares to begin with, eliminating them altogether is a great first step to increasing ridership and making the transit actually public."
Another Facebook user, Kimberly Rosencutter, asked what "until further notice" means.
The city's answer suggests Wichita's move to free rides may be temporary.
"Yes, the free-fare does relate to the network outages experienced city-wide," Wichita Transit replied to Rosencutter. "We will announce when changes occur as we get more information."
Wichita Transit isn't the only city department to make adjustments due to a cyber attack on the city's computer network. A Russian ransomware group LockBit has claimed credit for the hack and indicated it would post the city's stolen files on the dark web as early as next Wednesday.
The city has also paused shutting off water for non-payment as the online payment system is unavailable, along with several other changes, which can be found at wichita.gov/alert.
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