Missouri's many rivers -- especially the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers -- cut through its vast, fertile plains. At their many points of confluence, settlers founded numerous counties and homesteads. Although they never intended it, their work has led to bureaucratic chaos as cities such as Kansas City, lie over multiple counties -- creating a licensing and permitting debacle. Business owners in different parts of the same city can easily need completely different sets of local licenses -- making it more difficult to wade through the regulation than to ford the state's great rivers.
In Missouri, limousines and airport shuttles serve the public and therefore need special licensing in most local jurisdictions. In some locations, airports add additional permits and costs for passenger services that wish to pick-up at terminals. These for-hire or livery businesses must comply with state, county and city licensing requirements.