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KC Current fans packed the KC Streetcar on Sunday, the first time riders could take it all the way to the Berkley Riverfront and CPKC Stadium. Reactions to the ride ranged from excitement to frustration.
Lauren Veselic was among the fans who boarded at the Country Club Plaza stop on their way to the game.
"This is definitely the most packed that we've ever seen this streetcar," Lauren Veselic said. "It will be nice to not have to find parking up front. The stadium has a lot of limited parking up there, and then closer to the city market is also limited."
Her sister McKenzie had concerns as the streetcar was getting packed.
"It's a little concerning. We are not even through all the stops to get there yet," McKenzie Veselic said.
Some fans, like Ashley Hay, said the moment felt bigger than the commute.
"I just really like to see KC supporting women's sports," Hay said.
Patrick Erisman agreed.
"We're pretty excited, but it's pretty packed as well — so that's awesome too," Erisman said.
While enjoying the experience, Erisman described the scene at the stops.
"If you don't make a move, you are not getting on," Erisman said.
The excitement was met with frustration as the streetcar made its way downtown.
Russell and Chirsty Bomberger said the situation was difficult.
"It is a little frustrating," Russell Bomberger said. "Maybe during a game day, they could add a couple more cars to the track and allow just kind of anticipate the traffic where they anticipate."
Doug and Augusta Cribelar said they waited through three full streetcars at the Metro Center stop before giving up.
"We live just right around the corner, so we were really excited, but we get it," Augusta Cribelar said, referring to the extra influx of people riding because of the events happening in town on Sunday.
"We hope they will evaluate this and run more cars when there's a game, because there are so many people who want this kind of transportation," Doug Cribelar said.
The Cribelars decided to walk from Metro Center, along with many other fans.
But for some fans, walking was not an option.
"I could make it eventually. Would I get to the match on time? I would not," season ticket holder Timothy Ohlmann said.
Cameron O'Toole, whose wife is pregnant and unable to walk to the stadium, said the delays would probably cause them to miss the start of the game.
"It's about 11:30, so we're probably going to miss the opening kickoff, unfortunately," O'Toole said, as they waited for the streetcar at the North Loop stop.
According to the Streetcar Authority, nine streetcars were operating on Sunday — one more than on a typical weekend — with additional boosted service during high-demand timeframes.
Ahead of the game, they asked fans "to board from stops outside of the City Market and River Market areas when possible."
"This is our first KC Current game. We are learning just like everyone else. We will take lessons from today and adjust our ingress operations strategy for the May 30 match," the Streetcar Authority spokesperson said via text message.
On Sunday, we reached out to the Current. They didn't have a statement, but referred us to an interview their president gave us on May 18.
KC Current President Raven Jemison encouraged fans to plan ahead.
"We want to encourage fans to come down early. Come down early, stay a little later, maybe watch the press conferences if you're concerned about anything with respect to waiting. Get down here early," Jemison said.
As the streetcar expanded, the Current stopped offering the shuttle to the stadium.
"The plan was always to fill the gaps that the streetcar was not filling, and now that the streetcar is open, we'll be able to ride it right to our front doors," Jemison said.
Some fans chose different strategies to avoid the lines after the game.
"We left the game seven or eight minutes earlier to try to get out here, so we could get on a streetcar quickly, so it looked like that plan worked, so we will probably be on the third or fourth train," Jessica Hutton said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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