KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Streetcar Authority is setting ridership records and getting high marks from soccer fans who use streetcars to take them to FIFA Fan Fest.
The FIFA Fan Fest on the grounds of the National WWI Museum and Memorial opened on June 11.
It's been an unqualified success for the Kansas City Streetcar Authority with 196,284 passenger trips between June 11 and June 17, according to the streetcar authority.
The average daily ridership, according to numbers from the streetcar authority, is 28,041 passenger trips.
The peak ridership day occurred on Tuesday, June 16, as the reigning World Cup champions Argentina beat Algeria in the opening match in Kansas City, Mo., for the FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament.
The streetcar reached over 39,000 passenger trip, the highest single-day ridership day in the system's history, according to the streetcar authority.
"The KC Streetcar system was built to meet this exact moment," stated Tom Gerend, executive director, KC Streetcar Authority, in a news release Friday. "Welcoming tens of thousands of fans from around the world onto a safe, efficient, and reliable KC Streetcar is an incredible achievement for Kansas City."
The KC Streetcar Authority listed several factors that led to improved service during FIFA World Cup 26 in KCMO.
- Boosted Capacity: Operations increased to 9–12 streetcars during peak festival hours, heavily supported by RideKC’s supplemental "Streetcar Link" buses.
- Enhanced Security: The safety and security team doubled in size for the summer season to ensure smooth system operations.
- On-the-Ground Support: Dedicated volunteer Streetcar Ambassadors remained stationed throughout the line to assist global visitors with wayfinding and crowd management.
- Safety App: Deployment of a new safety & security reporting App “See Say” for passengers to report concerns quickly and discreetly to the KC Streetcar team.
"This is the type of Kansas City experience we want to give our region’s residents and our visitors,” stated Pam Kramer, CEO of KC2026, the nonprofit overseeing Host City duties for FIFA World Cup 2026, in the news release. "In the first five days of FIFA Fan Festival™, we’ve welcomed more than 63,000 guests, and the KC Streetcar has been instrumental in making it easy for people to move throughout downtown, midtown and everything in-between, connect to our ConnectKC26 bus mall and explore other parts of the region and enjoy the energy that is making this tournament so special."
Kansas City International Airport nearly set a record day Wednesday with almost 23,500 people screened through the security area.
According to a news release from the KCMO Aviation Department, that was just 185 people short of the busiest day of all time on May 18, 2025
"“The Aviation Department is proud of its strong partnerships that made the passenger experience so positive, including airlines who added additional flights, security partners who brought in additional staff, and other vendors who helped Kansas City put its best foot forward," stated Justin Meyer, deputy director of aviation at KCI.
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