Happy 7th Birthday, KC Streetcar!

KC Streetcar Celebrates 7th Anniversary with High Ridership and Increased Service During First Fridays

Saturday, May 6, 2023, marks the KC Streetcar’s seventh anniversary in downtown Kansas City and with that we celebrate all the trips taken and passengers served.

As of the end of April 2023, the KC Streetcar system has completed 11,782,680 passenger trips since opening day with 725,669 streetcar miles traveled and a daily average ridership of 4,878.

The KC Streetcar completed nearly 600,000 trips between January and April 2023, with the top two ridership days occurring during the NFL Draft. On April 27, the first day of the NFL Draft, the KC Streetcar logged 21,601 trips, breaking the record for the highest ridership day ever. Over the three-day NFL Draft experience, the streetcar ridership totaled 57,490 trips. Besides record-breaking ridership numbers, the NFL Draft experience was the first time the KC Streetcar offered five car passenger service, with frequencies averaging six to seven minutes.

In January 2023, the KC Streetcar team increased weeknight hours of operation to midnight and service levels on Saturdays in response to the growing demand and anticipated spring and summer ridership. This increase in weeknight hours brought service levels back to what they were prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, the KC Streetcar offers four car service every Saturday and during First Friday evenings.

The KC Streetcar isn’t the only thing in downtown experiencing great numbers. Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, is on the rise in employment, residential, economic development, and visitor numbers. According to the Downtown Council, downtown has seen more than $9 billion in major developments, is comprised of more than 113,000 employees (this is after the Covid-19 pandemic) and has a current downtown residential population of 32,000, that’s a 79% increase between 2010 and 2022.

The KC Streetcar is utilized by tourists and visitors to Kansas City but according to a 2022 ridership survey conducted by ETC, most streetcar riders are Kansas City Metro residents and either work or live downtown:

• 90% KC metro residents / 10% Visitors
• 98% of riders are satisfied with the ease of use of the KC Streetcar
• Nearly 50% of passengers use the streetcar four or more days a week
• More than 71% of KC Streetcar trips represent passengers traveling to spend money downtown

More information about the 2022 KC Streetcar Rider Satisfaction Survey can be found on our website at www.kcstreetcar.org/rider-surveys.

KC Streetcar ridership is calculated by Automated Passenger Counters, or APCs, located over each door of each streetcar vehicle. Passengers are counted each time they board vehicles no matter how many vehicles they use to travel from their origin to their destination. More information about KC Streetcar ridership can be found on our website www.kcstreetcar.org/about-streetcar/ridership