Slate gives a shoutout to the Kansas City streetcar

Slate gave national notice — and a dose of praise — to the Kansas City streetcar system.

A post by Henry Grabar, a staff writer for Slate’s Moneybox section on business and economics, said Kansas City’s ridership so far may help save American streetcars from “the scrap heap.”

Grabar and many commenters to his column noted that riding the streetcar in Kansas City is free, which no doubt contributed to its 6,600 daily ridership average over the line’s first three months. Also, it benefits from “a novelty boost in a city that hasn’t had rail transit in half a century,” he wrote.

Still, he suggested, the time is right for local boosters to work on extending the line.

The Star

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Slate gives a shoutout to the Kansas City streetcar."