Number of riders doubles in first month of KC Streetcar extension. What’s next?
The Kansas City streetcar more than doubled ridership in the first month after the Main Street extension opened on Oct. 24, 2025, according to data shared in a KC Streetcar Authority press release.
On average, 11,397 people rode the streetcar each day in November, compared to 4,186 riders per day in November 2024.
The Saturday before Thanksgiving was the busiest day so far in 2025, with 19,761 trips. This topped the previous record for 2025, set two weeks prior on Saturday, Nov. 8.
The most popular stops were UMKC, Union Station and the Plaza, which each accounted for more than 9% of the riders.
The $352 million extension, funded through a mix of federal and local dollars, now connects nearly 6 miles of Kansas City, from the River Market and the Crossroads through Midtown to the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
In 2018, Midtown voters agreed to increase sales and property taxes near the line to help fund the streetcar. A $174 million federal grant paid for approximately half of the project.
The extension spurred a year-over-year increase in public transportation usage in the downtown and Midtown areas.
The November 2025 streetcar ridership is 40% more than the combined ridership of the downtown streetcar and the Main MAX bus line in November 2024. The Main MAX ran from the River Market to 75th and Troost until October, when the Kansas City Area Transit Authority ended it in order to avoid duplicating public transportation routes.
The KCATA replaced the MAX line with the 50 Wornall-Brookside, which connects with the Plaza streetcar stop and extends south to 75th and Troost.
Another streetcar opening is coming down the tracks in 2026, along with proposals for possible expansions.
Crews finished laying tracks on the 0.7-mile riverfront extension to Berkley Riverfront Park and the KC Current Stadium, which is expected to open in early 2026. The KC Streetcar Authority shared designs for a $5 million outdoor pavilion to serve as the northernmost terminus of the line.
The KC Streetcar Authority is working on a feasibility study for an east-west route from the Crossroads to 18th and Vine. Until May, the authority is hosting community meetings and assessing the state of the corridor.
The organization has previously researched two other extensions. Officials are currently looking for money to build them, said KC Streetcar Authority spokesperson Donna Mandelbaum.
From 2022 to 2024, a study looked into the possibility of an east-west streetcar connecting the University of Kansas Medical Center and the VA Hospital along 39th Street and Linwood Boulevard.
Twice, the authority has researched extending the streetcar across the river into North Kansas City, first in 2014 and then in 2021-22.
