KC set transit records as soccer fans swelled
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Walkers, riders and bikers — oh my! Photo: Travis Meier/Axios
Record crowds moved through Kansas City's airport, streetcar and buses during the metro's six World Cup matches.
Why it matters: The city's hosting stretch from June 11 to July 12 tested how well KC moves people at a scale it had never attempted.
KCI
The airport recorded its busiest outbound day in its 54-year history on July 12, screening 24,266 travelers as quarterfinal crowds flew home.
- That broke a record set in May 2025 by nearly 600 passengers.
- KCI moved 1,127,270 passengers in June, up 2.19% from June 2025, per the Aviation Department.
- Eight days topped 20,000 outbound travelers during the tournament.
Streetcar
The KC Streetcar carried 698,705 riders in June, an all-time monthly record and more than four times its June 2025 total. Tournament ridership reached nearly 839,000.
- All five of the busiest days in streetcar history came during Fan Fest days. The peak was 55,973 trips on July 11, when Argentina met Switzerland at Arrowhead.
- About a quarter of June trips touched Union Station and Crown Center, the stops nearest the Fan Fest site, followed by the downtown loop at 19% and Midtown at 15%.
- KC Streetcar says roughly 75% of June trips went to destinations other than Fan Fest. These numbers do not include the Streetcar Link buses.
Bus
The Streetcar Link buses along Main Street carried more than 100,000 additional trips, Cindy Baker, the communications director with the KC Area Transportation Authority, tells Axios.
- Route 201 through Zona Rosa, North KC and downtown jumped roughly 76%, averaging nearly 400 more riders a day than baseline, per KCATA data shared with Axios.
- Routes 12, 31, 47 and 63 each rose by a third or more. KCATA increased frequency and expanded hours on those routes during the tournament.
- KC2026's shuttle system logged 215,000 passes, 145,000 of them to the stadium compared with other services between KCI and areas around the metro. Ridership grew from about 19,000 passes for the first match to an average above 24,000 across all six.
Rideshare
Uber reported the metro ranked among the top U.S. host cities for increased bar traffic after matches.
- Axios asked Uber and Lyft for trip totals but did not receive any numbers.
What we're watching: KCATA rolled back its expanded service July 12 and could suspend more than a dozen routes by September amid funding shortfalls, even as Mayor Quinton Lucas says the improvements should continue.