I had the opportunity recently to spend some time in Kansas City and to revisit the KC Streetcar. The city – and the streetcar – were bustling with activity spurred by World Cup visitors. I’m happy to report that the streetcar looks great. I used it several times and found it to be clean, well-maintained, and efficient.
There’s a reason the KC Streetcar is often considered the most successful streetcar in the U. S. (making the somewhat fuzzy distinction between streetcars and light rail). It’s frequent, it’s free, and the 6.5-mile route it follows (mostly Main Street) connects many of the major activity centers: the riverfront, the downtown loop, the Power and Light District, the Kaufmann Center concert hall, Union Station, Crown Center, Liberty Park and the World War I Museum, the art museum complex, Country Club Plaza, and the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC). If you stay at a hotel on Main Street (as I did) you can get to most of the places a visitor would want to see without a car. (You will need a car to get to some places, e.g., a Kansas City, Kansas barbecue joint and the ballpark – one of the most poorly placed baseball parks in the country.)
The KC Streetcar is – for all practical purposes – what the Europeans would call an urban tram. Its main drawback is that most of its route does not have a dedicated lane, so it can be very slow if stuck in traffic, or if someone decides to double-park on the streetcar tracks while running in to pick up a pizza. The current line includes recent northern (to the riverfront) and southern (to UMKC) extensions and more are in the works. I’m looking forward to riding the KC Streetcar as it continues to improve and expand!
