April 1, 2025 • 25 mins
Kansas City's streetcar system has transformed downtown with $4 billion in development since opening in 2016, and now two major extensions will nearly triple the system's reach to the university district and riverfront.
• 2.2-mile downtown streetcar line has carried over 14 million passengers since 2016
• Extensions will add 3.5 miles south to University of Missouri-Kansas City and 0.7 miles north to the riverfront
• Fleet expanding from 6 to 14 streetcars to maintain 10-12 minute service frequencies
• Comprehensive infrastructure improvements include new water/sewer lines, sidewalks, and green spaces
• Downtown residential population has grown to approximately 36,000 people
• Maintenance facility tour revealed specialized equipment for streetcar upkeep
• Ridership profile expected to diversify with more students and recreational users
• Mixed-traffic operations require ongoing adaptations including some parking removal
• Some sections of the extensions will feature dedicated transit lanes
Check out the Kansas City Streetcar at kcstreetcar.org or find them on all social media platforms at @kcstreetcar to keep up with their progress.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Doors are closing.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Public transit.
That's my way to roll On themetro.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm taking control, full throttle, stopped train
tracks.
It's my daily grind, dailygrind.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Public transit, it's the rhythm of my life.
Oh yeah, On this episode ofTransit Tangents, we head to
Kansas City and talk directlywith the Kansas City Streetcar
Authority to learn more aboutthe upcoming extensions that
will nearly triple the length oftheir system.
All of this and more coming upon Transit Tangents.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Have you ever wondered where your streetcar
goes to sleep at night?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, on this trip to Kansas City, we got to find out
my name's Lewis, I'm Chris andthis is Transit Tangents For
today's episode.
We got to take an exclusivelook behind the scenes at the
Kansas City StreetcarMaintenance Facility, as well as
talk with their planning andmarketing directors about two
upcoming streetcar extensionsthat will nearly triple the size
of the system in the city.
We'll talk about challenges theteam has faced along the way,
(00:58):
successes with their existingsystem and the importance of
getting buy-in from the localcommunity.
We'll start off by taking alook at their maintenance
facility, but we'll go back andforth between our conversation
and the importance of gettingbuy-in from the local community.
We'll start off by taking alook at their maintenance
facility, but we'll go back andforth between our conversation
and the tour throughout theepisode.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This is a tight singleton yard, so this is a
vehicle maintenance facilityhere.
Kansas City Streetcar.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I like the idea they get tucked in at night here at
the facility.
They do, they get to sleep,they get their baths.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, they get their hair done.
Yeah they get dressed.
So we will start out on themezzanine.
This is the exciting part.
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
This is the most treasured spotin the shop.
This is Bay One and thisprovides access to streetcars
overhead.
(01:41):
We've got ground floor accessand we also have underbody
access, so this is superimportant from a maintenance
perspective.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Speaking now is Lauren Cruddy, the Director of
Operations and Planning for theCasey Streetcar Authority.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
This has been here since opening.
We had bays one, two and threeand as part of the Main Street
extension we've had to make roomfor more street cars to operate
more service on the expansionand so we've doubled kind of the
size of our shop facility aswell as our yard tracks outside
which we can walk you guysthrough.
But this is still the mostcoveted position in the shop.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, and we went from six streetcars to 14.
So when we go through thefacility, you'll see why.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And is the addition from six to 14 like getting
ready for the extension?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Okay, yeah, yeah yeah , yeah, for both extensions.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
How many did you start?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
with.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, back in the day we started with only four
streetcars and we quickly werelike yikes and so we added two
more.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
We were also lucky to have Donna Mandelbaum, who is
the Marketing and CommunicationsDirector for the Kansas City
Streetcar Authority.
Donna has been working with theKC Streetcar since it opened in
2016.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So we operate 10 to 12 minute service all day, every
day.
We're in service 365 days ayear and we want to maintain
that level of frequency on bothextensions.
So in order to do that, weneeded to expand our fleet, and
so thus the increase from sixvehicles to 14 vehicles.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Very cool.
Yep, we'll come back to themaintenance facility later in
the episode, but the tour wasaround 40 minutes, which is too
long to include here in full.
If you want to see the full,uninterrupted tour, it's
available now on our Patreon.
Let's jump into ourconversation with Donna and
Lauren so to kick us off forfolks who are not from Kansas
City, do you mind just givingfolks an explanation of kind of
how the Kansas City streetcarcame to be and what its existing
(03:28):
line is today?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, I'll take that one.
So Kansas City the modernstreetcar that we have here in
Kansas City opened May of 2016.
It is a 2.2 mile route indowntown Kansas City.
It connects the riverfrontriver market city market area to
Union Station and Crown Centerarea.
We probably average about 1.8million passenger trips a year,
(03:54):
so we're definitely clocked over14 million passenger trips
since we opened in 2016.
And now we're working on twoexpansions of the streetcar
system, one south and one north.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Absolutely, and even for the streetcar just running
two and a half miles today.
Every time we've been on it,chris and I have been commenting
, being like from afar, I'mlooking at it, I'm like I wonder
if this is going to besomething that's really used and
useful or not.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
And I was like there are people doing everything from
tourists to people commutingand everything in between.
Every single time we've been onit, regardless of time of day,
it's been amazing to see.
Yeah, it has been really,really impressive With the
extensions.
Can you just kind of give us anoverview of what those
extensions look like and kind ofhow far along they are?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, sure, and I think it's important to note.
You said how busy and variedour ridership is.
Since we opened the streetcar,our downtown residential numbers
have steadily increased.
I think we're near like 36,000that are in the heart of
downtown and we've seen over $4billion in development private
(04:54):
development, public developmentaround the downtown line since
2014.
So more people coming back intothe heart of the city.
And we are working on twoextensions of the system One
south, which is going to addthree and a half miles from
Union Station area at Maine andPershing, all the way to 51st
and Brookside, which is whereour big university, university
(05:17):
of Missouri, kansas City, is,and then we're working on a
northern one which will connectus to our riverfront, which is
about a 0.7 mile extension.
On that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I think we'll see you're talking about.
You see all different types ofpeople.
You know different types oftrip purposes.
On the existing line I do thinkwe'll see our ridership
demographic change.
We have about a third of ourweekday trips are
employment-based going to orfrom work.
I anticipate that thatpercentage will increase with
the Main Street extension longertrips, more commute-oriented,
(05:49):
but I think that's one of thegreat things about the KC
Streetcar it's all differenttrip purposes and so we'll
continue to see that mix.
We'll see more education-basedtrips with UMKC on the south end
of the line, many more studentsriding.
So we're excited to see howit'll change our ridership
profile as well as with morerecreational trips, maybe with
(06:10):
the Riverfront extension goingto Berkeley Riverfront.
It's one of the biggest greenspaces in downtown Kansas City.
People who want to get out, youknow running along the
Riverfront bikes on theRiverfront.
So I think both bring greatadditions to the downtown line.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And even the direct connection to the Casey Current
Stadium too.
I mean it's really encouraging.
I know you mentioned alreadythe development that's happened
along the existing line.
The same thing's happeningalong the extensions as well,
from what we're seeing.
So it's been impressive to seeagain for such a compact system
that is growing which is amazingto see it growing the impact
(06:45):
that it's having on the localeconomy and for folks to be able
to get around easier, for theability for folks to have
options of places to live intown, car-free or car-light.
You know, having a one-carhousehold instead of two things
like this make such a hugedifference.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
I'm actually really curious about public perception
too.
So you say you've been herepretty much since the beginning
and you know we didn't knowabout this when it first started
, but I'm sure there must havebeen at least a little bit of
pushback from community.
Do you have any good stories ofsomebody who you've seen their
entire perception change?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I do.
I have the best story and Ihave it documented in video too,
if you like it.
In the beginning, because we'vementioned that Kansas City is a
streetcar city and had been forgenerations, but people forgot
about it and when this projectwas being designed and discussed
and the route locally preferredroute was decided upon, people
(07:40):
were like no one's going to ridethis.
What's happening here?
We like our trucks and our carsand whatnot.
We had a business that is stilllocated on our downtown route.
It's a family-run business,been there for over 100 years.
Biggest naysayer, biggest justadversary about the project.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Basically, people on the line were were told, when we
put metal rails in, economicdevelopment will follow.
And I was not a positive guy,but I'm definitely eating crow.
Since the streetcar has beenput in, economic development
followed, and now we're gettingnumerous people in because
(08:26):
they're riding the streetcar,seeing that Michael's clothing
is here, and most of thecomments were hey, we've driven
by numerous times and all of asudden we're down here riding
the streetcar, we're going to goin, and so it's been very, very
good.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Complete turnaround.
He is a huge fan.
It has changed how he marketshis business, who his clientele
is.
He's had to bring in youngerstyles in his business because
he sells suits and fancy clotheslike that and the demographic
of people coming into his storechanged because of the streetcar
(09:03):
more younger people coming inand he said it was the best
thing for his business.
And so, yeah, it was not aneasy go in the beginning and we
also are in the state ofMissouri.
We like to say that our name,that we say like we're the show
me state, and so we had to showthem.
So it was rough and we thought,oh, who's going to ride it?
(09:27):
Maybe an average dailyridership of 2,700 trips.
We exceeded that right off thebat.
I think we hit our firstmillion passenger trips in the
first five months of service.
So I think with the extensionsit's been a little bit easier,
even though construction isnever fun.
But they have something to lookat Like, oh, look at what it's
done for downtown and look howmany people use it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Right.
They know that the constructionand the weight is worth it
because in the end, what they'regoing to have is so good.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yes, more tangible.
Now they can see it downtown,and it's more than just tracks
in the ground, because when thecity built the system, both
downtown and to the university,they're upgrading all the water
and sewer lines under the ground, which some of them were 100
years old, so it's a wholecommunity improvement project
new sidewalks, new green space,more trees, crosswalks, yeah,
(10:18):
and it's making the road thatwe're running on even safer.
Medians are now in certainsections of Main Street, so it's
really something to be proud of.
I'm very excited for everybodyto get on board and experience
it, but yeah, yeah, it was along road, but I think people
like us now.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So we're entering the shop floor, so be mindful of
your surroundings please.
There may be active work goingon while we're walking through.
So this is bay one.
We have bay two, which has thecolumn jacks here.
So even though we can getunderneath the streetcars here
in bay one, we oftentimes needto lift up a vehicle on the
(11:00):
jacks.
That's how we detruck cars, soyou can see the trucks here, or
the bogies, if you're usingEuropean terminology, and we
detruck the cars using the bogielift table here and we take
trucks off for generalmaintenance, preventative
maintenance to true wheels, etc.
So you can never have enoughtrucks.
(11:24):
And, yeah, so this one's alltaken apart, you've got traction
motors off of the bogey doingregular maintenance here.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And our vehicles have two trucks per streetcar.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Correct two trucks per streetcar.
We have a three modular vehicle.
So you've got the two endmodules and then a center saloon
and the trucks are on the endmodules and then the center
saloon is actually justsuspended with articulation
joints in between the endmodules.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
And it looks like this facility is pretty purpose
built for this specificconfiguration of vehicles.
So there's no like plan rightnow, like if you were to link
two saloons or something.
There's no plan to change thevehicles.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Correct, all of our cars can be coupled together and
they can operate as a coupledcar, but our infrastructure
doesn't accommodate for that, soour station stop platforms
aren't long enough toaccommodate for that.
We have certain locations where, like just the block length is
limited, and so we've neveroperated like that for passenger
(12:26):
service.
But we can operate like thatfor emergency recovery or
anything like that, very cool.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I'm curious from so.
Your job sounds really fun tome, Like you're involved in the
planning aspects of all of this,and while we were doing the
tour of the facility you weretalking about doing timetables
and all of this sort of stuff.
Can you talk about the processof what it's been like on the
planning aspect of theseextensions and getting ready for
the launch, which is not toofar away?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, there's so much that goes on behind the scenes.
You know that people aren'taware of, even in the really
early days and like the earlyplanning level, where you're
thinking, okay, this corridorfinishes that corridor, and then
you're defining a locallypreferred alternative that
includes, maybe, the corridoryou're running in the mode type,
starting to think about wherestation stops are going to be
(13:12):
located, go throughenvironmental clearance.
You've got the whole federalprocess right Just to get to
start construction funding.
You know, developing all ofthat I mean there's a huge
precursor to just, you know, ashovel in the ground and these
are really long horizons.
You know 10 plus years forthese sorts of projects.
(13:33):
But then, even once constructionstarts, there's a lot that goes
on with our team behind thescenes preparing the operations
and maintenance team to operatea nearly tripled system.
So you know it's not justhiring more operators, it's
hiring more maintenance stafftechnicians.
You know it's hiring moremaintenance staff technicians.
It's learning the newsubsystems that are getting
(13:53):
installed that differ slightlyfrom the downtown line.
Yeah, it's building newschedules, new timetables,
digging into the data to makesure that we have the capacity
we need to meet our frequency.
The capacity we need to meetour frequency.
It's making sure all of thesystems behind the scenes that
feed you know passenger facingreal time arrival signs, like
(14:16):
making sure that's all going towork correctly, and so there's
just layers and layers of layersand I mean this is my dream job
and getting to have a hand inthe operation side and the
maintenance side and theplanning space is just so much
fun and I'm really excited towatch it all come together.
(14:36):
We are about we're in the midstof a rail activation phase and
so that's kind of the process ofpassing the baton from
construction to operations andthere's steps within that and
we're finishing the testingphase and we're getting ready
for the pre-operations phaseright yeah, so excited to see
the, the, the streetcarsactually on the line when we
(14:58):
were kind of riding around onbuses and whatnot throughout the
week.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It's like, oh, you can see them there, they're
getting ready.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So yeah, so everything you can see here was
part of our original facility.
So bay one, one, two and three,so you have Pitt and Mezzanine,
you have the Jacks position andthen this is our wash bay.
So this is where streetcars goto wash.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
This is also where we wrap cars, so we do wrap our
streetcars in vinyl.
For special organizations,events.
We have a public art program,so every summer, one of our
streetcars is decorated in artmade by a local artist.
So yeah, this is where thatmagic happens, in here.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
We've seen some of them with the sports teams and
whatnot on them.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yes, we are a huge supporter of our women's soccer
team here, kc Current, and theylove the streetcar as well,
because one of our extensions isgonna go right to the stadium
right steps away from theirstadium in 2026.
So, um, yeah, we have a.
We're gonna be rolling out somenew stuff with them later this
year, so yeah, yeah, I thinkjust the community interest and
(16:06):
the raps.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Uh, it's a real testament to donna's work and
the marketing communicationscommittee.
Right, they've worked reallyhard to make sure that we've got
the right guidelines in placeto make the streetcar a place
that people want to have theirbrand on, but not in like a
gimmicky billboard-y way.
And people get so excited whenthere's a new wrap.
(16:28):
They want to see it out enroute, they want to ride that
streetcar, they're looking forit and so it's a big.
It's just a really fun way toengage with the ridership and
the community.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, and I think when, back in the day, when we
were developing what our brandaesthetic would be.
You know, our streetcars arejust very, very simple, very
simple and clean and it's like'slike the canvas, right.
So you'll see, in other cities,like oklahoma city, they have
different colors on eachstreetcar.
This we're like nope, this isthe canvas, and then we're going
(16:59):
to add some color to it.
So, um, but we also like thelook of our undressed street
cars too.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So, yeah, so I'm curious.
Uh, from when we were firstlooking at the streetcar it was,
I was like I wonder how thisruns, given that so much of it
is in mixed traffic.
Now I know in the extensionsthere is a lot of dedicated
space, which is really nice tosee.
Can you talk about some of thechallenges in operating a system
that is in mixed traffic,especially when trying to meet
(17:26):
your frequencies and whatnot andkind of things that you all are
working on to maybe you know ifit is an issue, trying to
improve it and mitigate itExactly?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, I mean for me kind of getting nerdy.
Again, it all goes back to thedata.
So you got to look at youroperations data right, where are
you seeing congestion?
Where are you seeing blockages?
One of the best attributes andone of the challenges with rail
is that it's fixed guidewayright.
So if you have a blockage andmixed traffic, we can't deviate
around that, and so we trackthat data very closely.
(18:00):
These sorts of mitigations werealready in place before I
started.
But looking at common locationsand saying, okay, why do we
continue to have people that areparked over the line here on
on-street parking?
They're encroaching on thetrack slab, we can't get around
them, and so actually we've hada lot of city and public support
to actually just eliminateparking in those locations.
(18:21):
So where it's too tight, whereit's too narrow, let's just get
rid of it.
Let's put the Leniators inplace, hopefully long term, bump
out curb lines, provide moresidewalk, you know, or
restaurant, you know, cafe space, repurpose the extra space of
the roadway and just try toeliminate those problems so that
they can't exist there, right?
(18:42):
So it's just kind of keeping apulse on that and continuing
like not getting lazy andletting that just happen and not
try to fix the problem.
The congestion is always anissue, especially we've got a
lot of arenas and thingsdowntown and so you've got these
really kind of crunch timedemand periods, and that's when
(19:03):
we're carrying a lot of riders,and so you really don't want to
be stuck in congestion.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
It becomes tricky because your ridership is really
high, but the congestion isalso really high.
It's's a double whammy of likeif you have one car that's stuck
there and all of a sudden youend up with a backup, it becomes
an issue so we check ourridership annually.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
We know when big events are coming up.
We try to deploy additionalresources for that.
So whether that's justadditional streetcars out on
route to improve frequency, orwhether it's additional manpower
on our police department side,or parking enforcement.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, no, that feels like that's the way to help
direct and just eliminate anyrisk and improve reliability.
And to your point, too, of likebeing able to build the like,
the show me aspect of this.
You now, it seems like, havethe public support for this sort
of thing, so you know, from thePR side of this, to be able to
be like, hey, you know, thesefour parking spaces or whatever,
(19:54):
continue to be an issue.
I'm imagining that you'reprobably not getting as much
pushback on being like, hey,this is going to improve service
by a lot.
Like we're not trying to removeall of the parking here or
anything, we just need to cleanup this one intersection and
whatnot.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Right In the beginning when we did that,
there was one business on theroute that we had to take away
some of their parking and wethought they're just going to
lose their minds.
They are used to them theircustomers being a pull up and
like going.
But after that, when we had totake some parking away from near
(20:28):
9th and Main, it's a naturalevolution.
But I think also, when we dothe extension, there's going to
be a lot of education that'sgoing to be had with the
traveling public, not just ourriders, but those that are
motorists, pedestrians,bicyclists, because they don't
know what exclusive lanes are,they don't know what red
concrete means and all of that,and they may want to follow us
(20:51):
because they're used tofollowing behind us downtown
Like, oh, I'm in the streetcarlane.
So there's going to be a lot ofemphasis on the changes on the
extension and how we all have tolive together and move together
on Main Street Right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That's a big design change from the downtown line to
the expansion.
So we have about a quarter giveor take of each expansion
that's in fully dedicatedguideway, and then for the rest
of the alignment we're trying toimplement like kind of
semi-exclusive transit lanes,and so it will allow automobiles
to take a right turn or toaccess the driveway along the
(21:27):
route, but otherwise we don'twant automobiles traveling in
that lane.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, we see a lot of that where we live in Austin.
We have a few like roads thathave bus only lanes but it's bus
only and right turn basically,and it makes it so the buses
aren't waiting in line at astoplight necessarily because
folks will be doing their righton red or whatever you know,
whenever they can kind of getthrough, but it's improving the
speed of the buses along thoseroutes.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
And people obey it most of the time, Most of the
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I just want to say it's amazing to see like it's so
clear how much you all lovewhat you're doing.
And I love to see that becauseI feel like it makes such a
difference?
Because everyone we've talkedto in Kansas City, whether it's
been to talk about the streetcaror anything else, like people
mention the streetcar all thetime, which is awesome to see,
(22:12):
and it's because you have folkswho are like really, it's clear,
you all care so much about it,we need that everywhere.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
This is not something that you see every day, even
for our onsite maintenance team.
So you can see, the cab isfully torn apart.
Right, we're changing out allof our wiring.
You think about how quicklytechnology changes, and so these
streetcars were designedoriginally for the starter line
system.
We piggybacked on cincinnati'scontract cincinnati streetcars
contract and so these designdiscussions were started
(22:42):
happening in like 2012, 2012,yeah, and so you think about how
quickly technology changesright, we, we're in 2025, and
it's always the electronics thatchange the fastest, and so
we're working to upgrade thesubsystems to make them as
similar as possible with the newstreetcars Massive, massive
(23:04):
undertaking.
A big part of what's triggeringthe wiring change is the
passenger information system.
We call it the PIS, so that iswhat is the backbone for all of
our passenger displays here.
So what's telling you the nextstop that you're going to be
arriving at?
It's also the automated audioannouncements that correspond
(23:27):
with this information.
Automated audio announcementsthat correspond with this
information.
It's also the intercom speakersystem with the operators for an
emergency intercom with theoperator.
It's your external head signs.
So all of that has to beupgraded, and so it's triggering
kind of a complete wiringoverhaul of the car.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
If people in the community or even outside of
Austin, we're not in Austinanymore.
Lewis.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Not in Kansas anymore .
I did that the other day.
That's what he said.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
If people outside of Kansas City want to learn more
about the KC Streetcar, wherecan they find out more On
socials?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yes, I mean our website is kcstreetcarorg, but
we are on all the socials, evenTikTok.
So Blue Sky, facebook,instagram, youtube, all of the
things it's at kcstreetcar.
So, yeah, check us out, keep inthe loop on all our happenings,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Thank you all so much for watching.
I hope you enjoyed thisconversation as well as the tour
around the maintenance facility, which was amazing.
Huge thanks to both of you andthe Kansas City Streetcar in
general, as well as Kansas City,for having us.
We've had so many pleasantinteractions with folks here.
If you haven't liked this videoalready, please do so.
It helps us out quite a bit Ifyou want to support the show
directly.
If you want to support the showdirectly, you can do so via our
(24:47):
Patreon.
If you're listening, you canalso rate us on your favorite
podcast platform.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
If you want any gear like nice sweatshirts, t-shirts,
etc.
We also have the store.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yes, we're not wearing them today unfortunately
Without further ado, thoughthank you all so much for
watching and enjoy the rest ofyour Transit Tangents Tuesday.
Doors are closing.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Public transit.
That's my way to roll On themetro.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I'm taking control, full throttle, stopped train
tracks.
It's my daily grind, dailygrind.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Public transit, it's the rhythm of my life.
Oh yeah, On this episode ofTransit Tangents, we head to
Kansas City and talk directlywith the Kansas City Streetcar
Authority to learn more aboutthe upcoming extensions that
will nearly triple the length oftheir system.
All of this and more coming upon Transit Tangents.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Have you ever wondered where your streetcar
goes to sleep at night?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, on this trip to Kansas City, we got to find out
my name's Lewis, I'm Chris andthis is Transit Tangents For
today's episode.
We got to take an exclusivelook behind the scenes at the
Kansas City StreetcarMaintenance Facility, as well as
talk with their planning andmarketing directors about two
upcoming streetcar extensionsthat will nearly triple the size
of the system in the city.
We'll talk about challenges theteam has faced along the way,
(00:58):
successes with their existingsystem and the importance of
getting buy-in from the localcommunity.
We'll start off by taking alook at their maintenance
facility, but we'll go back andforth between our conversation
and the importance of gettingbuy-in from the local community.
We'll start off by taking alook at their maintenance
facility, but we'll go back andforth between our conversation
and the tour throughout theepisode.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
This is a tight singleton yard, so this is a
vehicle maintenance facilityhere.
Kansas City Streetcar.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I like the idea they get tucked in at night here at
the facility.
They do, they get to sleep,they get their baths.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, they get their hair done.
Yeah they get dressed.
So we will start out on themezzanine.
This is the exciting part.
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
This is the most treasured spotin the shop.
This is Bay One and thisprovides access to streetcars
overhead.
(01:41):
We've got ground floor accessand we also have underbody
access, so this is superimportant from a maintenance
perspective.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Speaking now is Lauren Cruddy, the Director of
Operations and Planning for theCasey Streetcar Authority.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
This has been here since opening.
We had bays one, two and threeand as part of the Main Street
extension we've had to make roomfor more street cars to operate
more service on the expansionand so we've doubled kind of the
size of our shop facility aswell as our yard tracks outside
which we can walk you guysthrough.
But this is still the mostcoveted position in the shop.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, and we went from six streetcars to 14.
So when we go through thefacility, you'll see why.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And is the addition from six to 14 like getting
ready for the extension?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Okay, yeah, yeah yeah , yeah, for both extensions.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
How many did you start?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
with.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Well, back in the day we started with only four
streetcars and we quickly werelike yikes and so we added two
more.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
We were also lucky to have Donna Mandelbaum, who is
the Marketing and CommunicationsDirector for the Kansas City
Streetcar Authority.
Donna has been working with theKC Streetcar since it opened in
2016.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So we operate 10 to 12 minute service all day, every
day.
We're in service 365 days ayear and we want to maintain
that level of frequency on bothextensions.
So in order to do that, weneeded to expand our fleet, and
so thus the increase from sixvehicles to 14 vehicles.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Very cool.
Yep, we'll come back to themaintenance facility later in
the episode, but the tour wasaround 40 minutes, which is too
long to include here in full.
If you want to see the full,uninterrupted tour, it's
available now on our Patreon.
Let's jump into ourconversation with Donna and
Lauren so to kick us off forfolks who are not from Kansas
City, do you mind just givingfolks an explanation of kind of
how the Kansas City streetcarcame to be and what its existing
(03:28):
line is today?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, I'll take that one.
So Kansas City the modernstreetcar that we have here in
Kansas City opened May of 2016.
It is a 2.2 mile route indowntown Kansas City.
It connects the riverfrontriver market city market area to
Union Station and Crown Centerarea.
We probably average about 1.8million passenger trips a year,
(03:54):
so we're definitely clocked over14 million passenger trips
since we opened in 2016.
And now we're working on twoexpansions of the streetcar
system, one south and one north.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Absolutely, and even for the streetcar just running
two and a half miles today.
Every time we've been on it,chris and I have been commenting
, being like from afar, I'mlooking at it, I'm like I wonder
if this is going to besomething that's really used and
useful or not.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
And I was like there are people doing everything from
tourists to people commutingand everything in between.
Every single time we've been onit, regardless of time of day,
it's been amazing to see.
Yeah, it has been really,really impressive With the
extensions.
Can you just kind of give us anoverview of what those
extensions look like and kind ofhow far along they are?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, sure, and I think it's important to note.
You said how busy and variedour ridership is.
Since we opened the streetcar,our downtown residential numbers
have steadily increased.
I think we're near like 36,000that are in the heart of
downtown and we've seen over $4billion in development private
(04:54):
development, public developmentaround the downtown line since
2014.
So more people coming back intothe heart of the city.
And we are working on twoextensions of the system One
south, which is going to addthree and a half miles from
Union Station area at Maine andPershing, all the way to 51st
and Brookside, which is whereour big university, university
(05:17):
of Missouri, kansas City, is,and then we're working on a
northern one which will connectus to our riverfront, which is
about a 0.7 mile extension.
On that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I think we'll see you're talking about.
You see all different types ofpeople.
You know different types oftrip purposes.
On the existing line I do thinkwe'll see our ridership
demographic change.
We have about a third of ourweekday trips are
employment-based going to orfrom work.
I anticipate that thatpercentage will increase with
the Main Street extension longertrips, more commute-oriented,
(05:49):
but I think that's one of thegreat things about the KC
Streetcar it's all differenttrip purposes and so we'll
continue to see that mix.
We'll see more education-basedtrips with UMKC on the south end
of the line, many more studentsriding.
So we're excited to see howit'll change our ridership
profile as well as with morerecreational trips, maybe with
(06:10):
the Riverfront extension goingto Berkeley Riverfront.
It's one of the biggest greenspaces in downtown Kansas City.
People who want to get out, youknow running along the
Riverfront bikes on theRiverfront.
So I think both bring greatadditions to the downtown line.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And even the direct connection to the Casey Current
Stadium too.
I mean it's really encouraging.
I know you mentioned alreadythe development that's happened
along the existing line.
The same thing's happeningalong the extensions as well,
from what we're seeing.
So it's been impressive to seeagain for such a compact system
that is growing which is amazingto see it growing the impact
(06:45):
that it's having on the localeconomy and for folks to be able
to get around easier, for theability for folks to have
options of places to live intown, car-free or car-light.
You know, having a one-carhousehold instead of two things
like this make such a hugedifference.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
I'm actually really curious about public perception
too.
So you say you've been herepretty much since the beginning
and you know we didn't knowabout this when it first started
, but I'm sure there must havebeen at least a little bit of
pushback from community.
Do you have any good stories ofsomebody who you've seen their
entire perception change?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I do.
I have the best story and Ihave it documented in video too,
if you like it.
In the beginning, because we'vementioned that Kansas City is a
streetcar city and had been forgenerations, but people forgot
about it and when this projectwas being designed and discussed
and the route locally preferredroute was decided upon, people
(07:40):
were like no one's going to ridethis.
What's happening here?
We like our trucks and our carsand whatnot.
We had a business that is stilllocated on our downtown route.
It's a family-run business,been there for over 100 years.
Biggest naysayer, biggest justadversary about the project.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Basically, people on the line were were told, when we
put metal rails in, economicdevelopment will follow.
And I was not a positive guy,but I'm definitely eating crow.
Since the streetcar has beenput in, economic development
followed, and now we're gettingnumerous people in because
(08:26):
they're riding the streetcar,seeing that Michael's clothing
is here, and most of thecomments were hey, we've driven
by numerous times and all of asudden we're down here riding
the streetcar, we're going to goin, and so it's been very, very
good.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Complete turnaround.
He is a huge fan.
It has changed how he marketshis business, who his clientele
is.
He's had to bring in youngerstyles in his business because
he sells suits and fancy clotheslike that and the demographic
of people coming into his storechanged because of the streetcar
(09:03):
more younger people coming inand he said it was the best
thing for his business.
And so, yeah, it was not aneasy go in the beginning and we
also are in the state ofMissouri.
We like to say that our name,that we say like we're the show
me state, and so we had to showthem.
So it was rough and we thought,oh, who's going to ride it?
(09:27):
Maybe an average dailyridership of 2,700 trips.
We exceeded that right off thebat.
I think we hit our firstmillion passenger trips in the
first five months of service.
So I think with the extensionsit's been a little bit easier,
even though construction isnever fun.
But they have something to lookat Like, oh, look at what it's
done for downtown and look howmany people use it.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Right.
They know that the constructionand the weight is worth it
because in the end, what they'regoing to have is so good.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yes, more tangible.
Now they can see it downtown,and it's more than just tracks
in the ground, because when thecity built the system, both
downtown and to the university,they're upgrading all the water
and sewer lines under the ground, which some of them were 100
years old, so it's a wholecommunity improvement project
new sidewalks, new green space,more trees, crosswalks, yeah,
(10:18):
and it's making the road thatwe're running on even safer.
Medians are now in certainsections of Main Street, so it's
really something to be proud of.
I'm very excited for everybodyto get on board and experience
it, but yeah, yeah, it was along road, but I think people
like us now.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
So we're entering the shop floor, so be mindful of
your surroundings please.
There may be active work goingon while we're walking through.
So this is bay one.
We have bay two, which has thecolumn jacks here.
So even though we can getunderneath the streetcars here
in bay one, we oftentimes needto lift up a vehicle on the
(11:00):
jacks.
That's how we detruck cars, soyou can see the trucks here, or
the bogies, if you're usingEuropean terminology, and we
detruck the cars using the bogielift table here and we take
trucks off for generalmaintenance, preventative
maintenance to true wheels, etc.
So you can never have enoughtrucks.
(11:24):
And, yeah, so this one's alltaken apart, you've got traction
motors off of the bogey doingregular maintenance here.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And our vehicles have two trucks per streetcar.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Correct two trucks per streetcar.
We have a three modular vehicle.
So you've got the two endmodules and then a center saloon
and the trucks are on the endmodules and then the center
saloon is actually justsuspended with articulation
joints in between the endmodules.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
And it looks like this facility is pretty purpose
built for this specificconfiguration of vehicles.
So there's no like plan rightnow, like if you were to link
two saloons or something.
There's no plan to change thevehicles.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Correct, all of our cars can be coupled together and
they can operate as a coupledcar, but our infrastructure
doesn't accommodate for that, soour station stop platforms
aren't long enough toaccommodate for that.
We have certain locations where, like just the block length is
limited, and so we've neveroperated like that for passenger
(12:26):
service.
But we can operate like thatfor emergency recovery or
anything like that, very cool.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I'm curious from so.
Your job sounds really fun tome, Like you're involved in the
planning aspects of all of this,and while we were doing the
tour of the facility you weretalking about doing timetables
and all of this sort of stuff.
Can you talk about the processof what it's been like on the
planning aspect of theseextensions and getting ready for
the launch, which is not toofar away?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, there's so much that goes on behind the scenes.
You know that people aren'taware of, even in the really
early days and like the earlyplanning level, where you're
thinking, okay, this corridorfinishes that corridor, and then
you're defining a locallypreferred alternative that
includes, maybe, the corridoryou're running in the mode type,
starting to think about wherestation stops are going to be
(13:12):
located, go throughenvironmental clearance.
You've got the whole federalprocess right Just to get to
start construction funding.
You know, developing all ofthat I mean there's a huge
precursor to just, you know, ashovel in the ground and these
are really long horizons.
You know 10 plus years forthese sorts of projects.
(13:33):
But then, even once constructionstarts, there's a lot that goes
on with our team behind thescenes preparing the operations
and maintenance team to operatea nearly tripled system.
So you know it's not justhiring more operators, it's
hiring more maintenance stafftechnicians.
You know it's hiring moremaintenance staff technicians.
It's learning the newsubsystems that are getting
(13:53):
installed that differ slightlyfrom the downtown line.
Yeah, it's building newschedules, new timetables,
digging into the data to makesure that we have the capacity
we need to meet our frequency.
The capacity we need to meetour frequency.
It's making sure all of thesystems behind the scenes that
feed you know passenger facingreal time arrival signs, like
(14:16):
making sure that's all going towork correctly, and so there's
just layers and layers of layersand I mean this is my dream job
and getting to have a hand inthe operation side and the
maintenance side and theplanning space is just so much
fun and I'm really excited towatch it all come together.
(14:36):
We are about we're in the midstof a rail activation phase and
so that's kind of the process ofpassing the baton from
construction to operations andthere's steps within that and
we're finishing the testingphase and we're getting ready
for the pre-operations phaseright yeah, so excited to see
the, the, the streetcarsactually on the line when we
(14:58):
were kind of riding around onbuses and whatnot throughout the
week.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It's like, oh, you can see them there, they're
getting ready.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So yeah, so everything you can see here was
part of our original facility.
So bay one, one, two and three,so you have Pitt and Mezzanine,
you have the Jacks position andthen this is our wash bay.
So this is where streetcars goto wash.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
This is also where we wrap cars, so we do wrap our
streetcars in vinyl.
For special organizations,events.
We have a public art program,so every summer, one of our
streetcars is decorated in artmade by a local artist.
So yeah, this is where thatmagic happens, in here.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
We've seen some of them with the sports teams and
whatnot on them.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yes, we are a huge supporter of our women's soccer
team here, kc Current, and theylove the streetcar as well,
because one of our extensions isgonna go right to the stadium
right steps away from theirstadium in 2026.
So, um, yeah, we have a.
We're gonna be rolling out somenew stuff with them later this
year, so yeah, yeah, I thinkjust the community interest and
(16:06):
the raps.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Uh, it's a real testament to donna's work and
the marketing communicationscommittee.
Right, they've worked reallyhard to make sure that we've got
the right guidelines in placeto make the streetcar a place
that people want to have theirbrand on, but not in like a
gimmicky billboard-y way.
And people get so excited whenthere's a new wrap.
(16:28):
They want to see it out enroute, they want to ride that
streetcar, they're looking forit and so it's a big.
It's just a really fun way toengage with the ridership and
the community.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, and I think when, back in the day, when we
were developing what our brandaesthetic would be.
You know, our streetcars arejust very, very simple, very
simple and clean and it's like'slike the canvas, right.
So you'll see, in other cities,like oklahoma city, they have
different colors on eachstreetcar.
This we're like nope, this isthe canvas, and then we're going
(16:59):
to add some color to it.
So, um, but we also like thelook of our undressed street
cars too.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
So, yeah, so I'm curious.
Uh, from when we were firstlooking at the streetcar it was,
I was like I wonder how thisruns, given that so much of it
is in mixed traffic.
Now I know in the extensionsthere is a lot of dedicated
space, which is really nice tosee.
Can you talk about some of thechallenges in operating a system
that is in mixed traffic,especially when trying to meet
(17:26):
your frequencies and whatnot andkind of things that you all are
working on to maybe you know ifit is an issue, trying to
improve it and mitigate itExactly?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, I mean for me kind of getting nerdy.
Again, it all goes back to thedata.
So you got to look at youroperations data right, where are
you seeing congestion?
Where are you seeing blockages?
One of the best attributes andone of the challenges with rail
is that it's fixed guidewayright.
So if you have a blockage andmixed traffic, we can't deviate
around that, and so we trackthat data very closely.
(18:00):
These sorts of mitigations werealready in place before I
started.
But looking at common locationsand saying, okay, why do we
continue to have people that areparked over the line here on
on-street parking?
They're encroaching on thetrack slab, we can't get around
them, and so actually we've hada lot of city and public support
to actually just eliminateparking in those locations.
(18:21):
So where it's too tight, whereit's too narrow, let's just get
rid of it.
Let's put the Leniators inplace, hopefully long term, bump
out curb lines, provide moresidewalk, you know, or
restaurant, you know, cafe space, repurpose the extra space of
the roadway and just try toeliminate those problems so that
they can't exist there, right?
(18:42):
So it's just kind of keeping apulse on that and continuing
like not getting lazy andletting that just happen and not
try to fix the problem.
The congestion is always anissue, especially we've got a
lot of arenas and thingsdowntown and so you've got these
really kind of crunch timedemand periods, and that's when
(19:03):
we're carrying a lot of riders,and so you really don't want to
be stuck in congestion.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
It becomes tricky because your ridership is really
high, but the congestion isalso really high.
It's's a double whammy of likeif you have one car that's stuck
there and all of a sudden youend up with a backup, it becomes
an issue so we check ourridership annually.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
We know when big events are coming up.
We try to deploy additionalresources for that.
So whether that's justadditional streetcars out on
route to improve frequency, orwhether it's additional manpower
on our police department side,or parking enforcement.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, no, that feels like that's the way to help
direct and just eliminate anyrisk and improve reliability.
And to your point, too, of likebeing able to build the like,
the show me aspect of this.
You now, it seems like, havethe public support for this sort
of thing, so you know, from thePR side of this, to be able to
be like, hey, you know, thesefour parking spaces or whatever,
(19:54):
continue to be an issue.
I'm imagining that you'reprobably not getting as much
pushback on being like, hey,this is going to improve service
by a lot.
Like we're not trying to removeall of the parking here or
anything, we just need to cleanup this one intersection and
whatnot.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Right In the beginning when we did that,
there was one business on theroute that we had to take away
some of their parking and wethought they're just going to
lose their minds.
They are used to them theircustomers being a pull up and
like going.
But after that, when we had totake some parking away from near
(20:28):
9th and Main, it's a naturalevolution.
But I think also, when we dothe extension, there's going to
be a lot of education that'sgoing to be had with the
traveling public, not just ourriders, but those that are
motorists, pedestrians,bicyclists, because they don't
know what exclusive lanes are,they don't know what red
concrete means and all of that,and they may want to follow us
(20:51):
because they're used tofollowing behind us downtown
Like, oh, I'm in the streetcarlane.
So there's going to be a lot ofemphasis on the changes on the
extension and how we all have tolive together and move together
on Main Street Right.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
That's a big design change from the downtown line to
the expansion.
So we have about a quarter giveor take of each expansion
that's in fully dedicatedguideway, and then for the rest
of the alignment we're trying toimplement like kind of
semi-exclusive transit lanes,and so it will allow automobiles
to take a right turn or toaccess the driveway along the
(21:27):
route, but otherwise we don'twant automobiles traveling in
that lane.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, we see a lot of that where we live in Austin.
We have a few like roads thathave bus only lanes but it's bus
only and right turn basically,and it makes it so the buses
aren't waiting in line at astoplight necessarily because
folks will be doing their righton red or whatever you know,
whenever they can kind of getthrough, but it's improving the
speed of the buses along thoseroutes.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
And people obey it most of the time, Most of the
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I just want to say it's amazing to see like it's so
clear how much you all lovewhat you're doing.
And I love to see that becauseI feel like it makes such a
difference?
Because everyone we've talkedto in Kansas City, whether it's
been to talk about the streetcaror anything else, like people
mention the streetcar all thetime, which is awesome to see,
(22:12):
and it's because you have folkswho are like really, it's clear,
you all care so much about it,we need that everywhere.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
This is not something that you see every day, even
for our onsite maintenance team.
So you can see, the cab isfully torn apart.
Right, we're changing out allof our wiring.
You think about how quicklytechnology changes, and so these
streetcars were designedoriginally for the starter line
system.
We piggybacked on cincinnati'scontract cincinnati streetcars
contract and so these designdiscussions were started
(22:42):
happening in like 2012, 2012,yeah, and so you think about how
quickly technology changesright, we, we're in 2025, and
it's always the electronics thatchange the fastest, and so
we're working to upgrade thesubsystems to make them as
similar as possible with the newstreetcars Massive, massive
(23:04):
undertaking.
A big part of what's triggeringthe wiring change is the
passenger information system.
We call it the PIS, so that iswhat is the backbone for all of
our passenger displays here.
So what's telling you the nextstop that you're going to be
arriving at?
It's also the automated audioannouncements that correspond
(23:27):
with this information.
Automated audio announcementsthat correspond with this
information.
It's also the intercom speakersystem with the operators for an
emergency intercom with theoperator.
It's your external head signs.
So all of that has to beupgraded, and so it's triggering
kind of a complete wiringoverhaul of the car.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
If people in the community or even outside of
Austin, we're not in Austinanymore.
Lewis.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Not in Kansas anymore .
I did that the other day.
That's what he said.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
If people outside of Kansas City want to learn more
about the KC Streetcar, wherecan they find out more On
socials?
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yes, I mean our website is kcstreetcarorg, but
we are on all the socials, evenTikTok.
So Blue Sky, facebook,instagram, youtube, all of the
things it's at kcstreetcar.
So, yeah, check us out, keep inthe loop on all our happenings,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Thank you all so much for watching.
I hope you enjoyed thisconversation as well as the tour
around the maintenance facility, which was amazing.
Huge thanks to both of you andthe Kansas City Streetcar in
general, as well as Kansas City,for having us.
We've had so many pleasantinteractions with folks here.
If you haven't liked this videoalready, please do so.
It helps us out quite a bit Ifyou want to support the show
directly.
If you want to support the showdirectly, you can do so via our
(24:47):
Patreon.
If you're listening, you canalso rate us on your favorite
podcast platform.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
If you want any gear like nice sweatshirts, t-shirts,
etc.
We also have the store.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yes, we're not wearing them today unfortunately
Without further ado, thoughthank you all so much for
watching and enjoy the rest ofyour Transit Tangents Tuesday.
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