For the first time in the history of KC Streetcar, five vehicles were put into revenue service to help handle the crowds of the NFL Draft held at Union Station in Kansas City on April 27-29. To put this in perspective, there are only six vehicles in the entire fleet. The Herzog Transit Services, Inc. (HTSI) team tested the five-vehicle service two weeks prior to make sure the schedule could be performed. That equated to streetcar headways of every six minutes!  Operating hours were extended to 2:00am each night, station stops were pressure washed, and vehicles were cleaned in preparation of the big event!

The week leading up to the Draft, HTSI Management walked through the discipline/default exercise to help set expectations and shape the Team’s RESPONSE to the monumental event. Below is a photo of the dry-erase board in the KC Streetcar training room for all employees to follow. True to the prediction, history was made.

Standing room-only crowds continued throughout Day 1 of the Draft and an all-time one-day record of 21,601 passengers were carried!! For all three days of the draft, a total of 57,490 passengers rode the streetcar. Kansas City Streetcar Authority Executive Director Tom Gerend shared, “Not only did we carry a record number of passengers over Draft weekend our team did it with a perfect safety record, and with absolute hospitality and class. We push our team to be the very best at what we do and they delivered. ” What a total team effort by the KC Streetcar Team!

Banner photo credit: nfl.com