KS: Johnson County proposes airport transit for ‘completely unprecedented’ World Cup crowds

With less than 500 days until the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Johnson County is exploring how to expand its transit system to help tackle one of the Kansas City metro’s biggest challenges that will come with the crowds next summer — including a potential bus service to the airport and a route from the county to the soccer festivities.

“I’d be lying to you if I said that anybody truly understands what that volume of people is going to look like,” Johnson County Transit Director Josh Powers said during a recent committee meeting. “There’s really no way. This is completely unprecedented as far as the level of event we are working with.”

Kansas City will host six soccer matches for FIFA’s 2026 men’s tournament across several weeks during the summer of 2026 — which will likely draw hundreds of thousands of soccer fans to a region with poorer transportation quality than other host cities in North America, according to FIFA standards.

During a recent Johnson County Committee of the Whole meeting, the Board of County Commissioners discussed a pilot program that would shuttle people to and from Kansas City International Airport and a potential circulator route that would connect Johnson County visitors and residents to the FIFA Fan Fest at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City.

The Board of County Commissioners will accept a $2 million Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) grant that will help launch the pilot airport shuttle program during its February 13 meeting. The circulator route is still in its early stages and will need more planning to hash out the route details.

“I’m proud to say that Johnson County is ahead of the game here when we’re talking regional or nationally as we prepare to understand the impacts and reap the benefits of the World Cup,” Johnson County Commission Chairman Mike Kelly said during the meeting.

Proposed route and how to pay for it

Last August, Johnson County approved a lease agreement with a vehicle manufacturer for up to 50 35-passenger vehicles for any transit services that could be deployed over the course of the tournament. With this agreement, it would cost the county $1.5 million to deploy all 50, or $8,000 per unit per month of the lease.

The proposed airport shuttle route would run from the Kansas City International Airport (KCI) to the Overland Park Convention Center and Lenexa City Center, which were identified as targets for transit service connections in a study conducted by MARC and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.

Four buses would operate on 20 minute headways for 18 hours a day from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. — with two additional buses on standby in case of an accident, high demand or breakdown — for $10,000 a day for 260 days. Outbound buses would take Interstate 35 and use Interstate 435 for return routes.

The $2 million MARC grant to help cover this operation requires a $600,000 local match, but it doesn’t have to come from the county alone. Powers added that other municipalities could partner with the county to help meet the match.

“This is an opportunity to leverage some federal funds to see what a service connecting the airport to Johnson County could look like for a potential long-term permanent service offering,” Powers said.

Future feasibility

Public transportation to the airport is one of Kansas City’s biggest challenges as the World Cup approaches. Of the 16 North American cities selected to host soccer matches, Kansas City came in 15th in FIFA’s scoring for overall quality of transportation connectivity and mobility, just ahead of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Kansas City plans to lease at least 200 buses to shuttle people to and from the airport, but some critics are concerned about how the borrowed buses will benefit residents in the long run. Both Kansas and Missouri have committed $7 million to transportation for the World Cup, but longer term solutions in the metro, like rail lines or dedicated bus routes, could cost millions or billions of dollars.

Johnson County hopes these services can march forward in the future, but it all depends on what comes out of the pilot.

“This conception, again, is draft, and we’re trying to thread a needle between the appropriate length of a pilot service to determine its feasibility and the available funding,” Powers said.

Alongside the airport shuttle pilot, the county has to iron out the details around a potential circulator route that would help people get around on match and non-match days.

It’s unclear what the exact route or cost will be because its destinations and origins haven’t been identified yet. While some commissioners had questions about using advertising to help pay for the service, and charging users fees, that information still needs to be nailed down, too.

The current draft consists of running six vehicles on 30 minute headways, seven days a week for 61 days (potentially June 1 to July 31). It would cost about $1.72 million — with $1.5 million for labor, $96,000 associated with leasing vehicles and $80,000 for housing additional staff from outside of Johnson County — but it’s subject to change based on the amount of buses needed and the route’s mileage.

“The idea here was to show two sides of a similar coin so that the board is aware that we are thinking about the World Cup and its impacts,” Powers said. “This is a suggestion or you know, for you to contemplate a service like that is just in recognition of the fact that we’re going to have tens of thousands or more people in Johnson County during the course of the World Cup and we may need to think about how they’re going to get from Point A to Point B to enjoy their time here.”

“Our assessment is that every mode of transportation during that period is going to be stressed,” he said.

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