Recap: Royal Celebration and Record Ridership

We continue to celebrate our Champion Kansas City Royals and look back to the Royal Celebration parade, truly a celebration of a lifetime.

A quarter of the region’s population converged on downtown on Nov. 3, and by all reports it was an amazing Kansas City crowd. Nearly 200,000 rides were provided on the free shuttles and regular routes, shattering previous ridership records.

“This was a special day for our Kansas City Royals and our entire region,” said Joe Reardon, President & CEO of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. “Even with crowded stops and long rides, we appreciated that people kept a positive attitude. Everyone was delivered safely on a history making day for our city.”

With a transit system that shares the road with cars, we were challenged by the same gridlock that every other driver encountered. Even with the challenges of jammed roads and a large number of fans, we heard from riders about the friendliness and patience of our employees.

Below is a small selection of the messages. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you!

 

@kcatametro I don't know who this woman is but she works for the #KCATAMetro and she was the best!!!! 7:30am on a day 800,000 people would show up in one place to celebrate our @kcroyals and she was yelling "let's go royals" and smiling at everyone. Cheering and keeping spirits alive!!!!!! This is Kansas City! I heard her telling the other woman in the photo how much she loves her job! It shows!!!!!! I love it! When we saw her excitement we wanted to be a part of it and celebrate her!!!! If you know her please share this photo with her!!!! She made our early morning brighter!!!!

A photo posted by Suzy McGarrah (@suzylivinglife) on Nov 4, 2015 at 6:13pm PST

@KCATAMetro Thank You to all of your drivers yesterday. We were packed but had a blast!! pic.twitter.com/yIqQ0NUHJZ

— Rodney White (@Rodney1904) November 4, 2015

Thanks to @KCATAMetro @kcpolice & all @KCMO workers for their hard work during @Royals parade. Proud to be a lifelong Kansas Citian!

— Dan Ferguson (@Dan_Ferg) November 4, 2015

THANK YOU to @KCATAMetro @MayorSlyJames @KCMO & every1 else who helped put on the @royals parade. Mostly polite, happy fans! <3 our metro!

— Kelsey Jones (@wonderwall7) November 4, 2015

@KCATAMetro thx for providing bus service. Went as well as possible! @ Huge line at Zoo! JReardonKC pic.twitter.com/9GORbizWNL

— Eileen Weir (@weirIndep4) November 4, 2015

@KCATAMetro is crushing it with shuttle service to the parade. They're moving thousands more people than your regular Tuesday & super nice!

— Katrina Abella (@kpa4408) November 3, 2015