How to get around Kansas City
Kansas City is a driving town. Unless you are downtown, things are rather spread out. Unfortunately, Kauffman Stadium is not downtown, and neither is the airport. No worries though, getting around is easy as long as you have wheels—and we recommend a rental car or using ridesharing, as Kansas City lacks extensive public transportation.
Downtown Kansas City has the free KC Streetcar, which connects points of interest such as the World War 1 Museum, Union Station, Power & Light, and City Market. This only covers two miles, but that’s enough to get you to most of the attractions that you’ll be interested in visiting downtown. There’s also an extensive bus system, but that’s used more by locals than tourists, and as we’ll tell you, the bus from downtown KC to Kauffman is not something we’d recommend to friends.
Read on to discover the best (and worst) ways to get around while visiting Kansas City and Kauffman Stadium, including:
How you should get to/from Kauffman Stadium
The simple answer is: rent a car or use ridesharing. Kansas City does not have an extensive public transportation system. Renting a car or using ridesharing services are the fastest and easiest ways to travel from the airport to your hotel and Kauffman Stadium.
But first, an important note about luggage
Telling you the logistics of rental car vs rideshare vs bus is all well and good, but there’s one thing you absolutely must factor into all of this, and that’s luggage storage. If you are going to attempt to catch a game on the same day that you’re flying into/out of KC, then what to do with your bags will be key.
Having a rental car has one key benefit that rideshares don’t: it’s a place to store your luggage. There is no luggage storage at Kauffman Stadium, so this is something you must consider. If you’re arriving into Kansas City late enough that you’ll need to go directly to the stadium, then a rental car will be absolutely necessary, because if you don’t have time to stop at your hotel first, you’ll have nowhere to store your bags.
The same thing goes for your flight home. If you’re at a 1:10 game on Sunday, let’s assume it ends around 4pm. If you have a car, you can head directly to the airport, and and be there in time for a 6:30pm flight. But if you need to go from Kauffman back to your downtown hotel to pick up your bags first, then you’ll need to add time onto that schedule. And with MCI having a limited selection of Sunday night flights, that delay could be the difference between catching that last flight or not.
Having said that, if you catch a rideshare from Kauffman to downtown, jump out, grab your bags, jump back in and head to the airport — without having to return a rental car — it could be a push. As long as you can get a quick Uber/Lyft out of Kauffman, it may work.
The point: think very carefully about your travel plans and how they will impact your local transit strategy. Be absolutely sure that you know how you’re getting to the airport, and where your bags are going to be kept.
Renting a car in Kansas City
We recommend renting a car above all other options. There’s a lot to do in the Kansas City Metro and having a car will allow you to experience it on your own time, at your own pace. This will especially come in handy if you plan to try out some of the great barbecue options in town. Plus, getting to and from Kauffman is just going to be easiest if you’re driving your own car.
Renting a car from MCI is simple. From the terminal, you will take a shuttle to the onsite rental car facility. Expect to spend anywhere from $45-55 a day for a rental car, depending on availability, time of year, and the type of car you select.
Keep in mind when planning your visit: between flight availability, travel time/distance, and typical Royals game times, the logistics make it tough to catch three weekend games and only pay for two rental car days. For example, if you arrive at the Kansas City airport at say, 3 pm on a Friday and fly out at 7 pm on Sunday, you’ll be subject to three rental car days, not two.
If you trim your options to only catching two games, say Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday, this becomes a bit easier. Even if you stay two nights, returning your car early on Day 3 can save you the extra day of rental fees.
But, great news: you will pay substantially less for gas in Kansas City than almost anywhere in the nation!
Ridesharing in Kansas City
If you prefer the convenience of not driving, then using Uber and Lyft are completely acceptable options. From a cost perspective, it may be comparable to renting a car, with the added time savings of not having to pick up or return the car to the car rental center.
Here are the rates you can expect for ridesharing while in Kansas City. Use this to determine if renting a car will be a better deal than using ridesharing everytime you travel.
Ridesharing Costs
| Rates starting at | Airport - Kauffman | Airport - Downtown | Downtown - Kauffman |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyft | $40 | $25 | $15 |
| Uber | $50 | $35 | $18 |
| Taxi | $65 | $54 | $27 |
Based on this chart, if the only places you travel are from the airport to your downtown hotel and back, as well as downtown to Kauffman for two games, it will cost you anywhere from $110 to $216 using rideshares or taxis.
Kauffman Stadium has a designated ridesharing area, located in parking lot A. When you’re ready to leave the stadium, exit through either Gate D along the first base side or Gate E in right field. Look for the feathered flags that mark the start and end of the ridesharing line.
We’ve taken a rideshare to/from Kauffman Stadium, and the reason it works, quite honestly, is because a) the number of people trying to use rideshares for Royals games isn’t very high, and b) the attendance at most Royals games isn’t so great that you’re battling too many people for the limited Ubers/Lyft that are on the road in Kansas City.
But note: we’ve also tried to use rideshares to/from Chiefs games, and that’s an absolute disaster because there’s 75,000 people in the stadium, way more traffic, and even if 0.5% of attendees want to take a rideshare, the supply of rideshares in KC cannot support that demand all at once. So just understand: ridesharing for Royals and Chiefs games are very different experiences.
Taking the bus from the Airport
A free Metro bus (229) runs from MCI to downtown Kansas City. It leaves the airport every hour on the hour, and takes approximately an hour to arrive downtown. This will drop you off just north of the T-Mobile Center and Power & Light District. From here you can hop on the free streetcar to reach a multitude of downtown hotels.
The 229 leaves downtown every hour, 45 minutes past the hour, and takes a full hour to return to the airport.
Yes, taking the bus will save you money, but it will take substantially longer. Before you get too excited about the free ride to downtown, take a look at the bus schedule to make sure it will work with your flights and game times.
If you’re trying to make it to the airport from a Sunday afternoon game at Kauffman, the bus is not the best choice. You need to factor in time to exit the stadium, and either catch the free bus (47) back to downtown or use a rideshare service to pick up your luggage from your hotel, before you can hop on the 229 to head back to the airport.
We’re not saying it won’t work, but it may be more of a hassle than it’s worth especially on the return trip.
We’ve included the most recent schedule below, but be sure to check RideKC’s website for the most up-to-date information.
Taking the bus to Kauffman Stadium
Bus line 47 runs from downtown through midtown and the Country Club Plaza on its way past Kauffman Stadium. It’s free and runs extended hours to allow riders to travel back from night games.
The closest stop to the stadium when you head there from downtown is in front of the Taco Bell across the street from the ballpark on Blue Ridge Road. You will need to request a stop as the bus will not stop there if no one pulls the cord. From there, you will cross the street (carefully) and walk down Red Coat Lane toward Gate E. After the game, you will wait at the covered stop on the stadium side of Blue Ridge Road, across from the BP gas station.
As with the bus from the airport, the bus to Kauffman will save you money, but will take much longer. It may also create logistical issues, especially trying to get back to the airport after a Sunday afternoon game.
But putting logistics aside, is taking the bus an acceptable way for getting to Kauffman Stadium? No. We tried it out, and the words that we came away with ranged from “uncomfortable” to “unsafe.” So if we would not recommend this to a friend or family member, then we wouldn’t recommend it to you. We’d love to tell you that there is an acceptable public transit option for getting to Kauffman, but, in our opinion, there isn’t. So trust us—you should be sticking to rental cars and rideshares to go back and forth to Kauffman Stadium. If you are budget conscious, this isn’t the place to try to save money.
Getting around Kansas City by streetcar
KC Streetcar in front of Union Station
The KC Streetcar’s southern terminus is on Grand Ave. outside of Union Station, which will transport you to many of the downtown, Power & Light District, and City Market hotels and restaurants. This may come in handy to move around downtown during your stay, but it will not negate the need for a car. To reach Kauffman Stadium from downtown, you will need to rideshare, rent a car, or deal with the bus.
Bottom Line
When it comes to transportation, cars are the way to go. Kansas City does not have a great public transportation system. The airport and downtown are far from Kauffman Stadium, making renting a car or utilizing ridesharing from the airport or downtown the most efficient ways to travel.
