Kansas City’s transportation and stadium procedures will be put to the test Thursday evening as fans head to the third match held at Kansas City Stadium – more than a week after a travel fiasco impacted the first match.
The Netherlands, who is ranked first in Group F, will face Tunisia, who is ranked last, at Kansas City Stadium Thursday evening at 6 p.m.
FIFA World Cup Kansas City released helpful information for travelers planning to attend the match as it continues working to make traffic patterns and stadium entrance procedures more efficient.
Regional buses normally part of other routes will be used for the Stadium Direct service, which transports fans from the Fan Festival to the stadium.
This change follows a series of corrections made after Kansas City’s first match June 16, where Argentina defeated Algeria 3-0. Argentina forward Lionel Messi made history by scoring his first hat trick – making three goals in one game – in a World Cup match, yet some fans barely made it to Kansas City Stadium, also known as Arrowhead, before the match started despite allotting plenty of time for travel.
Videos of the city’s traffic nightmare quickly circulated on social media as World Cup fans exited stopped buses and cars to walk miles to the stadium. Some fans waited on a bus, which was at a standstill in traffic for nearly two hours, before deciding to walk to the stadium instead.
Unclear traffic patterns, no designated bus lanes and only two of the stadium’s seven entrances being open are suspected culprits of the travel chaos.
When travelers purchase a ConnectKC26 bus pass, they should be given an arrival time for the location they’ve selected. To make commuting and entering the stadium run smoother, FIFA encourages fans not to arrive too early, but right on time to their designated bus stop.
One fan said they waited 90 minutes just to board one of the ConnectKC26 buses at the Fan Festival port before the Algeria vs. Argentina match. The fan said tensions escalated as the crowd waited for the bus, and people with disabilities were loaded onto the buses first, leaving the general line for the bus at a standstill.
“Honestly feared for my safety until the deputies and KC police got enough people there to restore order (well done by them),” the World Cup fan posted on Reddit.
Kansas City’s second match on June 20, where Curaçao and Ecuador tied 0-0, was much easier to travel to after new traffic controls and earlier bus access were implemented, according to Fox 4.
A fourth match in Kansas City, between Algeria and Austria, is scheduled Saturday at 9 p.m.
