The Kansas City Streetcar Authority's first four vehicles were purchased from CAF USA Inc. for about $18 million. Another two streetcars, purchased in 2017 for $11.9 million, are expected to be delivered in late 2019. The Streetcar Authority expects to need eight or nine additional vehicles to handle its two planned extensions.

As the Kansas City Streetcar Authority Inc. sets its planned budget for two planned extensions, it also will need to begin the process of procuring additional streetcars soon.

Streetcar Authority Executive Director Tom Gerend said about seven additional vehicles would be needed for the streetcar's planned Main Street extension, which would expand the route south to the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Volker Campus. One to two more would be needed to cover the planned northern extension to Berkley Riverfront Park.

But first, the KC Streetcar Authority is waiting to submit its bid for federal funding in September, Gerend said. The next steps for the extension include determining lane alignment for the Main Street extension, updating cost estimates and working with the Federal Transit Administration to determine the best path for federal funding.

"We will be making some decisions in early September about federal funding direction and the alignment of the UMKC extension," Gerend said. "We won't really advance procurement for vehicles until we have a good sense that we have a project that's fully funded and executable."

Jan Marcason, chair of the Kansas City Main Street Rail Transportation Development District, said part of that effort would include factoring in potential changes in the cost of steel and other commodities to the project. The Main Street Rail TDD was formed through an election in 2017 to provide local funding for the streetcar's planned Main Street extension.

With its procurement of the first four vehicles for roughly $18 million, the Streetcar Authority piggybacked on an order the city of Cincinnati had placed through CAF USA Inc.

Adding streetcars to meet demand now

The current streetcar line will get two additional vehicles in 2019 to meet rising demand.

Gerend said the two new vehicles would be onsite by late 2019. Originally ordered in 2017, the two streetcars were purchased from Washington-based CAF USA Inc. for $11.9 million, through a separate agreement from Cincinnati's contract.

Marcason said the additional vehicles would bring down the wait time between streetcars to 10 minutes.

"That will really help with wait times," she said. "(Demand) is certainly exceeding our expectations."

The project was funded with excess revenue generated by the sales tax levied on the TDD formed to build the starter line. In June, the Streetcar Authority also approved up to $1 million to build additional storage track for its planned fleet expansion. Gerend said the facility improvement would take place next year.