Shawnee committee backs sending Johnson County UnitedLink World Cup transit proposal to full council
January 27, 2026 | Shawnee, Johnson County, Kansas
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Deputy City Manager Colin Duffy told the Shawnee City Council committee on Jan. 26 that Johnson County is proposing a temporary UnitedLink circulator to serve visitors during the 2026 World Cup and asked the committee to provide feedback and a recommendation to place the item on the full council agenda.
Duffy said Visit KC projects roughly 650,000 unique visitors to the Kansas City area during the World Cup and described five transit options being planned, including a bidirectional Johnson County UnitedLink connecting Shawnee, Leawood, Lenexa, Merriam, Mission, Olathe and Overland Park. “We are just 135 days away from the first match,” Duffy said, urging preparation to avoid congestion.
The preliminary proposal would use 50, 35-passenger vans on three routes with 14 stops; the proposed Shawnee stop is downtown near Johnson and Neiman to serve restaurants, Shawnee Town 1929 and Splash Cove. Duffy said the service would run roughly 35–42 days beginning in early June and likely operate from about 8 a.m. and until midnight on match days, with precise hours to be coordinated with KC 2026 event timing.
On costs, Duffy presented a total program estimate of $5,700,000: operations and labor about $4,300,000, vehicle leases about $1,100,000 and driver lodging $231,000. Funding assumptions in the staff presentation included federal grants covering half the cost, $1,500,000 from KDOT, $920,000 from the county transit fund, and a remaining $400,000 to be shared among participating cities. Using the county’s population-based allocation, Shawnee’s share of the city portion was calculated at about $52,651.
Staff recommended using transient guest tax (TGT) revenue to pay the city share, and said council could either designate existing TGT funds or consider a companion charter ordinance to raise the TGT by 1 percentage point (from the current 8% toward the allowed 9%). “TGT can only be used for promotion of tourism and economic development activities,” Duffy said while outlining the staff recommendation.
Committee members asked whether $52,651 was a not-to-exceed one-time commitment (staff: yes), whether reimbursement would be pro rata (staff: most likely based on fare collection), and about congestion and stop mitigation near the proposed location (staff: move the stop slightly and coordinate alternate routes during city events). Duffy also said the Transit App will incorporate the link services and that marketing and multilingual materials will be coordinated with KC 2026 and local communications teams.
The committee signaled consensus to place the UnitedLink item on the full council agenda and asked staff to return with funding options. Staff agreed to bring ordinance language and additional information about how other cities have handled temporary TGT increases and to provide estimates showing how a 1% increase would affect available TGT revenue.
Justice Welker, interim director of Johnson County Transit, offered brief remarks of support and said he would stand for questions. No formal funding decision was made at the committee meeting; staff will return to a future council meeting with proposed funding language and additional analysis.
Duffy said Visit KC projects roughly 650,000 unique visitors to the Kansas City area during the World Cup and described five transit options being planned, including a bidirectional Johnson County UnitedLink connecting Shawnee, Leawood, Lenexa, Merriam, Mission, Olathe and Overland Park. “We are just 135 days away from the first match,” Duffy said, urging preparation to avoid congestion.
The preliminary proposal would use 50, 35-passenger vans on three routes with 14 stops; the proposed Shawnee stop is downtown near Johnson and Neiman to serve restaurants, Shawnee Town 1929 and Splash Cove. Duffy said the service would run roughly 35–42 days beginning in early June and likely operate from about 8 a.m. and until midnight on match days, with precise hours to be coordinated with KC 2026 event timing.
On costs, Duffy presented a total program estimate of $5,700,000: operations and labor about $4,300,000, vehicle leases about $1,100,000 and driver lodging $231,000. Funding assumptions in the staff presentation included federal grants covering half the cost, $1,500,000 from KDOT, $920,000 from the county transit fund, and a remaining $400,000 to be shared among participating cities. Using the county’s population-based allocation, Shawnee’s share of the city portion was calculated at about $52,651.
Staff recommended using transient guest tax (TGT) revenue to pay the city share, and said council could either designate existing TGT funds or consider a companion charter ordinance to raise the TGT by 1 percentage point (from the current 8% toward the allowed 9%). “TGT can only be used for promotion of tourism and economic development activities,” Duffy said while outlining the staff recommendation.
Committee members asked whether $52,651 was a not-to-exceed one-time commitment (staff: yes), whether reimbursement would be pro rata (staff: most likely based on fare collection), and about congestion and stop mitigation near the proposed location (staff: move the stop slightly and coordinate alternate routes during city events). Duffy also said the Transit App will incorporate the link services and that marketing and multilingual materials will be coordinated with KC 2026 and local communications teams.
The committee signaled consensus to place the UnitedLink item on the full council agenda and asked staff to return with funding options. Staff agreed to bring ordinance language and additional information about how other cities have handled temporary TGT increases and to provide estimates showing how a 1% increase would affect available TGT revenue.
Justice Welker, interim director of Johnson County Transit, offered brief remarks of support and said he would stand for questions. No formal funding decision was made at the committee meeting; staff will return to a future council meeting with proposed funding language and additional analysis.
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