Sound Transit World Cup Service Sets Multiple Ridership Records

ED COBEAN
Deputy CEO – Transit Operations
Sound Transit
Seattle, WA

Seattle’s first experience as a World Cup host city was, in a word, incredible. Hundreds of thousands of fans came out to support nations from around the world and we saw the best of what our region, and our transit, have to offer.

To prepare for the tournament, our staff and partner agencies spent over a year working on projects big and small, so that when match days rolled around, we were ready to step up. 

Opening the Crosslake Connection (2-line) in March was essential not just to expand Downtown access to the Eastside, but to double frequencies in the core—and from there we were able to run full peak service across the system from early in the morning until well after midnight on every gameday.  

We completed extensive maintenance on both our trains and tracks in the leadup to June, which ensured we could put more light rail vehicles in service than ever before—174, to be precise—on each of the six matchdays. This not only allowed us to move even more people; it also made our system more resilient to delays and disruptions.

The preliminary results of all that preparation was a month that surpassed our most ambitious expectations. Link light rail recorded 5.4 million boardings in June, exceeding our previous monthly high by nearly a million rides. We also saw four of our five busiest days in agency history during the tournament and recorded more than 220,000 boardings seven times—on all six match days plus the Thursday before the group stage clash between the U.S. and Australia. On the final Monday, the last home match game, we drew over 309,000 boardings.