Sound Transit Smashes Ridership Record Again on Seattle's Last World Cup Match

Sound Transit did it again. After setting a new daily light rail ridership record on June 19, the agency set an even higher mark on Monday, July 6, as Seattle hosted another World Cup soccer match featuring the U.S. team.

The U.S. team came up short on the pitch, succumbing to a determined Belgian squad in a Round of 16 showdown. However, transit came out on top, with light rail hosting a record-shattering 309,000 boardings. That blew the June 19 mark of 280,000 boardings out of the water.

Sound Transit preliminary ridership figures indicate 5.4 million boardings for the month of June, also smashing a monthly record.

“These new ridership records are a resounding endorsement of the value light rail adds to our region and its quality of life,” said Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine in a statement. “From supporting World Cup festivities and Pride celebrations to more local commutes and trips that meet day-to-day needs, our growing light rail system isn’t just setting records, it's changing the way people get around the region.”

Fans crowded into Westlake Park to watch the U.S. vs. Belgium match, with kids and a few adults climbing a jungle gym. (Ryan Packer)

The transit records continue a pattern of Seattle excelling at hosting the World Cup, drawing in rave reviews from fans and international commentators.

Smooth operations during World Cup

Sound Transit also reported "consistently smooth light rail operations" during the World Cup, with 174 light rail vehicles on 46 trains in service on match days. The agency noted it was the first time it had provided all-day peak service on a regular basis in its entire history as an agency.

Seattle hosted a multitude of watch parties, including this one at Hing Hay Park in Chinatown on July 6. The crowd spilled on King Street, which remained open to cars. (Ryan Packer)

Each of Seattle's six match days was well above the 200,000 boardings mark.

World Cup Match Day Ridership:

Egypt vs. Belgium - Match Day 1: 221,000
Australia vs. United States - Match Day 2: 297,000
Bosnia–Herzegovina vs. Qatar - Match Day 3: 237,000
Egypt vs. Iran - Match Day 4: 234,000
Belgium vs. Senegal - Match Day 5: 246,000
United States vs Belgium - Match Day 6: 309,000

While Sound Transit's light rail system performed admirably during the World Cup, the agency had a major outage on Thursday as a power system failed near Husky Station in Montlake, forcing the agency to truncate service for 15 hours and to operate a bus bridge between Capitol Hill and Northgate Station that became filled to capacity during evening rush hour.

The region was very fortunate that the outage did not occur during one of the high-demand match days.

U.S. fans don red and white jerseys and one waves an American flag outside of the Chinatown International District Station. (Sound Transit)

Sound Transit leadership said this particular outage appears to be an isolated incident, not likely to occur again.

"I was awakened at about 6:45 [am] with a report of a northbound train that had lost power just south of the University of Washington," Constantine said during a Thursday board meeting. "Upon inspection, we found localized damage to the overhead wire, and we de-energized that portion of the system to further investigate. We have isolated the cause. It is one that we believe can be prevented from being repeated. So, this is not a systemwide challenge. It's specific to this vehicle that was passing through the tunnel."

While the World Cup surge is over, Sound Transit appears to operating a new higher baseline (potentially the highest ridership light rail system in the nation) now that the 2 Line crosses Lake Washington and doubles up with the 1 Line from Chinatown-International District to Lynnwood, providing a high demand stretch with four-minute service at peak times.

Shared scooter and e-bikes also booming

Seattle’s World Cup matches also drove historic demand for shared scooters and e-bikes, with Lime reporting four of its top five ridership days ever in the city took place during the tournament. In order of ridership those dates were June 19, July 6, July 4 and June 18.

A large crowd of people move towards Lumen Field as part of the “March to the Match” event on June 19 ahead of the Team USA match against Australia. Former Seahawks player Marshawn Lynch rides a Lime Glider at the front of the march. (Amy Abdelsayed / SDOT)

A spokesperson said riders took more than 78,000 Lime trips on July 6 in Seattle, which came up just short of matching the 83,000 record set on June 19. Staff credited thoughtful planning for operations and coordination with partners for the micromobility success.

“Seattle’s tournament stretch was an incredible example of what shared micromobility can do when cities, communities, and operators plan together. Moving this many people safely and reliably took months of coordination with SDOT, local partners and teams across Lime," said Parker Dawson, Senior Regional Lead of Government Relations for the Pacific Northwest at Lime. "The results speak for themselves: four of our five busiest days ever in Seattle happened during the tournament, and riders took more than 1.7 million trips from June 1 through July 7. We’re proud to have helped Seattle move during such an important stretch for the city,”

Lime said it gave away 3,300 free helmets to riders to support safe riding during the tournament and Seattle's busy summer season. And while the U.S. team is knocked out of the tournament, fans in Seattle can still benefit from Lime's fan pass to get around through July 19, when the tournament's final championship match will be played.

The fan pass offers up to 90 minutes of riding for $12.99, with free unlocks and discounted per-minute pricing, up to 90 minutes of riding and flexible use across a five-day window.

July 19 soccer watch party

For the final match FIFA match on Sunday July 19, The Urbanist will be hosting a watch party in Lake City with our friends at Sounder At Heart. It's free to attend. We hope to see you there!