$22 million for enhanced TransLink transit services during FIFA World Cup | Daily Hive

Nearly $22 million being spent for enhanced TransLink public transit services during FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup Fan Festival signage on the fare gates at SkyTrain's 29th Avenue Station, where fan festival attendees can board TransLink's special express bus to the PNE fairgrounds in Hastings Park. (Kenneth Chan)

With an influx of visitors, significant road closures and access changes, and public transit serving as an essential component of the overall operation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Vancouver, TransLink will spend $21.6 million on tournament-related expenditures.

When asked by media during a press conference today on the “Last Mile” Match Day Spectator Pedestrian Route to BC Place Stadium, TransLink spokesperson Anita Bathe confirmed the budget, which is being fully funded by the FIFA World Cup 2026 Vancouver Host Committee under the City of Vancouver.

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This is similar to the strategy implemented for the 2010 Winter Olympics, when VANOC, the local organizing committee for the Games, provided TransLink with $17 million to significantly increase service levels for the duration of the Olympics.

Bathe says the contribution from Vancouver’s municipal government’s FIFA World Cup budget covers increased public transit services and staffing levels to “make sure that our operation is smooth and reliable for people who aren’t living here and people who are coming in.”

It also covers the extensive dressings, decorations, and wayfinding signage now found throughout Metro Vancouver’s public transit system, particularly at key public transit hubs in Vancouver.

However, she was unable to comment on the ongoing labour dispute involving the union representing more than 5,000 workers at TransLink operating subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC). The union’s members — including bus drivers and mechanics, and SeaBus workers — approved a strike mandate in late May. On June 5, in an update, CMBC shared that it and Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 “have agreed to continue discussions with the assistance of mediation.”

“Soccer SeaBus” exterior livery wrap for the FIFA World Cup. (Kenneth Chan)

“SoccerBuses” for the FIFA World Cup. (TransLink)

As for how public transit services will be increased during the tournament, SkyTrain’s Expo, Millennium, and Canada lines will operate at peak hour frequencies of every 2.5 minutes through Downtown Vancouver during the busiest periods on the seven match days at BC Place Stadium — the group-stage matches on June 13, 18, 21, 24, and 26, and the knockout-stage matches on July 2 and 7.

For the three matches that begin later in the evening — June 13, June 26, and July 2 — all three SkyTrain lines will operate one hour later than usual, with the last trains departing Downtown Vancouver after 2 a.m.

TransLink and FIFA Vancouver Host Committee organizers have emphasized that SkyTrain’s Stadium-Chinatown Station will not serve as a direct access point to BC Place Stadium on match days, as its Expo Boulevard (south) entrance will be closed.

Ticket holders are strongly encouraged to arrive in the area by exiting SkyTrain at Main Street-Science World Station, where the start of the vehicle-free “Last Mile” walking route along Pacific Boulevard and Quebec Street — stretching from Terminal Avenue to the security screening point at Carrall Street — is located.

For those still using Stadium-Chinatown Station, an alternate route to the stadium involves exiting through the north entrance on Beatty Street, proceeding through the staircase at International Village, then heading east along Keefer Street and south along Quebec Street, where pedestrians will connect with the main “Last Mile” route on Pacific Boulevard.

bc place stadium translink last mile skytrain main street science world station map

All access to BC Place Stadium during FIFA World Cup matches will be made via the Last Mile pedestrian route starting outside SkyTrain’s Main Street-Science World Station. (TransLink)

SeaBus ferry services between Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver and Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver will operate every 15 minutes on match days, with frequencies increasing to every 10 minutes during the hours before and after matches. For the three late-evening matches, SeaBus will also operate one hour later to align with SkyTrain’s extended service hours.

TransLink is also boosting bus services in numerous ways, including the launch of the temporary looping No. 1 Downtown Vancouver South Circulator route and the temporary No. 11 FIFA Fan Festival Express route along Renfrew Street between SkyTrain’s 29th Avenue Station on the Expo Line and the Pacific Coliseum entrance to the PNE fairgrounds, with an intermediate stop at Renfrew Station on the Millennium Line. It will run every five minutes before, during, and after the fan festival’s operating hours on the days when the 28-day fan festival is open.

translink pne fifa fan festival bus service

TransLink bus services to reach the FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE in Hastings Park. (TransLink)

The public transit spending represents only a small portion of the overall public cost of hosting the tournament.

These costs incurred by TransLink are fully covered by the City of Vancouver’s FIFA World Cup budget of $320 million to $338 million, based on the provincial government’s updated estimate released in late May for the total public cost of staging the tournament in Vancouver. However, much of the City’s share will be offset by the temporary FIFA World Cup hotel tax on overnight accommodations paid by visitors at Vancouver hotel properties. The tax began in 2023 and will remain in place through at least 2030, generating more than $30 million annually, or about $250 million to $260 million over its lifespan.

The updated combined public cost to the federal, provincial, and municipal governments for the tournament in Vancouver is estimated at $685 million to $729 million, including $242 million for security and public safety, $178 million to $185 million for BC Place Stadium capital upgrades/renovations and tournament-time operating costs, $80 million for a contingency fund for any unexpected costs, $13 million for tourism and economic development initiatives, and $18 million for the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations ($6 million per First Nation).

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