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Vancouver's first FIFA World Cup match leads to a public transit ridership record

Kenneth Chan
Kenneth Chan
|
Jun 15 2026, 5:22 pm
Vancouver's first FIFA World Cup match leads to a public transit ridership record
A floating FIFA World Cup soccer ball next to SkyTrain's Stadium-Chinatown Station on June 13, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

The FIFA World Cup’s first match in Vancouver produced a new ridership record for Metro Vancouver’s public transit system, not seen since the 2010 Winter Olympics.

TransLink shared today that based on preliminary data, it saw its busiest Saturday ridership for an event held at BC Place Stadium since the Olympics, with tens of thousands of fans using public transit to reach Downtown Vancouver for the match venue and Granville Street Pedestrian Zone, the FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE fairgrounds in Hastings Park, and other destinations across the region.

The SkyTrain stations near the stadium saw the highest Saturday event-day ridership since the Olympics.

The match on Saturday, June 13, was between Australia and Turkey, kicking off at 9 p.m. Moreover, ridership around the stadium exceeded Taylor Swift’s second-to-last The Eras Tour concert, held on a Saturday in December 2024, and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC match against Miami FC with Lionel Messi in April 2025.

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A floating FIFA World Cup soccer ball next to SkyTrain’s Stadium-Chinatown Station on June 13, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

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Terminal Avenue closed to vehicles outside SkyTrain’s Main Street-Science World Station on June 13, 2026, as seen about six hours before the kickoff of Vancouver’s first FIFA World Cup match. (Kenneth Chan)

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FIFA World Cup dressings outside SkyTrain’s Stadium-Chinatown Station. (Kenneth Chan)

More broadly, across the entire public transit system, there were 1.03 million total boardings on Saturday’s match day — an increase of more than 14 per cent compared to a typical Saturday. This includes 558,000 bus boardings (up by 6.6 per cent), 447,000 SkyTrain boardings (up by 25 per cent), 24,500 SeaBus boardings (up by 37.4 per cent), and 500 boardings on the special weekend service of the West Coast Express commuter rail, which typically only operates on weekdays.

This was the first of seven FIFA World Cup matches that will be held at BC Place Stadium:

  • 9 p.m., Saturday, June 13: Australia vs. Turkey
  • 3 p.m., Thursday, June 18: Canada vs. Qatar
  • 6 p.m., Sunday, June 21: New Zealand vs. Egypt
  • Noon, Wednesday, June 24: Canada vs. Switzerland
  • 8 p.m., Friday, June 26: New Zealand vs. Belgium
  • 8 p.m., Thursday, July 2: Knockout match — round of 32
  • 1 p.m., Tuesday, July 7: Knockout match — round of 16

To accommodate the surge in ridership, TransLink is significantly increasing services on SkyTrain, buses, and SeaBus on match days, with SkyTrain and SeaBus operating one hour later — past 2 a.m. — on matches that start later in the evening (June 13 and 26 and July 2).

TransLink is also operating a major temporary bus route to provide passengers with quick, reliable, and convenient access to the FIFA Fan Festival at the PNE. Using only high-capacity, 60-foot-long, three-door buses, the No. 11 FIFA Fan Festival Express bus route has a frequency of every five minutes or better before, during, and after the festival’s operating hours — running along Renfrew Street between the Expo Line’s 29th Avenue Station and the PNE’s Pacific Coliseum entrance, with only one stop along the route at the Millennium Line’s Renfrew Station, and with a short end-to-end travel time of about 15 minutes.

The No. 11 operates on the 28 days the fan festival is open during the 39-day tournament period.

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TransLink’s No. 11 FIFA Fan Festival Express bus at SkyTrain’s Renfrew Station. (Kenneth Chan)

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Wayfinding signage and queuing area for TransLink’s No. 11 FIFA Fan Festival Express bus at the Pacific Coliseum bus loop. (Kenneth Chan)

During Saturday’s match, it was announced that there was a “full house” attendance of 52,497 at the stadium under its tournament configuration.

Tens of thousands of people also descended onto the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone and other areas of the Downtown Vancouver peninsula before and after the late evening match.

TransLink has been provided with about $22 million from the City of Vancouver’s FIFA Host Committee budget to increase services to ensure people move efficiently and reliably on the public transit system during the five-week-long tournament period. This budget also covers new wayfinding signage, dressings, and other decorations.

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