World Cup crowds are rewriting Sound Transit’s ridership record books

SEATTLE - FIFA World Cup matches are driving record-breaking ridership on Sound Transit's light rail system, with the agency shattering single-day boarding records twice in one week.

"What we're seeing is hundreds of thousands of people," said Henry Bendon with Sound Transit.

The Belgium-Egypt match generated 236,000 single-day boardings, roughly the population of Tacoma. That record was surpassed during the USA-Australia match, when 280,000 boardings were recorded, about the size of the combined Tri-Cities region.

Bendon said a sold-out Seattle Mariners game the same evening also helped push ridership to the new record.

"We are seeing people come from all over the world and get on the trains," said Bendon.

More trains, more frequent service

According to Sound Transit, 174 rail cars have been operating on each World Cup match day, the most the agency has ever had in service. Trains have also been running every four minutes to move fans to and from Seattle Stadium.

Bendon said ridership has continued to climb since the opening of the Crosslake Connection.

"What we've seen since the opening of the Crosslake Connection is skyrocketing ridership," remarked Bendon. "We're up 40% month on month from when we opened our train across the lake."

How Sound Transit counts riders

To measure ridership, Sound Transit uses infrared sensors mounted above train doors to track passengers as they board.

"Onboard, 80% of our trains are automatic people counters," explained Bendon.

The data is downloaded when trains return to the depot after about two days, meaning officials expect to have boarding numbers from the Bosnia-Qatar match by Friday.

Adjustments between matches

Bendon said Sound Transit has continued making operational changes after each match to improve the experience for riders.

"That Monday match taught us a lot about queuing here at International District, for example, where we were able to set up Disneyland lines separating two-line and one-line passengers," said Bendon.

The International District and Westlake stations have been the busiest hubs during the tournament.

With fan events spread throughout downtown Seattle, Sound Transit also reopened the information booth at Westlake Station.

"Because the fan events have been spread around and people want to see our beautiful city and experience the whole of downtown," said Bendon.

Bendon said Seattle's transit system has an advantage over many other World Cup host cities because stations are located in the heart of downtown rather than at the end of commuter rail lines.

"Our stadium is located in the perfect spot, and we're trying to keep our moving exactly as it is," said Bendon.

After setting two ridership records in one week, Bendon said Sound Transit is hoping the trend continues as more World Cup matches come to Seattle.

"We're excited," Bendon said. "We hope we can break another record. But we'll see."

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