Seattle light rail carried third-biggest crowds ever for World Cup
Although some fans stood in line for an hour to board light rail after Monday's big soccer match, Sound Transit said its strategy worked overall, and its team will be ready for both World Cup and Mariners baseball crowds Friday.
Light rail carried an estimated 210,000 passengers Monday, the third-highest volume ever, said spokesperson Henry Bendon. During a noon match, Belgium and Egypt battled to a 1-1 tie.
There were no breakdowns or delays. Trains ran about four minutes apart as scheduled. Just in the nick of time, Sound Transit opened its 2 Line segment across Lake Washington on March 28, which nearly doubles the overall capacity on big days like these.
Sound Transit expects even more riders Friday, when the U.S. soccer team hosts Australia at noon, followed by a Seattle Mariners game against the Boston Red Sox at 7:10 p.m.
We're ready to use the same playbook again," Bendon said.
The first chapter is that PA announcements and signs will encourage stadium-area passengers to divide themselves between three different stations, to avoid irritating and possibly dangerous overcrowding. Sound Transit hopes riders from North Seattle and Lynnwood will use Pioneer Square Station; riders from the Eastside and those with physical disabilities will use International District/Chinatown; and those from Rainier Valley, SeaTac and Federal Way will use Stadium Station.
The second chapter is to keep people on plazas outside the station entrances postgame, and gradually meter how many can enter, instead of letting throngs fill the boarding platforms. At the busiest time, people waited up to an hour at International District/Chinatown, generating some social-media pictures and gripes.
Clearing a stadium with 66,000-plus people inside, plus fans at watch parties nearby, with a goal that most ride transit, is no easy feat. Bendon said it can take an hour for Seahawks fans to all get on board. Concert crowds can pack the railcars, and people had to wait for multiple trains to squeeze aboard after the Taylor Swift shows in August 2023, when light rail provided just the 1 Line going north-south.
Trains often departed while less-than-full Monday afternoon - a deliberate plan by Sound Transit to help people get on board farther down the line.
Keeping some room and limiting the number of people who can get onto a platform makes for faster passenger loading and prevents delays, Bendon said. That's a lesson transit staff learned from the Feb. 11 Seahawks victory parade, when security guards shouted at overflow crowds to step back from the yellow edge, inside Westlake Station.
World Cup fans are encouraged to try King County Metro's special match-day shuttle buses between Seattle Center, Third Avenue, the stadiums and the waterfront. Baseball fans are well-versed in taking Metro, especially the Aurora Avenue E Line to Pioneer Square, or the West Seattle C and H lines to the waterfront.
Because of back-to-back soccer and baseball, the World Cup pedestrian zone in Pioneer Square will be in effect all day Friday after 8 a.m. Limited road lanes on First Avenue South and two side streets will be open, providing vehicle access to the state ferry terminal.
The March 28 grand opening across Lake Washington brought the top crowd of 244,000 boardings, followed by the Seahawks parade day at 215,000, as measured by lasers inside the railcars.
"We're hoping to set records on Friday, said Bendon.
Not much will change Friday. Customer service workers will encourage people leaving Seattle Stadium (Lumen Field) to keep walking north to Pioneer Square instead of clogging International District/Chinatown. Water bottles will be handed to people in line as before. Stadium Station wasn't crowded for soccer Monday but tends to fill on baseball evenings. There is one broken escalator at Pioneer Square Station that can't be fixed by Friday.
There should be time for soccer fans to clear out before baseball fans trickle in. Friday is the Juneteenth holiday, so commuters will be fewer than midweek, but then again, morning commuters largely avoided downtown on Monday as well.
On Friday, transportation officials encourage people to avoid long postsoccer lines by visiting downtown and the waterfront.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 11:36 PM.