Egypt vs. Belgium drew 210,000 gameday boardings on Link light rail
Preliminary numbers show Monday as the third highest ridership day in Link history
Link light rail drew approximately 210,000 boardings on Monday, supporting tens of thousands of fans heading to the opening FIFA World Cup Match in Seattle, with even more fans expected to board for Friday’s USA v Australia. When confirmed, these numbers will make June 15the third busiest in agency history, behind the Seahawks Super Bowl Parade and the opening of the Crosslake Connection.
To support this work, Sound Transit deployed more light rail vehicles than have ever run on the system at one time: 46 trains with a total of 174 railcars, including all 3-car trains on the 2 Line for the first time. The agency also dispatched a historic number of staff ambassadors, contracted transit security and law enforcement officers to keep passengers moving.
"Monday’s ridership shows the value of light rail as the backbone of our world class transit system,” said Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine. “These numbers reflect the extensive preparation we and our partners put into World Cup, and we look forward to more record ridership as the tournament continues.”
Methodology explanation: Ridership estimates are based on a rapid-turnaround review of available Automatic Passenger Counter (APC) data and should be considered an early directional estimate. Because APC data continues to be received and validated after the operating day, the estimates are derived from a partial reporting sample and extrapolated to the full fleet. The most recent service periods currently have the lowest reporting rates, meaning the estimates may increase or decrease as additional vehicle data is processed and validated.