World Cup Drives Vancouver Transit Ridership to Its Biggest Surge Since the 2010 Winter Olympics

Updated: 2026-06-17｜Real-time information is subject to official announcements

On the Saturday night that Vancouver’s first World Cup match wrapped up, the lineups on the SkyTrain platforms stretched all the way out past the exits, and that scene made one number very tangible: TransLink later announced that June 13 was the busiest matchday Saturday for the stations around BC Place since the 2010 Winter Olympics. For anyone planning to take transit to a match—or just living along the line and hoping to dodge the crowds—this isn’t merely a headline; it’s the reality to deal with on every matchday over the coming month.

That night’s fixture was Vancouver’s World Cup opener, Australia vs. Turkey, kicking off at 9 p.m. (PT) on June 13. According to official TransLink data, more than 1 million taps entered the system that day, about 648,200 trips, nearly 18% more than a typical Saturday. SkyTrain bore the heaviest load, with about 450,000 taps; even the cross-harbour SeaBus grew by more than 37%. TransLink also noted that matchday-Saturday ridership at the stations around BC Place set a new high since the 2010 Winter Olympics, surpassing Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Saturday concert in December 2024, as well as the BC Place match in April 2025 when Lionel Messi came to play the Vancouver Whitecaps with Miami. In other words, this single night outdid the city’s most crowd-packed evenings of the past dozen-plus years.

The figures above come from TransLink’s official news release and represent only the opening night; the actual ridership for each subsequent match will vary depending on the matchup and kickoff time. The flip side of soaring ridership is that platforms, train cars, and exit routes will all be more crowded than usual. If you’ve already got a BC Place ticket, or plan to join the fun at the official Fan Festival at the PNE, the most direct impact will be longer waits for trains, queues to enter and exit stations, and the post-match crush as everyone leaves at once. The upside is that TransLink has put a fair amount of extra service in place for this World Cup, and getting the rules straight will spare you some of the pain.

The scale of the extra service is actually substantial. TransLink says it will add about 600 bus trips per day during the World Cup, covering shuttles to the PNE/Hastings Park Fan Festival, the downtown core, and standby contingency vehicles; before and after match peaks, SkyTrain will tighten headways to as little as about one train every 2 minutes; throughout the event SeaBus will run at least every 15 minutes all day, tightening to about every 10 minutes before and after matches. The thing worth remembering is the last train: for the three later-kickoff matches on June 13, June 26, and July 2, the last SkyTrain on all three lines—Canada, Expo, and Millennium—will be extended by one hour to help departing spectators get home; other matches are not extended, so go by the announcements on TransLink’s official event page and don’t simply apply the weekday last-train times.

The thing that’s genuinely easiest to get wrong is which station to get off at for BC Place. TransLink advises that on match days everyone should enter and exit via Main Street–Science World Station, where a “The Last Mile” walking route to the stadium’s main entrance (at Carrall Street and Pacific Boulevard) has been laid out, about a 10- to 15-minute walk. The two stations people are used to, Stadium–Chinatown and Yaletown–Roundhouse, will no longer offer a route to the stadium on match days, and the Expo Boulevard (lower-level) exit at Stadium–Chinatown will in fact be closed outright. If you charge ahead to Stadium–Chinatown as usual, you’ll likely have to take a big detour, so be sure to confirm that day’s official guidance before you set out.

Those heading to the Fan Festival follow a different route. Vancouver’s official FIFA Fan Festival is set up at Hastings Park/PNE (address: 2901 E Hastings Street), running all the way from June 11 to July 19; general admission is free, so even those who didn’t land a ticket can go soak up the atmosphere. For transit, TransLink has opened a dedicated route, “11 29th Avenue Station/FIFA Fan Festival,” running along Renfrew Street between the Expo Line’s 29th Avenue Station, the Millennium Line’s Renfrew Station, and the PNE, about every 5 minutes, from two hours before the Fan Festival opens until two hours after it closes. Downtown there are also routes with added frequency to handle the departing crowds; the actual routes and times are still subject to TransLink’s official announcements.

If you’re a ticketed fan heading in, the most practical move is to make Main Street–Science World your station for both entering and exiting, arrive at least an hour early before the match, and when leaving don’t fight the crowd for the first train—walking back an exit or two, or waiting ten minutes before boarding, is often faster. For payment, a Compass card, contactless credit card, or mobile wallet (Apple/Google/Samsung Pay) all tap straight through the gates, with no need to queue to buy a ticket on the spot. Those who just want to go to the Fan Festival should ride straight to 29th Avenue Station and transfer to the 11 Express—far easier than driving and hunting for parking at the PNE, where spots around the grounds are nearly impossible to find on match days. As for residents living along the line who aren’t going to the matches, pay special attention to the post-match departure windows for the evening games on 6/13, 6/26, and 7/2, when large crowds will pour into downtown and the area around BC Place; if it isn’t essential, consider staggering your trip to avoid the hour before and after the match. Travellers flying in from places like Toronto should also be prepared: getting from Vancouver’s airport into the city relies on the Canada Line, which will likewise be packed on match days, so if you’ve got a lot of luggage it’s best to avoid the post-match peak—and since Toronto is itself a host city for this tournament, you can really plan both legs of the trip together.

It’s worth stressing that this transit pressure isn’t a one-night affair. BC Place is hosting 7 matches this tournament, from June 13 through July 7, spanning the group stage and the knockout stage, and on every match day the station controls and extra service described above will kick in, so getting into the habit of “checking that day’s guidance before you head out” will save you a lot of hassle. For the full matchups and kickoff times, go by the official FIFA and BC Place announcements. For more on Vancouver transit, accommodation, and venue details for watching the matches, see our Vancouver travel and matchday guide, or start with our rundown of where to watch and broadcast coverage across Canadian cities; to cross-check kickoff times for each match, see the full group-stage schedule.