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Dive Brief:

• About halfway through the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, transit agencies in several host cities have reported record-setting ridership on certain game days, according to data compiled by the American Public Transportation Association.
• Many transit agencies have expanded service, deployed additional staff and enhanced security to maintain service for daily riders and accommodate visiting soccer fans, APTA said.
• In February, Congress appropriated more than $100 million in Federal Transportation Agency funds to support public transit in World Cup host cities; the Department of Homeland Security and a White House task force authorized spending more than $1 billion for event security. 

Dive Insight:

More than 26 public transit agencies across 11 U.S. host communities prepared for an influx of international tourists and soccer fans this summer, according to APTA. Adding trains, buses and customer-service staff, ramping up maintenance prior to the event and deploying maintenance staff at transit stops are some of the ways agencies could prepare, transit experts told Smart Cities Dive. 

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority added capacity on its Broad Street Line to move some 15,000 people per hour, APTA said. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is staging about 30 buses on match days to respond to any rail service disruptions, the agency said in a news release.

MARTA reported that ridership on game and event days ranged from 1.2 times to three times normal daily ridership. As of June 26, MARTA said it had carried 1.7 million people to World Cup matches, fan festivals and related events. The agency has employed transit ambassadors and hundreds of MARTA police officers for added safety and security, it said.

Seattle’s Sound Transit light rail carried a record 280,000 riders on June 19 for the USA-Australia match, surpassing the previous high by 60,000 passengers, according to APTA. 

Kansas City, Missouri, which opened an extension of its streetcar line to the city’s riverfront in May, set a single-day ridership record of more than 39,000 trips on June 16, for the Argentina-Algeria match.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority saw a nearly sixfold increase in fare payments on a match day, compared with a typical Friday, at the light rail station serving the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Coliseum is holding a fan festival and broadcasts live matches.  

“Public transit agencies in host cities across the U.S. have moved millions of fans safely and efficiently while continuing to get everyday riders where they need to go,” APTA President and CEO Paul Skoutelas said in a statement. He added that these accomplishments are “proof of what public transportation can do when it has the resources to perform.”