VTA broke ridership record during Silicon Valley World Cup matches

VTA carried 230,000 passengers across the six FIFA World Cup matches hosted in the Bay Area since last month, setting its all-time special event ridership record.

The public transit agency also reported setting its single-event ridership record on June 25 for the match between Paraguay and Australia, when nearly 42,000 fans rode transit to and from San Francisco Bay Area Stadium — the temporary name for Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara during the World Cup.

“This success demonstrates that VTA is ready to deliver for the world’s biggest events,” Carolyn Gonot, VTA general manager and CEO, said in a statement.

For all six World Cup matches, the public transit agency ran increased light rail and bus services on routes serving the stadium, while temporarily shortening parts of its Blue and Orange lines to maximize its transportation efficiency. VTA also had its trains running late night operations until about 1 a.m., with more staffing than usual.

With these special event tactics, the agency worked to clear platforms in under two hours for the first World Cup match in Santa Clara between Switzerland and Qatar.

VTA also worked to collaborate with regional transportation partners like BART and Caltrain throughout the matches, stationing additional buses at the Mountain View station, Milpitas BART station and downtown San Jose.

BART and Caltrain also experienced ridership success during the event. For the first World Cup match in Santa Clara, BART reported having 160% more riders than the previous Saturday at its Milpitas station, while Caltrain reported a 20% increase in ridership on match days.

In a news release, VTA asserted itself as a “critical transportation partner for international events and showcases,” saying the agency hopes to be able to continue to support major events in the Bay Area in the future.

Despite VTA setting ridership records with the Super Bowl in February and again with the World Cup this summer, the agency projects a $15 million deficit by 2027.

VTA is one of many transit agencies throughout the Bay Area looking to secure sustainable funding from a regional sales tax measure on the November ballot known as the Connect Bay Area Act. The measure proposes a 0.5% tax increase in Santa Clara County that would raise $264 million for VTA through 2041.

This story was written by Adam Sutro for Bay City News Service.