Light rail trains carried a record 280,000 passengers Friday, as people surged into Seattle for the U.S.-Australia World Cup soccer match, a sold-out Mariners game and summer-sauntering downtown.

Even more surprisingly, Sound Transit reported 236,000 riders on its 58-mile network a day earlier, when there was only a baseball game.

Both figures exceed the previous all-time high of 219,000 when overflow crowds celebrated the March 28 grand opening of train service across Lake Washington, and 215,000 for the Seahawks victory parade in February. Light rail carried 210,000 riders on June 15 when Egypt and Belgium competed in the city's first FIFA Men's World Cup match here.

The numbers might go higher if the USA Men's National Team advances to the round of 16, scheduled for July 6 in Seattle, said transit spokesperson Henry Bendon.

To cope with more than a quarter-million trips, Sound Transit staff took unusual steps to divert people from the full International District/Chinatown Station to catch northbound trains at Pioneer Square Station, after the soccer match. They also set up temporary green signs to make platform walking one-way — for instance, late-afternoon Mariners fans were supposed to walk north and exit Pioneer Square Station at James Street, so the station's whole south end could take people incoming after the USA defeated Australia 2-0 at Seattle Stadium (aka Lumen Field).

It was busy for all 14 hours, Bendon said.

Fortunately, there were no stalls or breakdowns at busy times last week, just one mechanical glitch where 2 Line trains had to turn back at Northgate Station, returning to the Eastside, while the north-south 1 Line trains still advanced all the way to Lynnwood, in the 9 p.m. hour Thursday.

About that big Thursday count, operations managers noticed people taking short trips all day, especially at Westlake and Pioneer Square. People were going to soccer watch parties, the Pike Place Market, and other side trips. Large numbers are going back-and-forth to the SeaTac/Airport Station though specific counts aren't immediately available.

Thursday brought steady all-day crowds, and there was virtually no need to channel people into long lines outside stations, except a brief informal crowd-metering at International District/ Chinatown after the baseball game, said Bendon.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the date of the game Seattle will host in the round of 16.

© 2026 The Seattle Times.
Visit www.seattletimes.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.