UPDATE: Sound Transit just released its ridership data as well, reporting 280,000 boardings on Friday. That, too, is a record, which had just been set a day earlier when they reported 236,000 rides.
Just in: we have a new Sound Transit light rail ridership record. The system carried 280,000 riders on Friday June 19, the day of the U.S. vs Australia match and an evening Mariners game.
— Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley.bsky.social) June 23, 2026 at 1:54 PM
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Anyone who came downtown for the USA-Australia 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup match on Friday can attest that it was about as busy as any event in Seattle history. Now, we’re starting to get numbers to back that up.
The first big one is from Lime, which rents e-bikes and scooters. The micro-mobility company announced on Tuesday that it tracked more than 83,000 trips in Seattle on Friday. That’s the most rides they’ve ever registered in Seattle, smashing the record by about 40%, which had been set when they had about 60,000 rides for the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl parade in February. City officials estimated about 1 million visited downtown for the parade.
INBOX: Lime says Friday was it highest-ridership day ever in Seattle, with scooter and bikeshare riders taking more than 83,000 Lime trips in the city. That's a major World Cup bump.
— The Urbanist (@theurbanist.org) June 23, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Lime had prepared for the day by taking over a parking lot near Occidental Park where many of those bikes and scooters were corralled.
Over the past year, Seattle has improved people’s ability to take bikes into downtown by opening and expanding several dedicated paths. Among the most useful is the Elliott Bay Trail, which now stretches from Magnolia to West Seattle and travels along the newly refurbished waterfront. It also now connects to the Westlake Protected Bike Lane via Bell Street.
This is likely only the tip of the iceberg for assessing how many people came downtown without a car. Sound Transit has not yet released its ridership data for Link Light Rail. For the Super Bowl parade, Sound Transit reported a record-breaking 225,000 riders. That event notably occurred before the 2 Line cross-lake connection was opened.
