Transit services navigate the unknown to get fans to World Cup matches

Transit services navigate the unknown to get fans to World Cup matches as Toronto and Vancouver adjust routes to handle crowd variability. In Toronto on Thursday, officials said one bus route and three streetcar routes—key links used in earlier matches—would be diverted for Portugal vs. Croatia at the city’s final World Cup game. Toronto Transit Commission chief strategy and customer experience officer Josh Colle noted uncertainty in demand, saying crowd sizes could range from 10,000 to 60,000 Portuguese fans, changing diversion lengths. In Toronto, service performance was supported by demand: 760,600 boardings across five main surface corridors during the first four match days, a 43% increase year over year. In Vancouver, on June 24 (the day Canada lost 2-1 to Switzerland at BC Place), the city logged 1.4 million boardings across all modes, its highest since March 2020. During the tournament’s first week in June, overall boardings rose 7.8%, including on non-game days.