Eventful July in Seattle resulted in record-breaking transit ridership rates

(The Center Square) – A month full of events in Seattle resulted in over one million people using light rail, King County Metro buses and the water taxi during three notable days in July.

Sound Transit saw record-breaking ridership numbers thanks in large part to the Major League Baseball All-Star game, multiple Taylor Swift concerts, the Capitol Hill Block Party music festival and a Seattle Mariners home series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Sound Transit’s Link light rail system had 11 days of more than 100,000 boardings last month. The agency’s two-day total during the weekend of the MLB All-Star Game was 222,900 riders. The busiest of the two days, July 11, set a new single-day record with an estimated 115,600 boardings, according to preliminary data from King County. Prior to last month, Link light rail’s highest single ridership day was on Oct. 3, 2019, with 108,500 riders.

Notably, both transit agencies went fare-free on July 10-11 to ease the city’s traffic concerns with the mass influx of visitors. With the inclusion of 498,552 boardings from King County Metro during that same time frame, all agencies sacrificed roughly $1.7 million in collective fare revenue with the decision to provide free transit.

During the first Taylor Swift concert on July 21, Sound Transit Link light rail set its new single-day ridership record with 119,500 boarding, breaking the previous record set just 10 days earlier. That record lasted only two days, when ridership reached an all-time high of 136,800 on July 23.

“The strength and vitality of our regional mobility network – over rails, roads, and water – continues to provide high-value connectivity as evidenced by this record-breaking ridership,” Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm said in a statement.

Despite record-breaking days, Sound Transit is still seeing ridership across all of its services below pre-COVID-19 pandemic rates. According to the American Public Transportation Association’s data, Sound Transit had 848,408 boardings from July 9 through Juy 15, which included the MLB all-star week. That is 17% below ridership rates in the same period prior to the pandemic.

From July 16 through July 22, when Taylor Swift performed in Seattle, Sound Transit boardings reached more than 900,000. However, that is still 8% below pre-pandemic rates.