TransLink’s FIFA World Cup Vancouver 2026 Plan

by Rebecca Bollwitt Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 — 4:37pm PST

We’re 100 days out FIFA World Cup 2026 Vancouver and local municipalities and organizations are announcing their plans for the global tournament. This includes TransLink, who will be moving fans, visitors, and residents across Metro Vancouver while navigating restricted zones around the stadiums and celebration sites.

TransLink’s FIFA World Cup Vancouver 2026 Plan

One of the biggest match-day disruptions that fans, visitors, and locals will need to plan around is that Stadium–Chinatown SkyTrain and Yaletown–Roundhouse Canada Line stations will not provide pedestrian access to BC Place Vancouver due to the secure event perimeter and crowd-control routing. Customers heading to matches should plan to use Main Street–Science World Station instead and walk/roll along the “Last Mile” zone to get to the stadium.

With temporary road closures, controlled areas, and traffic management measures near venues, transit will be the fastest and easiest way to reach BC Place Vancouver and the FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver. TransLink will adjust service across the system so customers can count on frequent, reliable options to get to the action, and get home again.

As one of 16 host cities, Vancouver will see significant surges in travel demand over a concentrated four-week period, with match days bringing the highest volumes.

To meet this demand, TransLink will deliver major service increases across bus, SkyTrain, SeaBus, and the West Coast Express, supported by more frontline staff to manage crowds, support safety, and keep people moving efficiently.

Bus Service

TransLink will deliver approximately 600 additional bus trips per day during FIFA World Cup 2026 Vancouver. This includes:

Extra service to routes serving the FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver at the PNE, including a dedicated shuttle between the PNE, the Expo Line, and the Millennium Line.
More service throughout the downtown core to respond to increased demand.
Additional buses on standby to respond to crowd surges and changing conditions, with crews monitoring crowding in real time and deploying service as needed.

SkyTrain Service

To meet demand, TransLink will deliver additional SkyTrain service, including:

More frequent service before and after matches at BC Place Vancouver, with trains running approximately every two minutes at downtown stations.
On nights when local matches start at 8:00pm or later, SkyTrain service will be extended by one hour.
After local matches, empty trains will be waiting at Main Street–Science World Station, so fans can board and get home quickly.

Entrance to BC Place

There will be only one entrance to BC Place on match days, as illustrated on the map below:

Seabus Sailings

To support travel across Burrard Inlet throughout FIFA World Cup 2026 Vancouver, TransLink will deliver extra SeaBus sailings. SeaBus will operate with:

15-minute service or better all day, every day for the duration of the tournament.
10-minute frequencies before and after local matches.
SeaBus hours will also extend by one hour when local matches start at 8 p.m. or later, to align with SkyTrain hours.

Weekend West Coast Express

Additional service will support travel to and from local weekend matches.

Special round-trip game-day West Coast Express trips will operate on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 21.
One West Coast Express locomotive will operate westbound before both games, with one eastbound train following both games.

HandyDART Locations

During the tournament, HandyDART will have designated pick-up and drop-off locations to support seamless HandyDART travel during the tournament.

HandyDART drop-off and pick-up will be available outside BC Place Vancouver at Expo Boulevard and Carrall Street, as well as on Nelson Street between Pacific and Expo Boulevards.
HandyDART drop-off an pick-up will also be available outside of FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver at Gate 2, Parking Lot 1 and Gate 10 Parking Lot 9.
Pick-up windows and wait times will be adjusted to account for road closures, congestion, and matches that may go to extra time.

Throughout the tournament, TransLink will increase frontline staffing to support crowd management, customer wayfinding, and safety. Additional SkyTrain Attendants, Canada Line Attendants, Transit Police, Transit Security Officers, Transit Supervisors, SeaBus Marine Attendants, Customer Information Agents, and Transit Volunteers will be on hand to answer questions, help manage crowds, provide directions, and support customer safety.

Transit will be the fastest and easiest way to reach both BC Place Vancouver and the FIFA Fan Festival Vancouver. With temporary road closures, controlled areas, and traffic management measures near event venues, match days will look and feel different. Transit avoids the bottlenecks and gets customers into the downtown core and to the PNE more reliably during peak periods.

Transit riders are encouraged to plan their trip ahead of time. More details are available online.

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