TransLink says there was record-breaking ridership across all its transit modes over the weekend and thousands of people descended upon Vancouver for the final three dates of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.
In total, TransLink says it hit a major ridership milestone with more than 1.9 million journeyys taken across all its transit modes from Friday, Dec. 6 to Sunday, Dec. 8. Swifties took the SkyTrain, Canada Line, SeaBus, the West Coast Express and bus to get into the downtown core, which in addition to the concerts at BC Place had pop-up Taylor Swift-themed events and photo opportunities throughout the city.
Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain Station, which is the closest to BC Place, had its three highest days of ridership since Compass card data first became available in 2017, according to the TransLink release Tuesday (Dec. 10). Total daily boardings at the station were: 33,500 on Friday, a 119-per-cent increase over recent comparable Fridays; 27,500 on Saturday, a 98-per-cent increase over recent comparable Saturdays; and 28,000 on Sunday, a 131-per-cent increase over recent comparable Sundays.
SeaBus ridership surged, with about 70,000 boardings over the weekend. It was a 64-per-cent increase compared to recent weekends.
The West Coast Express and a special 'Midnight' train that carried 1,200 passengers between Mission and Waterfront Station. TransLink also added 108 special 'Swift' shuttle buses to help manage high passenger volumes, SkyTrain frequence was increased so trains were leaving every two-and-a-half minutes during the peak post-concert crowds and SeaBus was running on a 10-minute schedule in the evenings.
Sunday was the standout, with 516,000 journeys. TransLink said it was the highest Sunday ridership recorded for a non-holiday weekend, placing just behind Canada Day and B.C. Day in 2018 and 2019.
TransLink also created special friendship-bracelet style transit maps in honour of the concert weekend. They were meant to help out-of-town concertgoers familiarize themselves with the local transit system, as well as create a photo and selfie opportunities.
The maps were designed in-house, according to a TransLink spokesperson. There were nine maps 鈥� two large versions at Stadium-Chinatown and seven other smaller versions 鈥� that cost $5,117 for design, installation and removal.
