Metro Rail ridership reached its highest level in more than six years in May – since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – and was boosted by the opening of three new D Line stations serving the Miracle Mile, Fairfax District and Beverly Hills-adjacent neighborhoods.
World Cup service to Los Angeles Stadium (also known as SoFi Stadium) by Metro and its 11 regional transit agency partners also had a very strong start. In the first two matches played at the stadium, an estimated almost 45,000 rides on the special World Cup service were taken to and from matches.
Regular Metro bus and rail ridership
Overall rail ridership increased 9.5% compared to May 2025, with riders taking more than 6.47 million trips on Metro’s rail system during the month. Total Metro ridership for May — including bus and rail — was 26.97 million boardings.
The biggest gains came on the D Line, where ridership increased 62% from May 2026 compared to May 2025. About 8,000 to 10,000 rides were added per day after the three new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega opened on May 8.
The new stations also helped drive strong weekend ridership, with D Line ridership growing nearly 80% on Saturdays and Sundays compared to May 2025.
The opening weekend for the D Line extension drew thousands of visitors for station celebrations, community events and activities hosted by local businesses and cultural organizations along the corridor.
Rail ridership grew 8% systemwide on weekdays and 18% on weekends in May.
Other rail lines also posted gains in May:
- A Line ridership increased 11.3%, including strong weekend growth.
- B Line ridership increased 7%.
- E Line ridership increased 4%.
- K Line ridership increased 48%, with weekend ridership increasing by more than 60%.
While rail ridership increased, bus ridership declined 4.9% compared to May 2025. Some of that shift reflects riders choosing the expanded D Line service under Wilshire Boulevard instead of the two bus lines – the 20 and 720 — operating on Wilshire Boulevard. Ridership on Metro Line 720, declined 6.5% compared to a year ago. The D Line travels entirely underground and has cut transit travel times considerably.
Even with the shift, buses remained the backbone of the Metro system, accounting for more than 20.49 million boardings in May – or about 76% of Metro’s ridership for the month.
World Cup nonstop bus service ridership
Direct World Cup service by Metro and its transit partners also had a strong start. Preliminary numbers show there were at least 18,541 rides for the opening match between the U.S. and Paraguay – the combined total of rides going to and from the match. The numbers grew to 26,206 for Monday night’s Iran versus New Zealand match (attendance for the game was 63,340).
Metro and its transit partners are running World Cup service from 15 locations in L.A. and Orange counties – an unprecedented number of service locations for a local sporting event. With the Olympics and Paralympics Games coming to our region in two years, the World Cup service has been a good chance to prepare for moving a lot of fans at once.
The matches also spurred an increase in ridership on Metro Rail. For Friday’s match, about 8% more rides than usual used Metro Rail and that number was about 7% for Monday’s match. Many of the World Cup service locations are served by rail stations, including Union Station, the LAX/Metro Transit Center, Hawthorne/Lennox, Crenshaw and North Hollywood – with Downtown Long Beach and Downtown Santa Monica locations also near Metro Rail.
The World Cup service will continue for the six remaining matches to be played in the L.A. area, starting with the Switzerland versus Bosnia-Herzegovina game on Thursday and concluding with a quarterfinal match on July 10. Metro Bus and Rail also serves the Los Angeles World Cup Fan Zones that are being held across L.A. County; plan your trip with the new Metro app that is available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
World Cup service is provided by Metro and our transit partners: Access Services, Big Blue Bus, Culver City Transit, Foothill Transit, G-Trans, Long Beach Transit, Montebello Bus Lines, Norwalk Transit System, OmniTrans, Orange County Transportation Authority, Riverside Transit Agency and Torrance Transit.
For more information on how to ride to the World Cup, please visit metro.net/worldcup.
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