An urban planning expert says an increased use of public transit during World Cup matches is crucial to ensure the event runs smoothly.
The City of Toronto’s Mobility Plan for the FIFA World Cup is forecasting 70 per cent of spectators, or approximately 25,000 people, using public transit to get to and from matches.
“If we start to think about any number less than that, the city really may just collapse on itself,” Jeff Casello, a professor in the school of planning at the University of Waterloo, told Global News.
Casello’s warning is supported by recent data from Geotab, which suggests Toronto and Vancouver are ill-prepared to handle transportation pressures brought by the World Cup. The study used vehicle data from June and July 2025, including periods covering major events, to assess the preparedness of each of the 16 host cities.
Toronto falls dead last, with Vancouver just above.
“While the tournament will bring obvious pressure around stadiums and fan travel, the wider issue is how well host city road networks maintain resilience as they absorb major event demand by limiting disruption to local traffic, commercial operations and the movement of goods,” a press release from Geotab states.
Vancouver and Toronto are ranked the top two cities for congestion, according to the latest TomTom traffic index, taking 28 and 26 minutes, respectively, just to drive 10 kilometres in each city.
With the City of Toronto expecting a 10 to 15 per cent increase in traffic congestion during its six World Cup matches, those who do drive will face major delays.
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“You may see that in the early games where people say, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just take a chance to see if I could drive into the city,’” Casello said. “But I think the city is really going to perform so poorly if you do try and drive that by the time the first experiment is over, people will realize that public transportation is probably the only viable way for this to happen.”
Casello said that evidence shows people prefer to travel by their own car if it makes sense to do so. But he said with up to 15 per cent more congestion on the highways, transit becomes a much more attractive option.
“You can get from Pearson Airport to downtown in 30 minutes and get to the game by transit, and there’s no possible way you can do the same thing by car,” he said.
The TTC and Metrolinx have established plans to increase transit services during the games.
The TTC is offering enhanced service on Line 1 and Line 2, as well as select streetcars and buses that service Toronto Stadium. Metrolinx is also expanding Go Transit service, operating up to six trains per hour on the Lakeshore West line before and after games.
Casello said the plan is solid, but it must be properly implemented to ensure everyone can get to and from the games safely and reliably. He said there are several lessons Toronto can learn from last summer’s World Series games that provide promise for more functionality this summer.
“There were some missteps last year,” he said. “Lots of people were coming out of games, coming out of bars and restaurants, and there wasn’t really the kind of control or the kind of organization on platforms and entering and exiting stations that we would like to see. And it did create some safety concerns and some frustration amongst passengers.”
The Toronto Transit Commission previously announced it would be adding 600 transit ambassadors to help tourists and locals navigate the system during matches and celebrations, which Casello said is promising.
The other necessity, he said, is assuring late-night service on all transit systems to prevent attendees from being stranded after games and parties.
The TTC says subway service will run until 1:30 a.m. but that time could be reassessed in certain circumstances.
Improving transit reliability could also be a challenge for the TTC. According to a May report, Line 1 and Line 2 have an on-time performance of 83 and 84 per cent, while for buses and streetcars, that drops to 74 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.
“The reality is that when you have this kind of spike in demand, there’s going to be people who are unaccustomed to the system, there’s going to be people who are just getting used to it,” Casello said. “There are going to be people who have expectations about the way the system is going to run it and I’m not sure we’re going to meet that.”
“People are going to be leaving a game or leaving a bar or restaurant and they’re gonna have to wait one or two or three trains to get onto a train because the system is going over crowded,” he added. “I think that’s just the reality of what’s happening.”
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