More than 37,000 fans rode transit to and from Santa Clara for the first FIFA World Cup soccer match in the Bay Area on Saturday — the highest ridership ever for an event at the stadium there.

A news release distributed Tuesday by local transit agencies said the benchmark for clearing crowds from light rail platforms after major events at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium — the temporary name during the World Cup for Levi’s Stadium — is two hours, but the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority accomplished it in 90 minutes Saturday after the match between Qatar and Switzerland.

“This was a tremendous success for VTA and our regional transit partners,” said VTA CEO Carolyn Gonot in the release. “Thousands of fans chose transit to get to and from the match, and together with BART and Caltrain, we provided a seamless travel experience.”

BART had 160% more riders than the previous Saturday at its Milpitas station and Caltrain moved almost 7,000 fans, according to their leadership.

The agencies ran additional trains and implemented crowd management measures to handle the increase in riders.

Saturday’s opening match was the first of six FIFA World Cup matches that will be played in Santa Clara this summer.

Another Craig Newmark School of Journalism student, Valerie is looking forward to sharpening her deadline reporting skills while getting to know the Bay Area. Her interests include climate adaptation, community issues and LGBTQ+ reporting.