Swifties shattered South Bay public transit ridership records on the first night of the Eras Tour at Levi’s Stadium.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said it tallied close to 25,000 boardings for Taylor Swift’s kickoff Bay Area performance in the concert series, which drew something on the order of 58,000 attendees to the House of 49ers on Friday.
Swifties pouring out of @LevisStadium after #Erastour Friday night concert. Smashing ridership records w/ an estimated 25K boardings. pic.twitter.com/DUX4tR81GQ
— VTA (@VTA) July 29, 2023
That’s well beyond the VTA’s previous record of 15,000 boardings for the 2015 NHL Winter Classic and more than double the 10,000 passengers who relied on the transit agency to get to Levi’s for the 2016 Super Bowl.
A VTA spokesperson said the agency anticipated the historic turnout after seeing ridership in other jurisdictions triple in some cases and has been preparing for this weekend since spring.
VTA says it bolstered capacity for the Eras Tour by 30% while BART is also running extra trains for Swift’s two-night foray into the Bay Area, which continues tonight with another sold-out show at Levi’s Stadium.
Despite the historic crowds descending on the South Bay city that christened itself “Swiftie Clara” for the weekend, Santa Clara police Lt. Phan Cuong said his department made just three arrests Friday night.
“The fans were amazing last night,” Cuong told The Standard. “TS and her fans sang all the songs in unison in the perfect California weather in an amazing venue at Levi’s Stadium. Please don’t let these minor arrests take away from 57K+ Swifties who made this a peaceful and amazing night for all.”