Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches coming to the Bay Area, BART has announced limited-stop express service for night games, along with a dedicated event page to help the millions of expected visitors navigate our transit system without losing their minds.

For a system that often struggles to run normal weekday service without drama, the promise of express trains is genuinely encouraging. The World Cup is a massive global stage, and nothing says "world-class city" quite like stranding international tourists at the Coliseum station at 11 PM. So the fact that BART is getting out ahead of this — months in advance — deserves a nod.

But let's talk about the elephant in the room: actually getting to the stadium. Matches are being held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, and if you've ever tried to get there via public transit, you know it's an exercise in patience and creative route-planning. As one Bay Area commuter put it, it's "the highly intuitive and efficient Santa Clara via Milpitas route" — and even Caltrain connections to the stadium leave plenty to be desired.

This is the fundamental problem with Bay Area transit. We have multiple agencies, multiple systems, and zero seamless integration. BART can run all the express trains it wants, but if the last mile to the venue is a mess, fans are just going to Uber anyway — and we'll have spent taxpayer money on express service that moves people to a transfer point, not to their seats.

The World Cup is a chance for the Bay Area to showcase what it can do. It's also an unforgiving spotlight on what it can't. Express service is a good start, but riders need the full journey to work, not just the BART portion of it.

Here's hoping the agencies are actually coordinating behind the scenes. The world will literally be watching.