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Peter Berkowitz took the VTA light rail to the Qatar vs. Switzerland World Cup match, the first of six games at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Getting out took hours.
“It was a mess,” he said. “I was like, ‘Alright, I got to do something different.’”
A couple of weeks later, for the Jordan vs. Algeria game on Monday, Berkowitz coasted off the San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail on his red commuter bicycle, rolled up to Gate C and handed his bike over. He scanned a QR code to reclaim the bike after the match before walking to the stadium.
Getting in and out of Levi’s has been a challenge for some as part of the World Cup experience in Silicon Valley. Parking runs over $150 for a World Cup match, and VTA trains flood with people postgame. With 65,000 fans descending on Santa Clara from across the Bay Area, the congestion is higher than some other events hosted at Levi’s Stadium.
Now, a growing number of fans have decided the answer is to skip traditional commuting methods and turn to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition’s (SVBC) free bike valet, a service that has been running for sports fans and concertgoers alike since 2006.
But the World Cup has pushed the San Jose-based nonprofit’s program to a new level. Levi’s Stadium is one of only three World Cup venues hosting a bike valet, and this year marks the first time there’s ever been a bike valet at the storied soccer tournament.
Meeting demand from fans
Zachary Kearsley was there five hours before the Qatar vs. Switzerland kickoff on June 13, setting up the canopy and bike corral. As SVBC’s bike parking program manager, Kearsley had been at Gate C laying out valet tags and walking volunteers through a same-day training before the lots opened.
Once riders started pulling up, the process moved quickly. A volunteer identified the bike type, tore off a numbered tag and handed a QR code for the rider to scan, linking their identity to their bicycle or scooter.
What Kearsley didn’t anticipate was the demand. The coalition parked 273 bikes and scooters at the first match alone — nearly 75 more than its bike corrals are built to hold. In response, stadium staff and SVBC expanded the usual operation into the parking lot and added a second corral at Gate A to keep up at future games.
The valet accepts most non-gas-powered vehicles – e-scooters, Onewheels, skateboards, even the occasional pair of rollerblades. (It also takes strollers). Whatever can roll up, volunteer Russell Lee said, that’s the job. The one restriction is fleet rentals: Lime scooters and public rental bikes make the returning process messy.
Arriving about two hours before Monday’s kickoff, Berkowitz joined a growing fleet of nearly 60 parked bikes and 11 scooters outside the stadium.
“It’s the best way to commute in,” said Dung Nguyen, handing her bike to a volunteer. “Best traffic, best hustle and you save the money. A parking spot here is $150 to $200.”
Nguyen biked 1.7 miles from San Jose, her bike frame adorned with colored tags from previous valets — a small, accumulated record of every game she hadn’t driven to. She’s been spreading the word.
“I’ve been telling everyone about it because it’s the easiest way to get here and feel secure,” she said.
Beyond Santa Clara County, World Cup attendees from across the Bay Area travel to Levi’s Stadium with the valet in mind. From Berkeley, Nic Lukehart learned about the bike valet through a friend and decided to ditch the car entirely for his journey from the East Bay, loading his bike onto Amtrak.
“Honestly, it was pretty chill.” Lukehart said. “I think the big thing for us was just getting down to an event like this. There’s going to be way too many cars and everything. Trying to take a Lyft sounded terrible.”
‘We have a lot of room to grow’
What looks effortless from the rider’s side takes hours on the other. Before the first bike rolls up or the lots even open, a small crew of volunteers has already been at Gate C building the operation from scratch — canopy up, tags laid out, barricades in place. For some of them, it’s their hundredth time.
This is the case for SVBC volunteer Jim Murray, who’s seen everything from porta potties being blown across the parking lot to the corral becoming the only shaded space for first responders to work. But Murray said Monday’s Jordan vs. Algeria game was his first FIFA event.
Murray said he’s encouraged by an increase in those using the bike valet at Levi’s, but acknowledged there’s still a lot of progress to make.
“You’re feeling pretty good about it,” he said. “‘Wow, we’re making progress.’ And then you look at the stadium and there’s 65,000 people that just spent $150 to park the car and it’s like, ‘We have a lot of room to grow.’”
Growing also means more volunteers. The coalition recruits openly — anyone 16 and older can sign up through Eventbrite, train on the day of the event and work a shift. But a Tuesday night that runs past midnight is a hard sell, Kearsley admits.
“But it was a pleasure to get to meet new people as always,” he said. “I think there’s a sense of pride and accomplishment that we had working together as a team.”
Cyclist Jon Freilich knows the uncertain feeling of bringing a bike to a big event like the World Cup. The regular SVBC volunteer has rolled up to enough big venues on his bike to understand exactly what every rider handing over their bicycle is thinking.
“It’s always great to provide this as a service to encourage people to ride their bikes,” Freilich said. “But as somebody who rides my bike places, that’s my biggest fear: ‘What am I going to do with it? Is it going to be safe when I get there? Is it going to be there when I get back out?’” he said.
To alleviate that anxiety for others, Freilich pedaled from his job in Sunnyvale to Gate C, arriving four hours before kickoff. He joined the tight rotation of volunteers working the corral before, during and after the match.
Among them was Alyssa Tran, a first-time volunteer who discovered the opportunity through Eventbrite. For Tran, seeing the sheer volume of bikes and scooters was an eye-opener.
“This is my first time volunteering for anything bike-related, so it’s interesting to see how many bikes come through,” Tran said. “I personally drove here too, so just seeing the public using different ways of transportation here is great.”
The work of Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition goes beyond the bike valet.
On Saturday, June 27, the organization is hosting a free World Kit caravan ride, where cyclists can travel together from the Sunnyvale Caltrain station to Levi’s Stadium in soccer jerseys.
The coalition also runs bicycle clinics across the Peninsula and South Bay, teaching basic repairs and working with younger riders. For Kearsley, all of it connects back to the same mission the bike valet embodies on game days.
“Riding to the game is the quickest, most cost-effective and healthiest form of transportation you can choose,” he said. “And it’s also just the most fun.”
For more information on Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition’s World Cup bike valet program and routes to Levi’s Stadium, visit bikesiliconvalley.org/learn-ride/levis-stadium. Levi’s Stadium will host two more World Cup matches: Paraguay vs. Australia at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 25, and USA vs. TBD at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 1.
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