The region’s transit plan for serving World Cup games in the Meadowlands got its first test on Saturday.
More than 80,000 people had tickets to watch Brazil duel Morocco to a 1-1 draw at Metlife Stadium Saturday afternoon, in the first of eight World Cup matches hosted by New Jersey and New York in coming weeks.
Alex Lasry, the CEO of the NYNJ Host committee, called the game a “tremendous success,” including the transportation element.
“Working alongside our public safety, transportation, venue, and FIFA partners, we successfully got fans who arrived during the designated travel windows into the stadium before kickoff and facilitated an orderly departure in under three hours across multiple transportation options following the match,” Lasry said in a statement.
According to the host committee 16,013 people bought tickets for its official shuttle bus service, which served three locations in Manhattan and a park and ride in Nutley.
NJ Transit did not respond to a request for comment. The agency posted on social media after the game that it had moved 21,578 people from the stadium within 90 minutes. NJ Transit had planned to handle up to 40,000 people for each World Cup game.
Some attendees took to social media to share their travel pains, but those largely revolved around using rideshares like Uber and Lyft.
Josh Gold, a spokesperson for Uber, said the company helped move more than 6,500 people to and from the games. Gold, who personally urged people on social media ahead of Saturday’s game to take public transit, stressed that Uber is meant to work with other transportation options.
“As we look ahead to future matches, public transit will continue to be the backbone to move large crowds, with Uber helping fill the gaps to get fans where they need to go,” Gold said.
The next World Cup game in the Meadowlands will be Tuesday afternoon, when France takes on Senegal. It will be the first game to affect workday commutes.
“We strongly encourage attendees to use NJ Transit or our official NYNJ Stadium Shuttle and to plan ahead to ensure they arrive in their seats before kickoff,” Lasry said.
