The FIFA World Cup first area game is less than a month away at MetLife Stadium — or New York New Jersey Stadium, as it’s been renamed for the matches.
Roundtrip train tickets for the stadium on May 7 dropped to $98, from $150. That change came after public outcry led corporate donors to help offset the costs.
Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit, says it’s a move that Gov. Mikie Sherrill welcomed.
“She has said that New Jersey commuters or taxpayers would not pick up the tab for fans to go to the stadium. But at the same time, she also said that she and the administration would look for sponsorships to defray the cost of the transportation that we have to provide,” Kolluri said. “It was a combination of corporate sponsors, higher-than-anticipated advertising revenue of New Jersey Transit, and frankly, federal grants that came in that ultimately brought the cost down.”
“For our regular commuters, it is important to know that their life will go on because our access to our New Jersey Transit bus, our New Jersey Transit regular trains, PATH ferries, Amtrak will all still be available,” Kolluri said. “So the point of disruption really is for four hours before the game, Penn Station will divert commuters to PATH. And then three hours after the game, the same thing will happen.”
Train tickets, which went on sale on May 13, are still available for the eight days of games from June 13 to July 19, Kolluri said.
“We’ve done over 11,000 tickets in less than a week. The good news with that is that it is on pace,” Kolluri said. “I know people expect this to be like concert tickets, but I think what happens is those FIFA fans don’t even have their actual tickets to the game yet. That’ll come closer to the game. I think that’s when you’ll begin to see an increase in the purchase of transportation services.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, to offer her own travel savings, used taxpayer dollars. Stadium shuttle tickets once priced at $80 now will cost $20. Twenty percent of those tickets will be reserved for New Yorkers.
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