SEPTA will keep $2.90 fare for World Cup transit rides. Boston is charging $80.
NJ Transit, rumored to be charging $100 a ride, will make an announcement on Friday.
World Cup tourists, local stadium workers, and commuters will pay the same $2.90 base fare for a Broad Street subway ride to Lincoln Financial Field for matches, SEPTA said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, NJ Transit will charge more than $100 for the 18-mile train trip between World Cup games in the New Jersey Meadowlands from New York’s Penn Station — a price hike of more than 700%, according to the New York Times’ The Athletic.
The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority also has announced that it will charge $80 for a commuter train trip from Boston to Foxborough, Mass., site of Gillette Stadium, which is hosting seven matches. The ticket is normally $20.
“We are not going to be doing anything like that ... no premium pricing,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said.
N.J. plans
NJ Transit has not confirmed that plan. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D.) insists that state commuters and taxpayers will not get stuck with the cost. A news conference is scheduled for Friday to announce the state’s World Cup transit plan.
MetLife Stadium, home field of the Giants and the Jets, will host eight World Cup games this summer, including the July 19 final match.
“FIFA is making $11 billion off this World Cup, while charging fans up to $10,000 [for] a single ticket for the final,” said Stephen Sigmund, spokesperson for Sherrill.
“They should be paying for rides, but if they don’t, Gov. Sherrill isn’t going to let New Jersey get taken for one,” he said.
FIFA is not paying extra transportation expenses to host communities, and it will cost NJ Transit $48 million to move 40,000 people, more than four times the number it carries for a normal stadium event, Sigmund said.
Boston’s World Cup host committee also announced it will charge $95 for charter bus service to Gillette Stadium, according to the Athletic.
In part for security reasons, regular stadium parking lots will not be available. Open spaces at the American Dream mall next to the stadium will be extremely limited, Sigmund said.
How SEPTA is planning for the World Cup
Busch said SEPTA will have extra trains serving the sports complex for the games, but anyone can ride the BSL at any time.
“We’re having regular service hours and open stations,” Busch said.
The transit agency received a $5.5 million grant that will cover the cost of overtime for running extra trains, he said.
Philadelphia is hosting six World Cup matches.
SEPTA also has a plan for what may be an even larger service challenge, moving people to and from the FIFA Fan Festival, at Lemon Hill in East Fairmount Park, from June 11 to July 19.
The transit agency is adding additional buses on seven routes that serve the area: 7, 32, 38, 43, 48, 49 and G1.
“We estimate we will be able to add 1,400 additional passenger seats per hour, which is more than could be provided by shuttle service,” Busch said. Riders also will be able to access the festival from a variety of points via connecting services to those routes, he said.
In New Jersey, Sherrill said at a news conference Monday that she’s concerned in particular about two game days that overlap with commuting times.
Her plan to address that is threefold: push New York to help increase transit capacity, seek out discounts for commuting New Jerseyans, and add transportation capacity in other ways to help them get home.
