The difference with normal events is that they don't need to divert anything from regular service to handle stadium traffic; spare equipment is enough to handle the crowds, so subsidy requirements are normal. The FIFA service is extremely expensive because it requires cuts to normal service.

Regular riders complain far more about service quality and frequency than fares. A free bus that comes once an hour is still one bus an hour. A $1.85 bus every 30 minutes on the other hand provides far better mobility for those who actually need it, and might work for those who otherwise drive.

Fares cover about a third of the regular operations budget; the World Cup is abnormally expensive since it requires cutting regular service to carry soccer fans. Going fare-free would require backfilling this from the money earmarked for service expansion, meaning us regular riders get shafted.

FIFA demanded the parking lots be closed off entirely within about the last year, years after host cities were finalized. Had they not done this, the plan used to great success to move fans at the Club World Cup final last year (intended to be a "dry run" for the "real" World Cup) would have worked.

For NFL games, which are always on Sundays, over half of attendees usually carpool. Stadium trains run using equipment not needed for normal weekend service (connecting to regular weekend rail service heading elsewhere) and regular local bus services are available at the adjacent mall.

Fares only cover about a quarter to a third of normal rail operating costs. For the World Cup the net cost is even higher because regular services are getting cut on game days (getting to one match directly conflicts with the PM rush) in order to divert bus and rail equipment to serve soccer fans.

FIFA's original deal was for free transportation. They later backtracked and changed this to allowing service to be provided "at cost" due to host complaints. NJ is taking this to mean that they can charge the full unsubsidized cost of providing service since FIFA refuses to contribute anything.

Making a loop was not considered operationally necessary (just a nice-to-have) as FIFA's insane demands were never even considered a possibility when the stadium was built. No other event has ever demanded zero stadium parking, and in normal conditions what was built can handle a full stadium.

Not scope creep, just how things went with expansion plans in the early 2000's. Building the other half of the loop wouldn't make financial sense (an event actually pushing line capacity only ever happens a few times per decade) without also being used by regular daily services heading elsewhere.

They didn't do this because the plan was to build a loop connecting to the present station from the other end as part of an unrelated project to extend rail service to Nyack and West Haverstraw by connecting to a freight line. That died due to unreasonable demands from CSX, the owner of that line.

Some designated area near the racetrack. No word on exactly where, but probably the furthest lot out to stay outside the security perimeter.

FIFA didn't reveal its "security" perimiter requirement until late last year, long after bidding. Prior plans expected that some parking would remain available and that a plan similar to the 2014 Super Bowl (with some improvements from lessons learned since then) would be able to handle the crowds.

Rideshare users still need to take a bus to the stadium from the rideshare drop-off point.
Charter buses not hired by NJT to supplement service are prohibited entirely from going to the stadium.

FIFA is forcing far more people to take transit than the normal (budgeted) event service plans can move. If NJT were to cover costs itself it'd have to cut $48M worth of regular service for the rest of the fiscal year to compensate. The state likewise would have to find $48M amid a budget deficit.

It's 40k per game for 8 games, so 320k people need to be moved in total, at about $150/ passenger. This isn't just the individual trip cost, it's also security costs and covering the cost of diverting a large amount of equipment from regular services to the World Cup.

If both FIFA does not cover costs and fares are not raised, this would mean cutting regular service to cover the budget shortfall; new money in the upcoming budget intended to increase regular service levels (long demanded by taxpayers) would instead be covering transit for a single sports event.

FIFA's security requirements are forcing NJT to divert a ludicrous amount of resources from regular services (and hire additional resources from outside the state!) to move fans to the stadium.
Since FIFA refuses to cover these costs, tickets are going to be at the unsubsidized cost of service.

Kodak is, in addition to being a camera and film company, also a chemical company. Film development requires chemicals, so they diversified long ago into chemicals to produce developer solutions for their film. Pivoting to pharmaceutical products isn't that strange for a chemical company.

I think we're caught up on semantics here, not a differing understanding of what's going on. Yes, this is probably intended to tick the right people off, but the funding crisis if someone isn't covering the cost of providing service is very real and not artificially created by NJT.

The transportation infrastructure serving the stadium was never intended to handle more than about half of the stadium's capacity; the other half usually tailgates. The problem here is that FIFA demanded all parking lots be closed and some world cup match schedules conflict with weekday rush hour.

None of these trains were pulled from regular runs to operate these services. World Cup games will require that due to daytime scheduling conflicting with rush hour.

NJT doesn't have to pull equipment from regular service and cancel scheduled runs to handle Swifties; these events outside of the Meadowlands trains (which are a known quantity run when expected attendance is high enough) are entirely accommodated by what runs on the normal schedules for that day.

We're suprised that so-called "transit advocates" would rather NJT either destroy itself financially or severely cut the regular service it was created to provide for NJ residents in order to give tourists heavily subsidized fares in the absence of any financial support from FIFA.

Normal events at MetLife do not require pulling equipment and crews from normal service elsewhere, changing normal schedules to handle crowds, or chartering buses from private companies to provide more service. The biggest games are usually on weekends, when there are crews and equipment available.

I haven't seen any actual alternative solutions to the whole Penn crowding problem proposed by anyone criticizing the shutdown. Adding 40,000+ non-local sports fans into normal PM rush traffic is a mass casualty incident wating to happen; this has happened numerous times around stadiums abroad.

NJT has to charge this much or else it needs to pull $48M from its normal operating and capital budgets to fund the world cup service, since FIFA refuses to subsidize anything from game ticket revenue. This would mean severe cuts to regular transit service for the rest of the fiscal year.

FIFA isn't subsidizing the extra service, so NJT has no choice to charge for the real cost of providing service to keep things cost-neutral. The alternativs are severe service cuts for locals and/or deferred maintenance/infrastructure work to compensate.

Intercity rail cars need to be fully wheel-through so ADA riders in any car can visit the cafe and other amenities. On a commuter train this is a non-issue because there are no such amenities that need to be accessed through the train.

The 87 runs out of Greenville garage. Greenville is packed full already with 40' buses and cannot hold artics; two artics take up the same space as three standard buses, meaning every artic that would be assigned there requires cutting frequency to compensate.

With fares retained you only need to find additional funding to improve service frequency, instead of eating into this to cover fare revenue; with better service on the routes that most need it ridership increases and the system farebox ratio increases, stretching the same funding even further.