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Spain and Argentina will face off in the World Cup final on Sunday, but New Jersey’s scrappy transportation networks have so far been the underappreciated MVP of the tournament.

Trains and roads moved hundreds of thousands of fans to and from seven games at the Meadowlands over the last month without major incident, avoiding the headlines that could have brought international shame to the Garden State. The transit service came at a cost: Tens of thousands of regular commuters faced disruptions. But New Jersey officials agreed to that inconvenience when they signed up as a World Cup host city in 2022.

The final test of New Jersey’s transit competence comes Sunday, when MetLife Stadium is expected to host President Donald Trump and other world leaders for the big match.

Trump’s visit means “security measures will be significantly enhanced, and road closures should be expected,” according to Natalie Hamilton, spokesperson for New York New Jersey FIFA World Cup host committee. Organizers want attendees to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m., a full 90 minutes before kickoff. They are running trains and shuttle buses an hour earlier than previous World Cup matches in New Jersey.

NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said the agency has successfully applied lessons from a disaster following the 2014 Super Bowl, when thousands of riders were left stranded for hours on platforms because the agency’s trains couldn’t handle the crowds.

“For us it was like basically doing logistics for seven Super Bowls,” Kolluri said. “This Sunday's game is a big one, and we're going to continue thoughtfully executing our plan.”

Kolluri took heat ahead of the games for NJ Transit’s World Cup plan, which not only slashed regular rail service before and after each match but also charged $98 for round-trip train tickets to MetLife.

The plan worked, with trains running to and from the stadium without overcrowding. The high prices — nearly five times as much as the $20 shuttle bus tickets sold by the tournament’s host committee — may have helped. NJ Transit planned to sell up to 40,000 train tickets to each game, but only ended up selling between 22,000 to 26,000, according to officials.

“From NY to the stadium, it took folks an average of 35 to 45 minutes door-to-door; and we moved everyone out of the stadium in record times – within 60 to 80 minutes, on average,” NJ Transit spokesperson Jim Smith wrote in a statement.

Even Amtrak, which owns Penn Station and its surrounding tracks, managed to avoid the type of infrastructure meltdowns that repeatedly plagued NJ Transit riders in the weeks leading up to the World Cup.

Playing a supporting role in running the subways and LIRR in and out of Penn Station, the MTA also avoided embarrassment. The transit agency handled a crush of riders during the Knicks NBA finals victory, as well as hordes of soccer fans headed to Jersey.

The MTA reported it saw a 7% increase in ridership on the subways in June compared to the same month last year.

LIRR ridership scored a win of its own. Ridership reached pre-pandemic levels in June for the first time, marking a comeback for the nation’s busiest commuter railroad.

“ For the first time, you're really seeing that 100% of pre-COVID numbers,” MTA chief of policy and external relations John McCarthy told Gothamist.

NYC transportation news this week

Parts of Manhattan to sacrifice loads of street parking for trash bins. The Upper West and East sides of Manhattan are set to lose about 10% of their curbside parking spaces as the city installs new curbside trash containers to get garbage bags off the sidewalks. City data shows about 23% of households in the neighborhoods own a car, and street parking is extra competitive in the area. A draft environmental assessment published earlier this month shows the two neighborhoods hugging Central Park will each lose about 1,500 parking spaces to the city’s new “Empire Bins” — far more than any other area of the city.

Council Speaker Menin backs bill to end horse carriages. City Council Speaker Julie Menin has thrown her support behind legislation to phase out horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, becoming the first sitting Council speaker to publicly back the proposal. But carriage horse industry supporters urged councilmembers to say “neigh” to the bill at a hearing this week.

NYC advances Bronx busway. Tremont Avenue is set to get a redesign later this year that officials say will boost service for 39,000 daily bus riders.

A parking lot to become site for affordable housing. Mayor Mamdani wants to transform an underused NYPD parking lot in the East Village into an affordable housing development, marking the first city-owned site designated for housing under his administration.

Curious Commuter

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Question from Adam in the Bronx

Given all the hoopla focused on a redesigned Penn Station, something is missing: Where is the focus on the actual transportation part of the equation, in that we'll need improved Amtrak and commuter rail services from there?

Answer

That was not the first order of business when it came to remaking Penn Station, but it is part of the plan. Just this week the federal government released the first of two studies on how to squeeze more use out of the existing Penn Station. One key recommendation in the report is through-running, a long-sought dream that would allow riders to commute between New Jersey and Long Island without transferring. The feds say four trains could “through-run” a day. They also write that by extending the length of some platforms and adding more stairs and escalators, the station could handle 33% more trains during rush hour.