Getting tens of thousands of people to and from World Cup matches in Foxborough is one of the biggest logistical challenges Massachusetts transportation officials have ever faced. But so far, their plan appears to be working — even if fans are annoyed about the pricey tickets.
In the lead up to the world’s largest sporting event, state and local leaders were firm with their messaging to fans: use the commuter rail. The MBTA is offering express, roundtrip service between South Station and Foxborough for all matches held at Gillette Stadium, temporarily renamed Boston Stadium for the tournament.
Ahead of Tuesday’s game between Norway and Iraq, thousands of fans gathered around South Station, ready to board their trains. FIFA organizers set up a fan zone at nearby Dewey Square with food and beer, where fans can enjoy themselves before queuing for trains.
Gorm Finne Engelsen, who traveled to Boston from Norway, said he was having the time of his life.
“It’s great,” Finne Engelsen said. “You have a lot of beer.”
One volunteer giving directions to international travelers said the zone was planned in an effort to prevent overcrowding at South Station’s entrance.
Still, the beer wasn’t enough to wash away all of the ill will fans feel about the cost of train tickets.
The MBTA has come under sharp criticism since announcing that roundtrip commuter rail tickets would be $80. That’s four times more than regular trips and costlier than public transit to stadiums in most other host World Cup cities.
“You’re ripping us off,” Finne Engelsen said.
“Football is for the people,” added Eric Reimert, another Norway fan. “And now it’s only for the rich people because they bump up the prices.”
Most notably, the high prices prompted thousands of Scottish fans to rent school buses to commute to the stadium for the first match in Foxborough between Haiti and Scotland.
Still, for fans who look past the cost, the experience of taking the train has been smooth overall.
Transit officials are running the service in five intervals over a three-hour period leading up to matches. That allows a fleet of trains to continuously travel back and forth between Boston and Foxborough and prevent a bottleneck of people at South Station. After some issues with overcrowding after the Haiti-Scotland match, the MBTA has worked to improve signage and make it more clear where passengers need to go.
On Tuesday, a sea of Norway and Iraq fans funneled between metal gates at the station as MBTA employees scanned tickets. When the train doors opened, people cheered as they hopped onboard.
Several cars were standing room only, but fans didn’t seem to mind as they sang and chanted for nearly the entirety of the 45 minute ride to Foxborough, not making any stops along the way.
But once the train doors opened outside Gillette Stadium, fans said it was odd to arrive three hours before the game kicked off. The MBTA has organized the express service to drop off passengers two to four hours ahead of kickoff so fans can engage in a uniquely American experience: tailgating.
Kjetil Kvalsvik did his best to embrace it.
“Tailgating is not a Norwegian thing,” he said. ”I talked to the Scots — they’ve already had one game against Haiti there. They said there’s a lot of opportunities to have fun around the stadium.”
As Kvalsvik walked toward his first tailgate, he looked over toward Route 1, where there was a long line of cars, not moving.
That, too, is an American tradition: gridlock traffic.
