Riders scan to exit MARTA and walk to the FIFA Fan Festival and Mercedes-Benz (Atlanta) Stadium. From June 11 through July 15, MARTA provided around 4.7 million rail passenger trips.
ATLANTA, Ga. — Across 35 days of World Cup matches, fan festivals, concerts and other associated events, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority provided around 4.7 million rail passenger trips.
“Team MARTA showed up and showed out during the World Cup tournament, providing frequent service, ensuring the system was secure and riders were safe,” Jonathan Hunt, MARTA interim general manager and CEO, said.
On match days, MARTA experienced approximately 2 to 3.5 times its normal daily rail ridership, generating an average of nearly 130,000 additional rail passenger trips each day. Fan festival-only days generated an average of 37,000 additional rail passenger trips per day, resulting in daily rail ridership approximately 1 to 2 times the normal ridership.
Hundreds of MARTA transit ambassadors worked alongside 100 multilingual FIFA volunteers throughout the tournament to help visitors navigate the public transportation system and downtown Atlanta.
Three MARTA transit ambassadors help local and international users navigate the public transportation system while the FIFA World Cup hosted matches at Mercedes-Benz (Atlanta) Stadium.
MARTA police officers, along with law enforcement from other local jurisdictions and Denver transit, patrolled trains, buses and their stations, in addition to staffing response teams in case of emergencies. A press release from MARTA said these efforts resulted in no major crimes reported and the apprehension of three suspects wanted for previous violent incidents.
Hunt thanked law enforcement officers, frontline staff and transit ambassadors for their dedicated work and applauded MARTA passengers for their ridership.
“Whether you were headed to a match, fan festival, watch party or one of the many celebrations, concerts and events around our region or to work, to run errands, or to a holiday get together, thank you for trusting us and for riding with us during this historic summer,” Hunt said.
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