The New York/New Jersey host committee has slashed the cost of its FIFA World Cup shuttle bus service to MetLife Stadium by 75 percent, reducing the fare for fans from $80 to $20 during the tournament.
The committee had previously committed to providing 10,000 bus seats for fans travelling to games at MetLife, but has now increased its inventory by hiring classic American yellow school buses.
There will be 18,000 bus seats available for the five World Cup games at MetLife, including the World Cup final on July 19, that do not take place on school days. There will be 12,000 seats available for the three group stage games at MetLife that fall on weekdays before the school year ends.
The Athletic can reveal that New York State, led by Governor Kathy Hochul, has invested $6 million to help bring down prices, and fans who have already purchased $80 tickets will receive $60 refunds to bring their ticket cost down to $20. As a condition of the investment, Hochul told The Athletic that “around 20 percent” of bus tickets will be reserved exclusively for New York state residents who have purchased match tickets, ensuring the funding brings value to local taxpayers. According to those with knowledge of tickets purchased for games at MetLife Stadium, around 25-30 percent have been bought by residents of the New York/New Jersey region.
The investment by New York State was accompanied by an intervention by Highland Fleets, an American company that manages some of the largest electric school bus fleets. After witnessing the response to the original ticket pricing, Highland reached out to the office of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, asking how they might be able to support the event and help reduce costs. The mayor’s office, in turn, put Highland in touch with the New York Governor’s office and Alex Lasry, the chief executive of the joint New York/New Jersey host committee. Highland then worked with New York City School Bus Umbrella Services to secure the increased number of buses, with around 300 in total set to be in use on the busiest matchdays.
The buses to MetLife will depart from three Manhattan locations; Port Authority Bus Terminal, a Midtown East location east of Grand Central Terminal and a Midtown North location west of Central Park.
Speaking to The Athletic, Highland chief operating officer Ben Schutzman said Highland’s goal of creating “affordable and accessible” bus services was in line with the objective of bringing down transport provisions during the World Cup.
Upon helping to secure the bus price reductions, a spokesman for Mayor Mamdani said: “Mayor Mamdani supports any effort that makes transportation more affordable for New Yorkers — including reduced-cost buses for World Cup ticketholders. We look forward to rolling out additional free and affordable events to ensure that all New Yorkers can enjoy the World Cup.”
The NJ Transit price has also come down since first announced a month ago at $150. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill had directed NJ Transit to ensure ordinary New Jersey commuters would not carry the burden of the cost, meaning the $48 million cost of World Cup-related services to the agency would be transferred to World Cup ticket-holders rather than local taxpayers.
“Thanks to FIFA-related advertising revenue, higher-than-anticipated non-FIFA advertising revenue and additional federal grants, NJ Transit has cut the FIFA round-trip ticket from $150 to $98 — keeping Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s pledge not to pass on costs onto commuters or New Jersey taxpayers,” said Kris Kolluri, President & CEO of NJ Transit.
Sherrill claimed that FIFA, which has said it will earn revenues in excess of $11 billion from the World Cup, ought to share in the costs of public transportation during the World Cup. FIFA’s original hosting agreement with New York and New Jersey was signed during the tenure of Sherrill’s predecessor, Phil Murphy. According to documents seen by northjersey.com, New Jersey has already committed more than $300 million through all spending associated with the World Cup, a claim which is not disputed by the governor’s office.
Initially, host cities signed up to provide free public transportation for World Cup ticketholders, as was the case at the men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and at the European Championship in Germany in 2024. However, in 2023, this was renegotiated to allow cities to provide at-cost services. Yet nobody at FIFA foresaw that those prices would spiral as dramatically as they did in New York and New Jersey last month.
In a media briefing in April, a World Cup transportation plan for the region forecast that 40,000 tickets per game would be available by rail, 10,000 by bus, 6,000 by ride share options, with just more than 20,000 being commercial-organized hospitality for FIFA-related hospitality, VIPs and affiliates. Despite the increased bus availability, the plan continues for 40,000 to travel by rail — meaning many fans will still be forced to spend over $100 on a round-trip rail fare, with no reduced pricing for seniors, children or passengers with accessibility needs.
New Jersey did cut its price last week. Gov. Sherrill on Tuesday night tweeted to thank DoorDash, Audible, FanDuel, DraftKings, PSE&G, South Jersey Industries, and American Water for providing support to bring the price down — albeit still a steep cost of $98. Asked whether NJ Transit should seek to cut prices further, Gov. Hochul said: “Lowering prices is always a good policy.”
New York state took a different approach, instead choosing to dip into public funds to help reduce transportation costs. The bus shuttle service will start ferrying fans to games from Manhattan four hours prior to kick off and will continue to run until three hours after the final whistle.
In a statement, New York State Director of Major Event Operations Justin Brannan, “Our focus on affordability and accessibility doesn’t change just because the World Cup is in town — we’re doubling down.”
Gov. Hochul told The Athletic: “This is an event we are so excited about. As New Yorkers, this whole region is anxiously awaiting the final. But then you think: ‘What does it cost to get out there?’ You can take the train, it’s more expensive. Ubers and Lyft are going to be a lot. So I thought, how can we do it better by getting people on buses? How can we just make it cheaper? They came out with the price. Okay, $80. That’s a lot of money. If it’s a dad taking a child or a couple of kids over… it’s just too expensive. I’ve been driven by affordability. Everything I look at is how I, as the governor, can make life cheaper and less expensive for New Yorkers. When they said it was $80, I said we can do better. I put up some state money to drive it down. They said $60. I said no. They said $40. I said no. $20 round trip is a good price.”
Asked whether she considers the $6 million spend a necessary use of tax dollars, she says: “My answer is this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For us to spend this amount of money to allow more New Yorkers to participate in this experience and they’ll never forget, it’s worth it to me. It’s also a really spectacular summer. We’ve got America 250, we’ve got celebrations all summer long. So this is a time for us to showcase the eyes of the world are on us. But also, if I don’t make it affordable for local New Yorkers, then we failed. That’s my objective.”
The importance of the rail service is increased during the World Cup because, while there are ordinarily 23,000 parking spaces for cars available at MetLife Stadium, this number will be vastly lower during the tournament due to security demands and space requirements of the games.
Kolluri has also asked people to work from home — if they can — to help New York City and New Jersey manage the flow of passengers during the events.
Updated ticket prices for bus services will be live from 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, while rail tickets will be available to purchase from midnight ET on Wednesday, May 13. Tickets for both services must be booked in advance by supporters.