Best way to get around during Tuesday's World Cup match? Officials, commuters weigh in
MIDTOWN, New York (WABC) -- If things go as smoothly as they did on the trains Saturday for the Brazil-Morocco match, NJ Transit will be the best way to get to the Senegal-France game on Tuesday, but it's a weekday, and the game starts at 3 p.m.
"Let's say the game is over at 5:00. All the fans will be going into the city, but all the commuters will be leaving the city," said NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri. "So, there'll be a lot more volume at Penn Station. But what it shouldn't affect is the people leaving the city at 5:00, which is typically when rush hour really gets going."
Some regular commuters aren't risking it.
"I will work from home, and our company has allowed for that, to work remotely for those days," said NJ Transit commuter Laura Rugaber.
Lamel Clark has other ideas, and says she will drive in. She says with NJ Transit, the odds aren't great that it'll go well for the next 7 games.
"I may drive until the last goal is made," Clark said. "I'd rather pay the Verrazzano toll than take New Jersey Transit, and the only reason I took it today was because I'm so tired from celebrating the Knicks all weekend."
The Knicks are still beloved at Penn Station's businesses under The Garden, but they're decked out for the World Cup now.
This shoeshine business selling jerseys says Haiti has been the biggest seller, with the country in the World Cup for the first time in more than 50 years, something Knicks fans can relate to.
On Monday, there was no local game, but there were plenty of visiting soccer fans passing through.
Some Argentina fans were headed to a fan event in the city.
"So, we took the train, we paid the regular price, not that $100 price," said Argentina fan Fernando Torino.
Their big game is Wednesday night in Kansas City. They will be watching at Torino's house in New Jersey.
"I warned the neighbors already. The game is at 9:00 at night. Sorry. Not sorry," Torino said.
There are still plenty of $98 round trip train tickets left for Tuesday's game in New Jersey.
On Saturday, only a little more than half the available tickets were sold.
A lot of fans drove and parked at American Dream Mall. That's $225, which may make sense for families or carpooling, but they got stuck in gridlock.
NJ Transit told Eyewitness News that fans getting dropped off at the mall in cars helped create a bottleneck, something they're hoping to avoid at Penn Station too.
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