Gillette Stadium Transportatio Improvements

[jklo]

Damn New Yorkers! Always trying to outdo us with their absurd prices!

Is FIFA demanding a cut, lol.

I'm not going to bother looking up why, but I don't see why you couldn't just get off at Walpole/Sharon/Mansfield and do some combination of walking and Uber to get to the stadium. It's not that far... maybe for Americans because they are sooo Fat but not Europeans.

 

[HenryAlan]

I don't see why you couldn't just get off at Walpole/Sharon/Mansfield and do some combination of walking and Uber to get to the stadium.

Interesting idea, and I decided I would take a look. Here are the walking distances in miles per Google, with straight-line distance in parenthesis:

• Walpole: 4.4 (3.5)
• Sharon: 6.5 (4.5)
• Mansfield: 6.7 (4.8)

Walpole seems the most promising in terms of distance, but all three suffer from being very pedestrian unfriendly routes, with lots of walking on high speed streets or weedy shoulders. I can't speak for Europeans, but as an American who enjoys active transportation, these are not walks I would want to take. As for Ubering from the stations, maybe. But I suspect there will be huge uppricing for Uber activity around the stadium on match days. That charge plus the regular MBTA zone charge might work out to a similar cost as just buying the event specific ticket. I'm not even sure there will be any non-event trains at those stations at times that would work, given the schedule adjustments.

Fundamentally, World Cup attendance is going to be super expensive. People who are able and willing to pay that cost will probably also be willing and able to pay $75 to get to the stadium.

 

[BosMaineiac]

Interesting idea, and I decided I would take a look. Here are the walking distances in miles per Google, with straight-line distance in parenthesis:

• Walpole: 4.4 (3.5)
• Sharon: 6.5 (4.5)
• Mansfield: 6.7 (4.8)

Walpole seems the most promising in terms of distance, but all three suffer from being very pedestrian unfriendly routes, with lots of walking on high speed streets or weedy shoulders. I can't speak for Europeans, but as an American who enjoys active transportation, these are not walks I would want to take. As for Ubering from the stations, maybe. But I suspect there will be huge uppricing for Uber activity around the stadium on match days. That charge plus the regular MBTA zone charge might work out to a similar cost as just buying the event specific ticket. I'm not even sure there will be any non-event trains at those stations at times that would work, given the schedule adjustments.

Fundamentally, World Cup attendance is going to be super expensive. People who are able and willing to pay that cost will probably also be willing and able to pay $75 to get to the stadium.

Speaking for myself, I’ve taken the commuter rail to Walpole and Uber’d to Gillette to get to a pats game early before. It was fairly easy but slightly annoying as you have to buy the round trip event train ticket (for the ride home after the game) and an additional outbound CR trip + uber fee. Walking from Walpole would’ve taken too long (I promise I’m not lazy!).

Maybe this is something Uber or Lyft drivers could pick up on and plan ahead of time for one of the stations you listed. I’m sure it would be complicated to advertise for but would be an interesting hack to take advantage of.

 

[3decker]

Maybe this is something Uber or Lyft drivers could pick up on and plan ahead of time for one of the stations you listed. I’m sure it would be complicated to advertise for but would be an interesting hack to take advantage of.

Or a strategically located bike rental shop!

 

[Ryanontherails]

The more I look at it, I guess I didn't consider how much of an impact the fans' luggage and need for hotels would impact their travel plans. I was thinking that because Boston, New York, and Philadelphia are all hosts, a large number of fans would be taking Amtrak up and down the Northeast Corridor. For example, Norway's first game is in Foxborough, their second one is in New York, and their third is back in Foxborough. In this case, it would make more sense for the fans going to or from New York to take a bus and train via Providence. However, since they will have luggage and will need a hotel in the area anyway, then Boston isn't really a detour.

Interesting idea, and I decided I would take a look. Here are the walking distances in miles per Google, with straight-line distance in parenthesis:

• Walpole: 4.4 (3.5)
• Sharon: 6.5 (4.5)
• Mansfield: 6.7 (4.8)

Walpole seems the most promising in terms of distance, but all three suffer from being very pedestrian unfriendly routes, with lots of walking on high speed streets or weedy shoulders. I can't speak for Europeans, but as an American who enjoys active transportation, these are not walks I would want to take. As for Ubering from the stations, maybe. But I suspect there will be huge uppricing for Uber activity around the stadium on match days. That charge plus the regular MBTA zone charge might work out to a similar cost as just buying the event specific ticket. I'm not even sure there will be any non-event trains at those stations at times that would work, given the schedule adjustments.

Fundamentally, World Cup attendance is going to be super expensive. People who are able and willing to pay that cost will probably also be willing and able to pay $75 to get to the stadium.

Day of game, Walpole isn't really an option as the Franklin Line is losing all service. To get to Walpole they have to get on the 34E or a train to Canton Junction, then a shuttle bus. However, a combination of the Franklin Line and Ubers would work to get them to and from their hotels in Walpole, Sharon, and Norwood, then they can take the fan busses from there.

 

[as02155]

people rightly question the political priorities at work here

The last MBTA update had a "this is historical" tone to the press release but the actual statistics seem a bit middling. The MBTA's announced numbers for the Scotland v Ayiti match - 6,200 tickets of 20,000 train seats - and of 65,000 spectators. This looks like transportation to this stadium in the southwest metro on game day is going to be (1) very bad and (2) make the expensive rail tickets look quite foolish. Seeing the Xfinity Center schedule already makes me concerned about the 2 Friday night matches - 19 and 26 June.

This is anecdotal, but when I'm attending races I choose hotels based on price and location to the venue, not what is the best tourist spot.

I took a look at a few of the game day hotel rates in the area (Walpole, Mansfield, Foxboro) have overnight rates of $380 to $1,900. At two months out, I can only imagine that rates will go up up up. As of last year, the entire region apparently had only 62,500 hotel rooms. And the FIFA WC will take almost 4,000 of those rooms. I have a feeling there will be people coming from far-afield who will have no clue how to travel around the metro.