Getting to the Super Bowl was a hot, crowded mess for the record number of people who rode the trains — and getting home isn't proving easy, either.
http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/02/super_bowl_2014_hows_your_ride_home.html#incart_maj-story-1
Security slowed things way down going in. Coming back you had 30,000 + passengers trying to leave all at once. I think NJT did a reasonable job. I noticed that the news had chosen to talk to Denver fans, who were already disgusted with things.
Look at this link first...:
http://www.thelirrtoday.com/2014/02/a-rough-night-for-njtransit.html?utm_source=\ feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheLongIslandRailRoadToday+%28T\ he+Long+Island+Rail+Road+Today%29 >
>
WOW! What A Surprise! NOT!!!! Multi Level cars board and unboard s l o w l y. Anybody who didn't know that, raise your hand...now wave those hands because it's getting hot for NJT's inept management. After the slow movement of the Bi Levels is the "schedule". I remember when the Newark City Subway had its last day of the PCC cars and they scheduled the goodby afternoon only to find the crowd so big and enthusiastic all they did was fill a car and let it go throwing the schedule away. Lesson learned? NOT. So here they scheduled trains to go to the stadium beginning at 1:41PM then about every ten minutes after that. They probabley should have started well before noon, filled a train and turned it loose until the end of the first quarter. Then they should have begun running a shuttle every 10 to 15 minutes until the trains started to fill before the schedule; then they should have just filled the trains and turned them loose. Sec. Jct was the focus of the operation. But it probably should have been Hoboken...at least for every other train. If the NFL and Homeland Security wanted everybody screened, they should have done it at the gates of Met Life and not burden NJT with the task. And turnstiles at Sec Jct. should have been turned off so that it would not become another point for bottlenecks. Of course there were other options. The Pascack Valley Line and stations could have been used; so could Morristown Lines and stations and Corridor stations using the Meadows connections and the west leg of the wye at West End. Even if they didn't use the PV as a source of traffic, they could have use the line to store trains after dumping crowds off at the Meadowlands Sport Station. I just don't think Pre Weinstein, pre Christie NJT would have had such problems as are being reported this morning. ---
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
1 I agree that two interchange stations would have been a lot better than one. Shuttles from both Hoboken and Sekaucus should have alternated both before the game and afterward. PATH should have advertized as the appropriate connecting link from Manhattan and PATH should have run a weekday headway for its Hoboken service, not the weekend round robin, or the round robin plus WTC - Hoboken trains. PATH WTC should have been open for the Superbowl.
2. There should have been enjoyable pre-game and post-game activites at the Stadium. High Schools could have been encouraged to display their student bands and orchestras. Gymnnasts, clowns, and comedians could have provided entertainment.
3. A certain railroad and rapid transit system got together to provide to and from transportation for an enormous crowd, over one hundred thousand, nearly all from one large city to a small town for a special occason, with both receiving compliments on the performance, about 90 years ago. NJT should have learned from them.
That is one of the problems, Dave, NJT has not learned from its failures or successes. They seem to think this was the same as a regular Giant or Jets game. The politics of NJT right now is a problem... Weinstein's handling of Sandy and the apparent loss of good managers both in operations and public/customer relations and that it appears so much is being done through Christie's office instead of through NJT. New head of NJT is the woman who has headed the Turnpike for the last couple of years...its that because she's good or because Christie can keep ahold of t the reins?
On a more serious note, the big movement Nof 100,000 people was for the Echuristic Congress and Mass at Mundeline with massive operaton of Chicago Rapid Transit equipment over the North Shore's Skokie Valley Line and regular Milwaukee service diverted to the Shore Line.
Or how about the job the Reading did in handling the 50th Anniversary and Civil War veterans gathering in Gettysburg PA in 1913?
TRAINS had a marvelous article about it last year. I should have kept the issue.
henry6That is one of the problems, Dave, NJT has not learned from its failures or successes.
But Henry, in this case NJT has no failures or successes to learn from. Going to the Meadowlands many of the problems were caused by the security precautions which, as you have pointed out, are unrelated to NJT. 22,000 people went to the Meadowlands by NJT.
The real problem was going home when 33,000 people took NJT. The total figure was not known to NJT until Sunday morning when a very large number of tickets was brought. Using Bi Level 10 car trains the maximum capacity of the single rail line connecting Meadowlands Stadium and Secaucus Station is 15,000 people per hour. According to the Star-Ledger some trains carried 2,400 people. Trains operated on a fill and go basis but of course only one train at a time can depart even though there are 3 departure tracks. Trains ran about 10 minutes apart (but headway must have been a little less than 10 minutes). The 33,000 people took about 2 hours to move to Secaucus station. Once departing people arrived at Secaucus no further problems were reported.
So the question is how could the 33,000 departing people have been better accommodated? An obvious answer would be to allow parking at a reasonable price, allow parking around the stadium and allow walk in patrons. For example, downtown East Rutherford is a 20 minute walk from the stadium. Bar owners there are unhappy because the NFL would not allow walk ins or allow them to run shuttle buses to the stadium. The reason the NFL refused to to this is reported as greed. But NJT could do nothing about the NFL or its economic policies.
You have suggested that NJT might have build a loop at its Meadowlands station instead of stub end tracks. But the current station is perfectly adequate for typical crowds of 10 to 15 thousand. New Jersey's taxpayers are already picking up a lot of the costs of the Super Bowl. How much further subsidy to the NFL shall they be expected to provide?
Frankly, I doubt we shall ever have another Superbowl in New Jersey. It has left the state with enormous costs and I think we have learned our lesson.
Looks like poor old Jersey got left holding the bag on this one.
Check this column out:
http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2014/02/super_bowl_exit_not_fast_for_n.html
This is one angry man.
Glad I'm not a football fan, look at the agita I miss.
What is overlooked by many, if not all, is that the NFL is a non profit corporation thus exempt from taxes an exempt form tax on ticket sales. Local teams are private enterprise with the possible exception of Green Bay Packer which may be a cooperative or something owned by the people of Green Bay, WI. The NFL, however, does donate huge sums of money and supports many charitable organizations around the country.
Why did the NFL think security demanded no cars or stadium parking this Sunday, when playoff games in the past allowed them? More SB hype?
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
SB hype? Possibly. But also Home Land Security scares...real or imagined. Plus New York, New York and Joisey. These are big city places were people rob and steal and attack and....well, NFL's gotta protect themselves. Yes, it is probably overdone, overstated...but have you seen the movie where...
I should have added "Did playoff games at the Meadowlands in the past involving the Giants (or the Jets?) allow private automobile parking on site?"
schlimm I should have added "Did playoff games at the Meadowlands in the past involving the Giants (or the Jets?) allow private automobile parking on site?"
That is a good point...but not really valid...a playoff game, a rock concert, etc. does not fit into the American hype and attention as does THE SUPER BOWL...Hell! Its more important than your wife and kids birthdays! So, it does attract more but also more people than the locals. With that only 13000 top VIP's were allowed to have parking spaces. The rest had to take the train or the few permitted buses...you could't even walk to the gate. You had to take the train.
henry6 schlimm I should have added "Did playoff games at the Meadowlands in the past involving the Giants (or the Jets?) allow private automobile parking on site?" That is a good point...but not really valid...a playoff game, a rock concert, etc. does not fit into the American hype and attention as does THE SUPER BOWL...Hell! Its more important than your wife and kids birthdays! So, it does attract more but also more people than the locals. With that only 13000 top VIP's were allowed to have parking spaces. The rest had to take the train or the few permitted buses...you could't even walk to the gate. You had to take the train.
The official attendance at MetLife Stadium was 82,529. You say 13,000 VIP's got to park. An unspecified number took the "few" buses. 30,000 supposedly took the train home. The numbers do not add up. Not even close.
They are the one's throwing out the numbers. Just like camouflaging a vehicle at night, put lots of lights on it.
30,000 took the train to the Stadium. VIP parking was for 13000 vehicles, not people, and included buses with special passes. There were buses which came in and left, too. And yes, everyone is throwing all kinds of numbers so as to confuse and to deflect blame. But if NJT were as sharp an operation as it used to be it would have told the NFL that the plan was bad, that more trains had to be run more often and longer than just the time frame. We are only talking about NJT here but there are many municipal governments, businesses, and local people who have a lot more to say against the NFL and the Super Bowl too.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.