Public transport took centre stage in Wellington as 235,000 fans flocked to the regional stadium to make the Wellington-staged games a success.

Fans, officials and volunteers alike, enjoyed free Metlink public transport thanks to an integrated ticketing arrangement with FIFA and WellingtonNZ.

Simon Perry, City Operations Manager - FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 at WellingtonNZ, said that its partnership with Metlink was well received by fans and organisers.

“With integrated ticketing being a FIFA requirement to host games, being able to offer fans, officials and volunteers free travel meant that the hard choice of how to get to the game was removed for people and that they could just concentrate on the entertainment before the games and the skills on the field,” says Simon Perry.

Metlink services were bolstered to provide capacity for 261,000 passengers so fans could make their way to the games by public transport.

Metlink’s usual timetabled bus services had capacity for 40,000 passengers and 56 extra buses were put into action, carrying an extra 4700 passengers across the nine games.

Metlink also upped its rail capacity, boosting its usual services to carry around 20,000 passengers per game as well as providing 60 special services to carry an additional 36,000 passengers across the tournament.

For those travelling across the harbour, six more ferry sailings were available, carrying an extra 540 passengers.

About 30 support staff were out and about on the rail platforms and the bus interchange on game days, helping direct customers to and from the stadium.

Samantha Gain, Group Manager for Metlink, said the number of fans using Metlink services was a testament to the public transport workforce who once again proved how vital they are to keeping the region running.

“I would like to thank all of the bus drivers, locomotive engineers, onboard staff, maintenance teams, as well as staff on our platforms, in our depots, and in our operator and Metlink offices, who all played their part. I’d also like to thank KiwiRail’s project and maintenance teams, who put works across the entire rail network on hold between 21 July and 11 August so people could travel smoothly to and from the matches. A real team effort,” says Samantha Gain.

Thomas Nash, Chair of Greater Wellington’s Transport Committee, says the World Cup exceeded everyone’s expectations in Wellington.

“There's been a real surge in people attending World Cup matches and more than 200,000 passengers have used the free public transport over the course of the tournament. "Hopefully, a number of people who aren't regular Metlink passengers will have seen how convenient public transport can be, in particular catching the train to the stadium.

“World Cups are never easy for host city public transport authorities, and we did struggle with the Sweden versus South Africa game when 18,000 fans turned up for a Sunday evening game instead of the 13,000 expected. I'm proud of the way the team adjusted to that, providing more staff at the railway station and bus interchange for the remaining games and overall, the plans we had in place to maximise rail capacity to and from the games held up well,” says Cr Nash.

Ian Ladd, Managing Director for Transdev – Metlink’s rail operator, said capacity planning and partnerships were vital to the success.

“We’d been working with Metlink, third party bus providers, and a range of other stakeholders like WellingtonNZ and FIFA to make sure that we could all pull together and successfully provide capacity for all the games on top of the usual services that Wellingtonians expect. We are extremely proud of the result our team has delivered," says Ian Ladd.

Daran Ponter, Chair of Greater Wellington, said that the real winner for the World Cup had been Wellington.

“It was great to see people using public transport to come into the city and enjoy the best that Wellington had to offer. It was a delight to see full restaurants and bars, families enjoying the fan zone and the waterfront, and the noise, colour and happiness on display from fans from around the world.

“Metlink and Greater Wellington are in discussions with sports codes about integrating public transport into future Stadium events. The FIFA World Cup has proven that people will make public transport their first choice if we make it easy for them,” says Cr Ponter.

© Scoop Media