Metlink is urging fans in Wellington to relish the World Cup atmosphere after today's blockbuster match between the USA and the Netherlands and delay their travel home to avoid over-stressing the network.
Greater Wellington Regional Council's transport committee chair Thomas Nash said they've maxed out the network's capacity for all of Wellington's sell-out games, with the network capable of carrying up to 18,000 fans.
"We have maxed out what's physically possible within the constraints of staffing and overhead wire capacity for electricity. Everything we possibly can do to make those trains as long as they can, to fit as many people as we can, we are doing."
Kick-off times for this World Cup have thrown the public transport organisers a few curveballs, with today's 1pm kick off a prime example.
It means thousands of fans are likely to be heading out of the ground between 3-3:30pm, leading into the capital's afternoon rush hour peak.
Metlink's advice is for people to try and delay travel immediately after the game.
"It will be very, very busy after the game, so we are asking people if you don't have to rush off, take it easy, don't rush home. If you can stay for a bit that will give us a chance for everyone to get on a train. But there will be extra services, that will be taking people back on all lines," said Nash.
He said Metlink didn't communicate effectively enough ahead of their earlier games in the tournament, coming in for some criticism from fans for a lack of services being available, especially post-game.
"We needed to do better on communication, we needed to do better with linking people up. Capacity was constrained, we're doing everything we can to boost that."
Wellington's first sell-out game of the tournament, the Football Ferns' 1-0 defeat to the Philippines on Tuesday, saw buses "cope well with demand" according to Metlink's group manager Samantha Gain.
She said "across the network, patronage on bus and rail services both pre and post-game was heavy. There were minor delays through the CBD, likely due to the large number of people getting on and off. Rail services were boosted with the maximum available carriages and pre- and post-game services were well patronised."
It appears many fans on Tuesday heeded Metlink's advice to arrive at the ground early.
"We continue to encourage this advice with two big games still to come this week and over 30,000 fans expected to turn out."
They're also asking people to be kind when using the network, with staff doing a "brilliant job" under pressure.
Nash said "we have a busy peak time public transport system in Wellington in general, but when you add in sell out World Cup games on top of it, that is stressful and everyone is feeling the pressure".
"So be patient out there, take your time and be kind to people."
Today's match is a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final, which the USA won 2-0.
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