The World Cup will “help inform preparations” for the 2028 L.A. Games, just as the Taylor Swift Eras tour “prepared LA Metro for the World Cup,” according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. When Swift brought her tour to SoFi Stadium in 2023, L.A. Metro “used that as something of a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, expanding late service and adding free shuttles from nearby train stations.” That “increased ridership by 25%, which meant less traffic on the roads and freeways leading to the stadium.” A repeat of that “could be crucial during the World Cup” since five of the eight games played at SoFi are scheduled to start at noon local time. L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority COO Conan Cheung said, “A lot of the strategies that we’re doing now -- the process for working with not only local jurisdictions, state and federal agencies, as well as the other transit agencies in the regions -- we’re setting up ways that are going to help not only for the Olympics and Paralympics, but anytime we need to pull together to support our communities for special events [or] natural disasters.” In Southern California, it will cost $1.75 to get to SoFi on “a combination of buses or trains from as far away as Claremont and Simi Valley.” Only two of the 11 World Cup cities in the U.S. are offering less expensive public transportation (L.A. TIMES, 4/30).
World Cup shaping L.A. Metro’s path to Olympic readiness
