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Super Bowl Xlviii Report for the New Jersey Transit Corporation Board of Directors

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Super Bowl Xlviii Report for the New Jersey Transit Corporation Board of Directors SUPER BOWL XLVIII REPORT FOR THE NEW JERSEY TRANSIT CORPORATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS PREPARED BY: TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 1 II. SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION .............................................................................................. 5 A. Scope of Engagement ......................................................................................................... 5 B. MDMC Investigatory Team ................................................................................................ 5 C. Work Performed.................................................................................................................. 8 D. Cooperation ......................................................................................................................... 9 III. BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................. 11 A. Overview of NJ TRANSIT Corporation ........................................................................... 11 B. Overview of New Jersey Transit Police Department ........................................................ 12 C. Key NJ TRANSIT and NJTPD Personnel for Super Bowl XLVIII ................................. 12 D. Meadowlands Rail Station ................................................................................................ 16 E. Secaucus Junction ............................................................................................................. 18 F. MetLife Stadium Loading Process for Regular Events .................................................... 21 G. U2 Concerts ...................................................................................................................... 27 IV. FINDINGS OF FACT....................................................................................................... 31 A. NJ/NY is Awarded Super Bowl XLVIII ........................................................................... 31 B. Super Bowl Preparations................................................................................................... 31 1. General ........................................................................................................................ 31 2. Transit Operations Super Bowl XLVIII Playbook ..................................................... 35 a. Passenger Travel Demand....................................................................................... 35 b. NJ TRANSIT Planned Objectives .......................................................................... 36 c. Capital and Technology Improvement Plan ........................................................... 37 d. Risk Register ........................................................................................................... 37 e. NJ TRANSIT Memo re: Service Contingencies ..................................................... 38 3. Entities Involved in Planning and Implementation of NJ TRANSIT’s Super Bowl Service................................................................................................................................... 38 a. NFL ......................................................................................................................... 39 b. SP+ Gameday ......................................................................................................... 39 i c. S.A.F.E. Management ............................................................................................. 40 d. Populous Holdings, Inc. .......................................................................................... 40 e. Party Planners West, Inc. ........................................................................................ 40 f. New Jersey Sports & Expedition Authority ............................................................... 40 g. New Jersey State Police .......................................................................................... 41 h. 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee ............................................................. 41 C. Super Bowl Transportation Options ................................................................................. 41 1. Driving to MetLife Stadium ....................................................................................... 42 2. Fan Express Bus Service ............................................................................................ 43 3. Train............................................................................................................................ 44 4. Train Ridership Projections ........................................................................................ 46 D. Super Bowl Campus ......................................................................................................... 50 E. Super Bowl Sunday........................................................................................................... 56 1. Location of Key Individuals ....................................................................................... 56 2. Rail Travel to the Stadium - Super Bowl Ingress ....................................................... 57 a. Background - An Early Arriving Crowd ................................................................ 57 b. Crowd Queueing and Passenger Flow Process ....................................................... 58 c. Heavy Crowds Flood Secaucus .............................................................................. 63 d. Reports of Heat Issues in the Station ...................................................................... 74 e. In-Bound Ridership Volume ................................................................................... 75 3. Plans to Handle Unexpected Rail Ridership............................................................... 80 a. Bus Contingency Plan ............................................................................................. 80 b. Executive Policy Group/EOC Conference Call ...................................................... 84 c. Commissioner Simpson’s Requests to Deploy the Buses....................................... 87 4. Super Bowl Egress - Rail............................................................................................ 88 a. Super Bowl Loading Plan ....................................................................................... 88 b. Halftime Meeting .................................................................................................... 91 c. Train Departures ..................................................................................................... 92 d. Video Observations and Eye Witness Commentary ............................................... 93 ii e. Performance Analysis ........................................................................................... 108 5. Super Bowl Egress - Bus .......................................................................................... 111 a. Bus Deployment at MetLife Stadium ................................................................... 111 b. Buses Arrive at MetLife Stadium ........................................................................ 112 6. Total Egress Volume and Time ................................................................................ 116 7. Unused Parking Passes Leads to Rail Demand ........................................................ 117 a. Lackluster Vehicle for Hire Demand .................................................................... 118 b. Secondary Market Sales ........................................................................................ 118 c. Lower Actual Loads .............................................................................................. 119 V. LESSONS LEARNED.................................................................................................... 121 A. Contingency Planning for Unexpected Demand............................................................. 122 B. Advanced Coordination with Law Enforcement ............................................................ 124 C. Better Coordination with NFL Contractors on the Egress Queuing Process .................. 125 D. Improved Public Communication of Capacity ............................................................... 127 E. Minimize Physical Obstacles .......................................................................................... 128 F. Consistency of Personnel ................................................................................................ 129 iii I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Dubbed the first “Mass Transit Super Bowl,” Super Bowl XLVIII more than lived up to its billing as over one third of the guests opted for public transportation on game day. In preparing for the event, NJ TRANSIT expected a much smaller crowd. Estimates developed throughout the planning process forecast ridership volume of between 8,000 and 13,000 fans. Demand of that level would have been typical for a MetLife Stadium event and well within the rail system’s physical constraints. Instead, fans on game day opted for NJ TRANSIT as walk-up sales of approximately 21,500 tickets led to a record in-bound crowd of 28,031 fans and an even larger out-bound crowd of 35,264 fans. NJ TRANSIT, with the assistance of law enforcement and the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, among others, safely transported all
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