Officials tackle World Cup travel woes

Yesterday Auckland Transport advised fans to plan their trip in advance as "roads will be busy due to peak traffic". Photo / Jason Dorday

Organisers eager to avoid repeat of Saturday’s chaos for tonight’s game.

As thousands of football fans prepare to head across Auckland in peak hour traffic tonight to watch the Junior All Whites, organisers are scrambling to avoid a repeat of Saturday's traffic chaos.

New Zealand take on USA at 7pm at Albany's North Harbour Stadium in their second pool game of the Fifa U-20 World Cup.

As of last night, more than 12,000 tickets had been sold for the game, Fifa said, while the local organising committee (LOC) expected a further 6000 or more to sell by kick-off.

DID SATURDAY'S DELAYS MAKE YOU CHANGE YOUR PLANS FOR TODAY'S GAME? CONTACT THE HERALD HERE

Yesterday Auckland Transport advised fans to plan their trip in advance as "roads will be busy due to peak traffic".

The announcement came in response to heavy public criticism about the handling of traffic issues after Saturday's sell-out game on the Shore.

Aucklander Andrew Howie and his family have cancelled plans to go to tonight's game after it took them two hours to get home on Saturday. "The trip home was nightmarish. A trip that normally takes 15 minutes ... took us two hours to our North Shore home."

Mr Howie said at least five of them had planned to go tonight, including his three kids.

"Then we decided it would be way too late for a school night, as we could not count on a reasonable home time."

Auckland Transport has strongly encouraged people attending tonight to use public transport, the price of which is included in a match ticket.

It was putting on extra event buses, which will run from the central city, Takapuna and Henderson and will generally travel along the Northern Busway, "ensuring a smooth trip".

Bus services would also depart from the earlier time of 5pm and after the match would leave from directly outside the stadium on Don McKinnon Drive.

Travel on trains to Britomart, to connect with a bus to the stadium, was also included with match tickets and people could travel from three hours before kick-off until the last train service of the night.

The LOC had also organised extra park-and-ride spaces at Albany's Kristin School but said spectators needed to get in early to get those spaces. A shuttle will start leaving the carpark from 5pm.

Meanwhile, police said that after their feedback to organisers about Saturday's traffic issues they had been told changes had been made.

Police would be in and around the venue for safety and to monitor traffic.

Transport tip
Your match ticket includes public transport to the event.

Buses
Special event buses will run to get fans to and from North Harbour Stadium.
Services will leave Quay St in the city (stop 7301 near Queen St) from 5pm, as well as from Takapuna and Henderson.
After the match, all event buses will depart from directly outside the stadium on Don McKinnon Drive.

Trains
Travel on trains to Britomart, to connect with a bus to the stadium, is also included with match tickets. You can travel from 3 hours before kick-off until the last train of the night.

Car
Extra park-and-ride spaces will be available at Kristin School. A shuttle will leave the car park from 5pm.