Dear Mark,
Right now, millions of visitors are traveling to the United States from all over the world for the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, expecting to experience one of the great global sporting events.
But many of them are about to experience something else: American transportation reality.
In some cities, that reality will look pretty good. Surprisingly to some, Los Angeles has been leaning hard into transit planning for the games. Kansas City has embraced its fare-free streetcar system and is actively trying to make downtown mobility easier for visitors and residents alike. SEPTA, in Philly, is offering free post-match shuttles. Amtrak is offering discounts on some fares. Across the country, transit agencies are adding trains, extending hours, and trying to stretch limited resources to meet an extraordinary challenge.
Let’s be fair, moving tens of thousands of people to and from stadiums safely and efficiently is difficult and expensive anywhere in the world. But the stories already emerging around the World Cup reveal something a lot bigger than soccer. Our collective dirty little secret...our Nation’s transit offerings and infrastructure are not the best the world has to offer. Visitors from countries where major events are often bundled with robust transit service are going to experience a wild swing of capabilities, depending on the city.
Even where public transportation exists, visitors are often encountering systems with fewer trains, longer waits, and facilities that were never really designed for the kind of seamless, high-frequency service many international travelers simply take for granted.
The good news is that progress is underway.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law set this country on a path to upgrade our national passenger rail system…Corridor Identification. New rolling stock procurements. State-supported service expansions. For the first time in decades, governors and state DOTs have had the opportunity to seriously plan new passenger rail routes.
Will World Cup visitors fully benefit from those investments in 2026? Not yet.
When Americans do invest in transportation, when communities decide mobility really does produce prosperity, when leaders choose to connect people instead of simply funneling cars into parking lots, the results can be transformative.
You can see glimpses of that future in places that are trying creative solutions right now. You can see it every time a passenger steps off a train and into the heart of a city.
If you believe, like I do, that America can and should do better, and if you believe passenger rail must be part of that future, please support the Rail Passengers Association with a generous tax-deductible contribution TODAY!
Together, we can help build a transportation system worthy of the country we aspire to be.
With Determination,
Jim Mathews
President & CEO
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