May 18, 2026
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
SEPTA will increase service on the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines during World Cup matches at Lincoln Financial Field.
SEPTA will increase service on the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines for World Cup matches, and also boost service on two bus routes that stop near Lemon Hill, the site of the FIFA Fan Festival.
An estimated 31,000 people are expected to use public transportation to attend each of the six matches held at Lincoln Financial Field, SEPTA said Monday. With additional capacity, the Broad Street Line will be able to move about 15,000 people per hour. Overnight service be available every 30 minutes starting at 12:30 a.m. to select stations on the Broad Street and Market Frankford lines.
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These eight Market-Frankford Line stations will be open for overnight service:
• Frankford Transit Center
• Front-Girard
• 2nd St.
• 8th-Market
• 15th St./City Hall
• Drexel Station at 30th St.
• 40th St.
• 69th St. Transit Center
These 10 Broad Street Line stations also will have overnight service:
• Fern Rock Transit Center
• Olney Transit Center
• Erie
• Broad-Girard
• Broad-Spring Garden
• Race-Vine
• 15th St./City Hall
• Walnut-Locust
• Oregon
• NRG Station
Buses on routes 32 and 48, which each pass through East Fairmount Park, will run more frequently on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. during the 39-day FIFA Fan Festival in Lemon Hill. Buses will arrive every 15 minutes or less.
SEPTA previously said it planned to add capacity to five other routes that serve the Fairmount Park area. SEPTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Philadelphia will host six World Cup matches between June 14 and July 4:
• Sunday, June 14 at 7 p.m., Côte d'Ivoire vs. Ecuador
• Friday, June 19 at 8:30 p.m., Brazil vs. Haiti
• Monday, June 22 at 5 p.m., France vs. Iraq
• Thursday, June 25 at 4 p.m., Côte d'Ivoire vs. Curacao
• Saturday, June 27 at 5 p.m., Croatia vs. Ghana
• Saturday, July 4 at 5 p.m., Round of 16
Though public transit fares in some other cities are expected to skyrocket during the World Cup, SEPTA is keeping its one-way fares at its current $2.90 rate. Fans can catch free SEPTA rides home from the sports complex starting at halftime and continuing for two hours after the end of each match.
People attending the Fan Festival will be prohibited from parking at Lemon Hill and the neighborhoods around it. To prevent Fairmount, Spring Garden and Brewerytown from becoming overwhelmed by festivalgoers, the Philadelphia Parking Authority is requiring residents to apply for residential parking permits. Parking permits are necessary to park in those neighborhoods throughout the World Cup.
Fan Festival attendees are instead being asked to use SEPTA or ride share services.
Philadelphia expects more than 1 million visitors this summer for the World Cup, MLB All-Star Game and events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
SEPTA estimated the costs to pay for additional transit police and overtime will run $21.5 million. In March, the Federal Transit Administration awarded $5.5 million to SEPTA as part of a larger program supporting the 11 World Cup host cities in the United States. SEPTA spokesperson John Golden said this funding will support a "vast majority" of the incurred costs.
"We are thrilled to accommodate the thousands of visitors expected to take our system for safe, reliable and convenient service to the FIFA World Cup events," SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said Monday in a statement. "SEPTA's robust multimodal network was a key factor in Philadelphia's selection as a host city and we are ready to rise to the occasion."
