It was billed as the "mass transit bowl," but thousands of frustrated fans were stuck for more than an hour at Secaucus Junction waiting for trains after Sunday's Super Bowl in the Meadowlands.

NJ Transit
Dino Flammia, Townsquare Media NJ
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NJ Transit is planning to review what could have been done to avoid the delays, but overall, Executive Director Jim Weinstein believes the day was a success.

"We delivered 28,000 people to the game and took back about 33,000 home afterwards, so I believe the first mass transit Super Bowl was successful," Weinstein said. "I'm sure there are things we could've done better, but the reality is 82,500 people left an event at the same time and that's going to create congestion no matter where you are. We moved people through as quickly as was physically possible.  While there some folks who were upset by it, we believe the majority of people had a good experience both going to and coming home from the game."

About 32,000 NJ Transit tickets were sold and of those tickets, 22,000 were sold on Sunday, according to Weinstein.

"Some of the contributing factors to the higher numbers were the warm weather and people were excited about the game, so we had a larger turnout on the public transit system," he said. "We had originally projected between 8,000 and 12,000 people riding the trains."

According to Weinstein, however, there are always things that can be done better.

"After any kind of event, there is always something we can go back and look at and analyze and figure out what could have been done better," Weinstein said. "We will be doing that. Those answers don't come within 24 hours. We will be conducting a post-game analysis."

Assembly Transportation Committee Chair John Wisniewski has called for a thorough review of the mass transit difficulties. He released a statement on the issue yesterday:

"Understanding that this was the first 'mass transit Super Bowl' of its kind, the problems that ensued for people trying to get to and from the game raise a lot of questions about the preparedness level leading up to the big day. This was a chance for New Jersey to shine and unfortunately the final memory most will take home with them is the frustration of hours-long delays," Wisniewski said. "I would hope that Super Bowl officials, NJ Transit and state officials will conduct a thorough review to determine how these problems can be avoided for future events at Met Life Stadium, especially if New Jersey gets the chance to play Super Bowl host once again."

While Weinstein recognizes that many Super Bowl fans were upset by the delays, the bottom line for NJ TRANSIT is that everyone was delivered to their destinations safely and securely.  "People also have to keep in mind this was a Level One National Security event which means it had the same level of security that a Presidential Inauguration has and that adds to the congestion and how you get through it.  But, what's important was that everyone was delivered safely and within a reasonable amount of time for that number of people," he said.

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