Getting to Miami Stadium for World Cup was rough - unless you took a shuttle
Miami is not known for its public transportation, so for the World Cup games hosted in South Florida, the logistics of getting thousands of fans to the stadium seemed overwhelming.
Fans who chose to buy parking passes and drive to Hard Rock Stadium for the World Cup match between Uruguay and Saudi Arabia got stuck in heavy traffic, but those who used the shuttle buses from park-and-ride lots said they had a pleasant, easy commute.
During the seven match days — June 15, 21, 24, 27 and July 3, 11 and 18 — verified ticket holders can access the county’s free coach bus shuttle services at four hub sites in Miami-Dade and one in Broward County that will pick up fans and whisk them to and from Hard Rock Stadium. And the plan seemed to work.
The Cabrera family from Chicago traveled to Miami to attend Monday’s match and the Sunday game between Uruguay and Cape Verde. They took the shuttle bus from Hard Rock Hotel to the stadium and said it was a good experience.
“The bus picked us up on time, brought us right here to the stadium gate, we are actually surprised at how organized, easy and practical the whole experience was,” said Diego Cabrera who brought his three children, Diego, Jr., Jennifer, and Kevin to the match. “No problem at all.”
Alan Marsall of Bermuda and George Ligeti of Boca Raton, college friends from their days at Princeton University, also took the bus from Hard Rock Hotel and didn’t have any difficulties.
Their sons, Jesse Marshall and Alex Ligeti, are big soccer fans, so they decided to make a father-son trip out of the World Cup match on Monday.
“We’re overnighting at the Hard Rock hotel, and it’s been a wonderful experience so far, amazing,” Marshall said. “Our sons were footballers, now grown young men, so we thought, `Let’s do this father-won World Cup trip.’ We’re really excited to see the match, and so far everything is very organized.”
Another fan from Uruguay, Lucas Epstein, was at his fourth World Cup. This time, he brought his family including his two young children so they wouldn’t miss out. Epstein, who lives in Mexico City, said they arrived at the match on the free county shuttle, which he said worked well. As soon as they entered the stadium, the family immediately bought ice cream at a truck and sat at a nearby table downing their ice cream.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 5:55 PM.