An MBTA Blue Line train pulls into Government Center on Aug. 27, 2025. Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service / File
As the MBTA prepares to move hundreds of thousands of World Cup fans around greater Boston this summer, including many international visitors unfamiliar with the system, the tournament is accelerating the T’s efforts to make the network easier to navigate for everyone.
At a Thursday MBTA board meeting, officials outlined an expansive wayfinding and operations plan tied to the FIFA World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium, temporarily renamed “Boston Stadium” under FIFA branding rules. The effort includes new signage, multilingual support, updated maps, numbered station exits, volunteers stationed throughout the system and operational changes aimed at handling heavy crowds headed to Foxborough and spending tourism dollars in Boston.
The first match at the stadium is scheduled for Saturday, June 13, featuring Haiti against Scotland.
Transit officials framed the tournament as both a logistical challenge and an opportunity to modernize rider information systems that in some stations have become outdated, inconsistent or confusing.
“Our primary objective in planning wayfinding for FIFA has been determining how to move people, many who will be first-time users, successfully through the MBTA system during World Cup events,” Alice Molari, the MBTA’s director of wayfinding, told board members.
A number of visitors will likely also be international, and may not speak English.
To prepare, the MBTA has been analyzing where riders are most likely to enter the system and identifying transfer points where confusion is common. Molari said the agency is focusing on creating clearer and more intuitive travel paths, particularly toward South Station, where special commuter rail trains will transport fans to Foxborough.
Purple FIFA-branded signs will direct riders through stations and city streets, supplemented by QR codes, digital guides and multilingual resources. Officials said the signs are designed to rely less on English text and more heavily on symbols and pictograms commonly used internationally.
The agency is also planning physical improvements that could remain useful after the tournament ends.
Among the upgrades are efforts to make the Winter Street concourse between Park Street and Downtown Crossing easier to navigate, clarify Green Line branch locations and identify which stations correspond to each branch, add “you are here” maps and elevator transfer maps at complicated stations, and remove outdated or incorrect signage.
The MBTA also plans to introduce numbered station exits, which Molari described as a transit industry best practice that is common in systems abroad.
Updated neighborhood maps tied to exit numbers will identify landmarks and destinations near stations.
“Our goal is to create a stylistically consistent family of maps,” Molari said, adding that the broader aim is “creating consistent, comprehensive wayfinding system for all riders to help with successful navigation and orientation during and beyond these FIFA-related events.”
The preparations also extend beyond signs and maps.
Chief Enterprise Development Officer Erika Mazza said the MBTA is training volunteers and transit ambassadors to help riders navigate stations during match days, particularly multilingual visitors. Volunteers who speak additional languages will wear “I speak” buttons identifying the languages they know, and workers will have access to translation tools including Google Translate.
