Page 14 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MARCH 20, 2026 MBTA to Run Four Event Trains to March 26 Road to 26 Brazil vs. France Friendly Match $30 round-trip event train tickets between South Station and Foxboro/ Gillette Stadium will be available on March 10 at 11 AM on mTicket. F OXBOROUGH – The MBTA today announced that four event trains will operate from Boston’s South Station to Foxboro/Gillette Stadium for the Brazil vs. France Road to 26 Friendly Match on Thursday, March 26. Full information can be found at MBTA. com/Gillette. “The Brazil vs. France Friendly Match, quickly approaching a sellout crowd, is just the beginning of the excitement that this year’s World Cup games will bring to Massachusetts and the region. We welcome soccer fans both locally and from around the globe to the Commuter Rail and to leave the driving to us,” said Interim MassDOT SecreSTUDY | FROM PAGE 7 said Bourgi. New Jersey follows at 83.6 days, with Maryland at 80.9 days and Delaware at 80.3 days devoted solely to these three categories before a dollar can go to health care, debt, or discretionary spending. States like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Florida, Nevada, and Connecticut all demand more than 70 workdays per year just to clear the same basic threshold. America’s Rare Bright Spots Only a handful of states have managed to give workers any time back. Idaho shows the biggest improvement, with residents now needing 4.9 fewer days each year to cover rent, groceries, and saving for a used car than they did in 2007, including 2.7 days saved on rent alone. Arkansas workers save 3.8 days a year across the three essentials, almost all of it driven by lower relative time tary and MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng. “I’m grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Legislature for their leadership and support over the last few years, which has enabled us to rebuild our system to better support events such as this.” “The quickest and easiest way to get to all of this year’s soccer matches in Foxboro is on board the Commuter Rail,” said Keolis General Manager and CEO John Killeen. “Keolis is excited to welcome Brazil and France fans on our event trains for the International Friendly this month. We are prepared to deliver a safe and reliable service for both the Friendly Match and all seven needed for rent, while South Dakota has clawed back a modest 0.2 days overall. These small gains, however, are overshadowed by rising grocery and vehicle costs that continue to erode household budgets nationwide. A Warning Sign of Deepening Strain InvestorsObserver’s analysis compares 2007 and 2025 using federal and industry data on hourly wages, fair market rents, used car prices, and a fixed grocery basket adjusted for inflation. The findings arrive as surveys show a growing share of Americans living paycheck to paycheck and openly hoping for a housing correction to ease the pressure. “With many workers now spending between a quarter and a third of their year just to afford rent, food, and a used car, more Americans are no longer trading time for progress – they are trading time for the bare minimum of existence,” concluded Bourgi. ABOUT SAM BOURGI Sam Bourgi is a finance analyst and researcher at InvestorsObserver, bringing over 13 years of expertise in financial markets, economics, and monetary policy. His professional background spans the private, nonprofit, and public sectors, where he has held positions such as senior policy adviser, labor market analyst, and marketing director. Sam’s in-depth research and market analysis have been referenced by leading institutions and organizations, including the U.S. Congress, Department of Justice, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Bank for International Settlements, Boston University Law Review, Barron’s, and Forbes. Sam regularly appears on TV, including Fox 5 DC (live), CBN, KFYR TV, 11Alive, and ABC30, and is quoted by such media outlets as Reuters, Bloomberg, SF Chronicle and ZeroHedge. of the World Cup matches later this year.” Roundtrip mTickets Available March 10 Roundtrip tickets will be available to purchase for $30 beginning on Tuesday, March 10, at 11 AM ET, exclusively on the mTicket app. Tickets will be sold by boarding groups, “Group A” or “Group B,” with a corresponding schedule to be available at MBTA.com/ Gillette. The $30 event ticket is also good for travel across the Commuter Rail network on March 26. Due to anticipated high demand, no refunds or exchanges will be available. Tickets must be purchased prior to boarding each train. All passengers, including children 11 and under, must have a ticket to board the train. Train ticket sales will stop once the maximum capacity is reached. Regular Commuter Rail tickets and passes are not valid for event trains to the Friendly Match on March 26. March 26 Event Trains Schedule Train service will operate express from Boston’s South Station (no stops at Back Bay or Dedham Corporate Center) to Foxboro Station. Queueing plans will be in place for boarding. Passengers should listen to onsite staff for more information about Group A and Group B boarding queues. Ample station staff will be present onsite on March 26 to direct passengers to the appropriate boarding queue, direct pedestrian flow, and answer questions from passengers. The event trains will depart Boston as boarding is complete, roughly every 15 minutes, beginning at 12:45 PM. Passengers in Group A should arrive at South Station by 12:30 PM and passengers in Group B should arrive by 1 PM. After the match, the first return train will depart from Foxboro Station 30 minutes EVENT TRAINS | SEE PAGE 15
15 Publizr Home