ParkMobile study finds majority of fans plan to use personal cars to get to FIFA World Cup events

In less than one month, one of the largest sporting events in the world will arrive in Atlanta. 

The FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 15, and whether you plan to attend a match or attend other festivities, it's almost a guarantee you will run into traffic. 

ParkMobile, a mobile parking service with spaces across metro Atlanta, recently asked 1,000 residents how they plan to get to the World Cup or other events. 

Most of the people surveyed live in the surrounding city area or in Atlanta's suburbs. Less than 20 percent of the people surveyed live in Atlanta proper. 

According to the results, more than half of the respondents said they plan on using their personal cars to get to the World Cup or other events. Behind that, 27.8 percent said they plan to use ride shares, and 12.5 percent said they would use public transportation as their primary transport. 

ParkMobile's Director of Venue and Channel Partnerships, Ryan Slack, said he wasn't surprised by those numbers. 

"I spent some time in Europe, and their public transportation system is something I think that the United States is striving towards," Slack said. "And there's definitely some areas of the country that do it a lot better than others. But in general, we see a lot of interest in controlling your arrival and departure, your journey to the stadium, arena." 

Slack said no matter how you're planning on getting around during the World Cup, plan well in advance. 

"Whether you've been to a college bowl game, an Atlanta Falcons, a United game, a Hawks game, or even a Super Bowl in the past, it will most likely look very different than anyone's ever experienced," Slack said. 

Solomon Caviness is the Atlanta Department of Transportation Commissioner and echoes Slack's sentiment. 

"Plan their trip ahead of time so they have options and they know they have options for them to think about audibles or being nimble considering the amount of activity in the downtown core," Caviness said.

Caviness said city staff will work as ambassadors to help people find their way around Atlanta. 

"That's going to complement our way-finding initiative whereby we want to direct folks who are parking their cars at MARTA and taking MARTA into the city to make sure they have a safe and concise access over to the sports district," Caviness said.

CBS News Atlanta reached out to MARTA several times, but the agency decided not to comment on this story.