No free ride to Dodger stadium

  Amid all the complaints about the Dodgers' parking situation, The Times' Steve Hymon notes that other cities do a much better job than L.A. at offering mass transit to baseball stadiums:

Baseball fans in Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago (Cubs and White Sox), Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, New York (Mets and Yankees), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Washington can all take a subway or light rail to the game. Metrolink and Amtrak trains have a station next to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, although the train schedules are a bit spotty for baseball fans. Even Phoenix and Seattle are building light-rail lines that will stop near their ballparks. It should be noted that Phoenix is a sprawling mess, and Seattle's traffic is five degrees beyond bad. As for the Dodgers, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its predecessor agencies offered bus service to the games from 1962 — when Dodger Stadium opened — until 1994, when it was halted for budget reasons. In 2004, the Dodgers tried running a Friday night shuttle service from Union Station to the games, but that was stopped after one season because of low ridership. On average, the MTA reported, only 400 fans each game used the service.

What should we do about making it easier to get to Dodger games? Hit COMMENT and speak out!

Comments

[Richard H]

The Dodgers have been in Chavez Ravine longer now than they were on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. 46 years as opposed to 45 years in Ebbets Field. After the Yankees move into their new park, Dodger Stadium will be the third oldest in the major leagues after Fenway and Wrigley. Fenway and Wrigley are sacred baseball grounds. Is Dodger Stadium thought of that way?

The Dodgers should move to a new stadium and get out of Chavez Ravine. The 300 acres they occupy could be put to better use than as a one sport facility and giant flat parking lot that only gets used 80 days out of the year. Perhaps the land could be used for the housing and residential development it was promised to be in the 1950’s.

[Pablo]

The Dodgers had excellent public transportation available when they played on Bedford Avenue. Perhaps the solution will be found when the Dodgers return to Brooklyn.

[Benjamin Brown]

I'd rather sit in traffic in Los Angeles than live in Grants Pass, Oregon where secret nuclear, chemical, neurological and biological research is conducted on the population with appalling impunity. To call these People "abductees" is something of a misnomer; many were born, such as myself, in Los Angeles and clearly were "sold", much like lab animals. Shame on you Los Angeles.

[bg mendell]

Leave well enough alone; so $62 gets you four tickets, 4 cokes (pepsi's?) and four hot (dodger)dogs; and $15 gets you a parking space; and then add three hours to get to the parking space; and three more hours to out of the parking lot....what's the value of your six hours plus a four hour ball game. Then, say you do/don't get thirty miles to a gallon in your chariot...but, if you did, your a burning two gallons/hr...for six hours...12 gallons at what $3.25/gallon. Ten hours out of your day. You do the math. Of course, if you are paying more than $62 for four tickets, 4 cokes/pepsi's and four hot (dodger) dogs...
you re-do the math. It makes my budget turn dodger blue.

[bg mendell]

Leave well enough alone; so $62 gets you four tickets, 4 cokes (pepsi's?) and four hot (dodger)dogs; and $15 gets you a parking space; and then add three hours to get to the parking space; and three more hours to out of the parking lot....what's the value of your six hours plus a four hour ball game. Then, say you do/don't get thirty miles to a gallon in your chariot...but, if you did, your a burning two gallons/hr...for six hours...12 gallons at what $3.25/gallon. Ten hours out of your day. You do the math. Of course, if you are paying more than $62 for four tickets, 4 cokes/pepsi's and four hot (dodger) dogs...
you re-do the math. It makes my budget turn dodger blue.

[greg kay]

An aerial tram is a great idea! The aerial tram would enjoy high visibility, too, becoming a part of the L.A. skyline. If the Getty could afford a fixed tramway, the Dodgers should be able to pay for one as well. Or one way to finance it would be to sell off or lease some of the parking lot for other uses, such as housing or storage.

[Amir K]

In response to Richard's post, that actually could be a great idea for the transportation issue. The problem with it is that the park doesn't have a whole lot of use without games, so 80 days a year is the max that it could be really used (don't get me started about our playoff runs!).

The Roosevelt Island and Portland trams work much better since they're not tied to a game schedule. I think this would be its biggest obstacle in getting built.

[Manuel]

Lets not forget one Important thing that Angel stadium has by its parking lot that Dodger stadium needs. A HOTTERS!

76 out HOTTERS IN.

[Elias]

Los Angeles let's make this happen! We need public transportaion in and out of Doger Stadium, let us push the MTA to bring back the buses in the meantime, maybe hybrid buses, while the MTA should construct a light rail from Downtown L.A. and back during games and concerts! This is a reasonable and realistic plan that will serve all of Los Angeles' baseball fans!
Los Angeles let us make this happen!

[Richard H]

I’ll just post my suggestion again.

An aerial tramway could be built between the Chinatown Metrorail Goldline Station and Dodger Stadium.

The tramway would start at the Chinatown Station, go up to the top of the Ravine and across the Parking Lot to the top of Dodger Stadium.

This would not be that crazy or unusual. Other cities in the United States have them.

Portland has one. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram )

Here’s a picture gallery: ( http://www.portlandbridges.com/00,5D0IMG16268,68,0,1,1-portland-oregon.html )

So does New York. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Island_Tramway )

Some pictures: ( http://world.nycsubway.org/us/ritram/ )

Something like this would probably be too radical for Los Angeles. The NIMBY's would kill any chance of anything like that here.