Will the Dodger Trolley return?

I was driving in WeHo Friday afternoon when the phone rang. I tapped the talk button on the phone speaker and got ... "It's Rosendahl." It was Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and he was ticked.

Not at me. At the Dodgers. He had earlier in the day been in the City Council's Transportation Committee and heard a report on the Dodger Trolley. It seems the shuttle between Union Station and Dodger Stadium went over budget due to its popularity (blogdowntown reported this last month) and Rosendahl said that the price had gone from an expected $70,000 to $150,000. About 704 people on average took the trolley to games, according to a city report released last month.

What really steamed Rosendahl was that, according to him, city officials were saying it would cost $350,000 to run the trolley for a full season in 2009, if the council decides to continue it. This past year, the trolley was basically a test program and didn't start until late July.

Furthermore, Rosendahl was ticked because the Dodgers wouldn't pick up any of the cost this year, saying that baseball teams shouldn't have to pay for mass transit. That's government's job, the team said. Of course, not every team builds its stadium far from the downtown street grid, behind residential neighborhoods, and surrounds it with 16,000-plus parking spaces that are currently going for $15 a pop.

"The city isn't going to pay for it if I have my way," Rosendahl said.

He also wanted the Dodgers to open their books for the city. Good luck with that -- the players union has wanted to see the real books of Major League Baseball teams for years. Nonetheless, as ESPN reported at the time, the last labor negotiations in 2006 were a cinch simply because teams were making so much money.

This will be a fun standoff, should it transpire. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is saying the city budget is already deep in the hole, but the Dodgers have proved in the past to have a lot of friends on the City Council. At the same time, the Dodgers may be rolling the money trucks up to free agent Manny Ramirez any day now -- giving the team cause to plead poverty.

What do you think should happen? Should the city send the Dodgers to the showers? Or is the city getting good bang for its buck (or in this case 350,000 of them)?

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Bob Thomas]

Much as I hate to admit it, the McCourts have a point. Why should they pay for this service? I doubt that the Yankees or Mets pay for the subway stops near their stadiums or subsidize the lines that run there. What the city should do is find a way to make the service faster (dedicated bus lanes), have the line begin at Union Station and swing by the Chinatown Golf Line station and charge people to use it. If the line was more efficient and better publicized, people would use it (as is the case with the Hollywood Bowl shuttles)

[Surfdaddy]

The Dodgers should kick in to the Dodger Trolley; the Dodger trolley should be expanded to several key transport locations in the downtown, E.G., 7th and Flower, Staples Center in the new Entertainment and Sports Center Land Use Area, etc. I grew up here and when I was 21 in 1958, and an old "Los Angeles Angel" fan from the Pacific Coast League-farm club of the Chicago Cubs-went to games at 41st and Avalon"Wrigley Field" on the "S" line streetcar from 8th and Normandie. When the Dodgers came the Freeway system was in the ascendency so that the L.A. City Council and the Auto Club of SoCal said that the logical place for the new Dodger Stadium(we watched the Dodgers at the Coliseum the first two years, even a World Series against the White Sox) should be Chavez Ravine. So why did they push Chavez Ravine? Because, using the popular jargon of the time, that's where the new "Freeway Stack" was being formed. So what was the Freeway Stack or the "Stack"; the new four(4) level interchange bringing the Hollywood, Pasadena(Arroyo Seco), Harbor, San Bernardino(Ramona), and Santa Ana Freeways together in one location. It was the auto equivalent of the telephone /data switch or railroad yard, i.e., when you reached the "Stack" you could go in any direction in SoCal. The ballgame fan merely jumped in their auto from anywhere in SoCal and headed for the Stack, then off ramped onto one of the sweeping drives up to the Stadium parking lot, got out and walked leisurely to their seat(s); after the game the Freeway "toilet" would flush and all happy fans would drive home. This is why there is NO major rapid transit system near there nor will there ever be one and Dodger owners know this. The City, under the "public safety and health clause"of the Constitution, should create and run a system to serve the Stadium then "bill" the dodgers under a "entertainment and public meeting place" tax! Let it go to court, and if handled by competent lawyers, the city would win!
CHEERS!

[Damon Tordini]

Maybe somebody else can answer this, but why don't they run the trolley from the Chinatown Gold line stop? Or send the trolley down Alameda towards Chinatown, then cut over to Broadway and Stadium Way?

From what I hear it can take an hour to go the lousy 1.5 miles from union station to the stadium.. that's slower than walking. You'd think there is a faster route.

[Interurbans]

We should not have to pay for the Dodger Trolley. The Dodgers should. This service benefits them. However the Trolley is so slow since it is stuck in the same traffic as the rest of us.

You can understand why the Dodgers do not want to pay for, or even want the trolley. They are in the parking lot business and they want that revenue and do not want compilation. Even if this service helps make life easier and more convenient to their “fans”.

The city should charge a parking tax on Dodger parking to pay for this service since obviously the Dodgers have little or no interest in their fans.

The Dodgers should or be required to build or pay for an elevated people mover of some type that would run from Union Station, a LRT or Subway Station with a close by the Dodger Stadium stop or series of stops close by gates. This would be a win-win for all. It would relive traffic around the stadium and freeways as well as make this stadium much more accessible for many more game attendees as well as making the stadium more accessible for special events. The Dodgers will actually do better fictionally from this “elevated shuttle” with increased attendance at games and special events. Even the drivers using the lots will benefit by easier access to the parking lots with reduced traffic in the area.

Come on Dodgers stop thinking so small and cheep. Think a little bigger and build an elevated shuttle and make life easier for your fans and profit for doing so.

[Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod]

$350,000 divided by 81 games divided by 704 average riders equals a bit more than $6 per rider.

That's not too bad, I guess, but rather more than one would think for a 3.8 mile round trip.

Why doesn't the city just add a parking tax surcharge of an additional dime on Dodger Stadium parking (or all parking lots with more than 10,000 spaces or something like that) - that ought to bring in at least three times the amount DASH needs for its shuttle.

If we are dreaming, why not put that surplus into a fund to help fund a Dodger Stadium stop on a future subway from Metro Center to Burbank by way of Silverlake and Echo Park?

[David Galvan]

Well, I for one will never take that cursed Dodger Trolley again. It took a full hour to get from Union Station to the Stadium when I took it back in August for Manny Ramirez' first game. AN HOUR. To go 2 miles. Could have walked faster. And, to top it off, the people on the bus, packed in like sardines, got so frustrated with the slow going they almost mutinied against the driver when they saw another bus pass us in the next lane. They figured that bus was smarter and getting ahead. . . of course we caught up to it soon enough as it had to merge into our same lane up ahead anyway. I didn't even bother waiting in line to ride it back to Union station after the game. Had my cousin give me a ride home in his car.

Now, granted there were many other cars stuck in the horrible traffic through the residential area around Dodger stadium along with the Trolleys. But that's just evidence showing that there needs to be some kind of light rail or something going to that stadium. Any bus service is going to experience the same god-awful traffic. Those residential streets are too narrow for a bus-only lane. Only a rail solution is going to solve this problem, and I doubt the Dodgers are going to pay for that.

Next time I want to go to a game I'll take my bike from Union Station. Or just drive. At $15 it's worth it. And last time I drove out of Dodger stadium, it really didn't take that long to get out and onto the freeway.

[N_C]

It seems weird that the ride is free. People will happily pay a few dollars instead of the $15 parking and the hassle. Or the possibility of an accident. I remember driving by Dodger stadium during a game. The traffic had backed up on the freeway to a complete stand still and this driver who was obviously not paying attention slammed right into a stopped car.

[Stephen]

I was fortunate enough to spend this past summer in DC where I found out that the Washington Nationals were helping to pay for the extra Green Line service before and after the games. Apparently WMATA has a set price to boost service for special events, and the Nationals agreed on a contract. The result? According to WMATA, 53 percent of the attendance, or 1.8 million fans rode Metro to the ballpark for the 2007-2008 season.

Great transportation planning, but less money for the Boston parking lot attendant!

[Spokker]

Two words: Silver Line.

Forget all this shuttle bus nonsense. Think bigger.

[Oscar]

I dunno had this been planned or designed in some way dodger stadium would be a nice two block walk from a train station, like maybe I don't know...the Staples center?

The dodgers are in no hurry to provide a free shuttle when they can make money off of parking...which they should, they own the parking lot right? It means we all have to make the personal decision to pay or not pay...we can just easily decide to walk up the hill to Chavez Ravine. I try to avoid the stadium because of the parking, if I do go I try to make sure the car is loaded with people that are going to help me cover the cost of the parking.

I remember as a kid there used to be an RTD line that would go to the stadium, you had to pay the regular fare and it seemed to be very popular.

I don't see why there can't be a fee for service for the trolley to help offset the costs of operating it especially since we have more light rail going to union station making that an option for more people wanting to visit Dodger Stadium.

That being said I think the Dodgers owners would garner a great deal of publicity and goodwill if they paid for the trolley...which they could.

[Robb]

What do you think should happen? Should the city send the Dodgers to the showers?

Well, with the building the Dodgers want to do around the stadium, I think it's more than appropriate for the city to deny any permits if there's no mass transit pledge from the Dodgers.

[LAofAnaheim]

Dodgers and the City should pay for some of the operating costs behind the Dodger Trolley. However, let's also charge a fare for usage. Why do we have to continue providing free services, for it to eventually shut down b/c there are no funds available? I'm sure the riders would not mind paying a simple $1 to $2 fare per ride. As long as it guarantees future use of the Trolley, have the riders offset the cost.