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ChineseDodgers at the Coliseum: The Transit Aftermath
Image courtesy of xero79.
The dust has settled from the Dodgers historic reunion with the Los Angeles Coliseum this past weekend. Over 115,000 people showed up for this game, and many of them were hoping that the mass transit alternatives offered by both Metro and the Dodgers would spare them the parking and traffic nightmare they’ve grown accustomed to at Dodgers games. According to the L.A. Times, 35,000 people showed up at Dodger Stadium hoping to take advantage of the shuttles to the Coliseum provided by the Dodgers. Unfortunately, the shuttles turned out to be a colossal failure. Apparently most of the shuttles were just that, smaller van-like buses that could hold a very limited amount of passengers, and according to people who were there, the whole process was very chaotic and unorganized. Some fans were still stranded at Dodger Stadium while the game had been going on for an hour some six miles away. These people will likely never attempt to go to a baseball game without a car ever again.
Jeremy Oberstein at LAist decided to “Go Metro” to the game, and he reports that the journey was not as smooth as it should have been. His group traveled from Mid-Wilshire on the Purple Line to Pershing Square, where they transfered to an MTA bus that dropped them off in front of the Coliseum, a rather brisk 30-minute trip. On the way back, things weren’t so rosy. Although they left an inning and a half early, a large crowd had already formed at the bus stop and, to make matters worse, the bus took 30-minutes to arrive. When it did, it was jam packed, and bypassed others who had been waiting for it. Once back at the Pershing Square Red Line Station (after a 35 minute crowded bus ride), Jason and his crew found themselves waiting another 30 minutes for the Purple Line to arrive, and then what is usually a 10-minute ride took 20 as the train meandered slowly from Pershing Square to Wilshire/Western. A commenter on Jeremy’s post reported this sad truth:
I decided to forgo public transpo and the dodger shuttle and ended up driving to the collisuem and paying the $25 for parking. I was amazed and how little traffic there was. It took me about 20 minutes to get there and park from the South end of the 110 and it only took about 30 minutes to get home. I got there around 5pm and left at the top of the ninth. The only real trouble I had was that all the left turn lanes on flower were closed so I had a hard time getting onto the freeway.
The Militant Angeleno took the Metro 754 Rapid to and from the game. He even vlogged about it. His transit time from the game back to Militant HQ was 53-minutes. Other MetroRider readers offered their experiences in the comments of this post. The consensus seems to be that the Dodgers Shuttles were unequivocally a disaster and that Metro, while adequate, certainly did not go above and beyond in preparing service for this event that would produce an obvious spike in traffic.
My wish is that Metro would use events like these as its primary tools for public relations. Imagine, instead of spending money on Miss Traffic billboard campaigns, they had spent the money to make sure their service was in top form for this one time event. That means adding extra buses, coordinating with the Dodgers to let them use Metro buses instead of shuttles to get people from Dodger Stadium to the Coliseum, and having Metro customer service employees on their best behavior and helping people get to and from the stadium. How much of an impact would such a effort have on the public? Those who did ride would tell those who sat through traffic how great their experience was, how helpful and attentive Metro was. Those who didn’t ride would see the world class transportation service Metro was providing, and consider Metro as an alternative next time. This one time historical event could have been used as a major tool to increase the awareness and popularity of mass transit in this town, but unfortunately it looks like it did little else but convince people that life without a car is the kind of life where you get to the game an hour and a half late.
Discussion
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To be specific, Metro Rapid 754 was done for the day after the game on Saturday, so the Militant and his operatives walked to Vermont & King to catch the regular Metro Local 204 back up. We had no problem catching it aside from the fact that late-night buses do not run frequently.
a colossal blunder that will no doubt send back to the private auto all those who thought, u know wut, this year i’m giving it a try. great job metro/dodgers. at least, stephanie will get that pathetic ms. traffic tiara.
We took the 754 there without any hassle and hailed a cab on the way home, again with little hassle. It was almost urban.
What a missed opportunity to really show what mass transit can do. Unfortunately I am not surprised by the outcome.
The Dodgers don’t really care about Public Transit. When they call or visit our office, I always blow off their group ticket sales reps, as the team is really in the parking business. The team added 1,000 spaces this season, which is another $15,000 / game gross.
What if the Dodgers chipped in $5 per ticket x 50,000 average attendance and funded $75,000 per game to subsidize public transit to the games? When they raised the parking prices last year, it brought in $80,000 more per game and the team spent $3,000 more on parking attendants.
As for the game, the fans only put in 5,000 bus reservations, but 35,000 showed up. To service that number of people, someone would have had to provide about 450 buses. At the going charter rate, that would have been about $360,000 in costs to handle that number. The only way this would have worked is to have charged $10 more per ticket for transportation or for the Dodgers to have funded such an expense.
Besides the regular Metro service, the Dodgers did nothing to work with Metro to provide any extra seats. And, of course, they never would have paid any extra costs for Metro to provide added service. It’s just part of the Dodgers cluelessness towards anything but food and parking revenues. Even Bill Burke has to chip in money to pay for extra subway service during his marathon.
If anything, the lesson learned is that offering something for free: parking/transportation won’t work without a value attached. And without a value, no one could predict the real appetite for usage, as most of the non-reserved folks rationalized: Parking/transportation is free, so let’s just go to Dodger Stadium and we won’t have to hassle the traffic or the $10-$25 to park.
Perhaps it’s time for the Dodgers to sell subscription bus tickets from outlying areas, just like what is done for the Hollywood Bowl. That system works fine, but the idea would cut into parking revenue, so understand: the Dodgers aren’t a public service. They want every penny you’ll toss at them and more.
I think I’ll stick to taking Amtrak/Metrolink to Angels games. It works. No shuttle needed. The best kep secret in O.C. A better team too !
BTW…OCTA did a great job serving the O.C. Fair last year. I took the Fair Express from Fullerton. It took the carpool lanes and I was at the fair in 30 minutes flat. Dropped me off right by the gates. OCTA ran it like clockwork even though it was right after their strike.
Ever try riding Metro to the L.A. County Fair ? L.A. can’t do anything right.
While the Dodgers fumbled the handling of transporting people to/fro the Coliseum, the Nationals baseball organization was undergoing the opening of its new stadium in Washington, DC. Judging by comments made to the transportation livechat on Washingtonpost.com and feedback I got from friends in attendance, the Nationals - working in conjunction with the District of Columbia and Metro (DC area’s own transit agency) - this went well!!! People got to the stadium early; people rode the subway, which was crowded but ran reliably; people took buses; people carpooled. Mind you, this stadium has only 1,300 spots!!! The Nationals regularly paid for EXTRA trains and shuttles to run on major game days. I’m not entirely sure who handles the parking and transportation logistics for the Dodgers - perhaps I should ask them for a job!!! The Dodgers really walked themselves into a PR blunder on this day. It could’ve been amaaazing and it wasn’t. People went to Dodger Stadium expecting free parking and free shuttle rides and regrettably, what this “cost” them was time and stress waiting for the shuttles. Folks, repeat this with me: there is no such thing as free parking.
Transitplanner: I’ve looked at that but I’ve always been stumped by the “How do you get back to LA?” issue.
For now, I’m going to settle with bogarting Diamondback tickets when I visit family in AZ.
Aaron’s point is spot on. Metrolink only works going to events (Angels Games, Staple Center etc.) and one has to find alternative means to return home at 10p.m or later.
You take Amtrak back to L.A. from Anaheim. The last northbound train is at 11:15 PM on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. The last southbound train (to South O.C. and San Diego) is at 10:51 PM daily.
[...] Nope. Streetcar? Keep dreaming. Shuttle? We’re still waiting in line to get to the Coliseum. MetroRiderLA reported Metro’s failure for that historic occasion on every level. Crappy shuttles, long wait [...]