The New and Improved Dodger Stadium Express

April 12, 2013 Leave a comment

I went to my first Dodgers game of the season last Sunday and, of course, took the Dodger Stadium Express for free from Union Station. I was excited to try it out this season after Metro and LADOT made some improvements (most notably, a bus-only lane on Sunset Blvd. and Elysian Park Ave.).

The bus only lane doesn’t start until you get to Figueroa and Sunset. It was Sunday and there wasn’t much traffic, but last season I did spend a good portion of my trip in traffic on Cesar Chavez between Alameda and Sunset. One game in particular, it took us 35 minutes to get to Figuaroa (at which point we got off the bus and walked). It would be a HUGE improvement if the bus lane could start at Alameda.

Map of the Dodger Stadium Express route. I highlighted the portion with a bus-only lane in yellow.

Map of the Dodger Stadium Express route. I highlighted the portion with a bus-only lane in yellow.

In practice, the bus lane worked just as well as in theory. We zipped right on by the rest of the cars trying to get into the stadium, and as we turned right onto Elysian Park Ave., I was actually surprised to see that the lane continued all the way up the hill. There are a ton of cones put out and cops monitoring every so often, so the lane was definitely well-respected by other drivers.

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A Trip Up The Coast: Dodger Stadium Could Learn A Thing or Two

July 10, 2012 Leave a comment

This is the fourth post in a short series based on my recent trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco by train. With an overnight stop in San Luis Obispo and a weekend in San Francisco, there were some great urbanist and transit lessons to be learned.

As a baseball fan, no trip to any city is complete without a visit to the stadium. I’ve been to a game at San Francisco’s AT&T park before, but arrived late from the airport and headed straight inside. This time, I didn’t attend the game, but explored the area all around the stadium as crowds were arriving for the crossbay showdown between the Giants and the Oakland A’s.

AT&T Park in San Francisco is perhaps one of the country’s best urban baseball stadiums.

So far, San Francisco’s AT&T park and San Diego’s Petco Park are two of my favorite urban stadiums. There are many lessons for Dodger stadium to be found in them, though we also have to realize that Dodger stadium is a diametrically different kind of ballpark. It’s location on an isolated hilltop makes it much more of a suburban style stadium (surrounded completely by parking lots) than any of the country’s urban stadiums.

While some have proposed moving Dodger Stadium to a Downtown location, as a longtime baseball fan and purist I am conflicted with the idea. The urbanist in me says YES! while the fan wanting to retain as much of the history of the stadium says NO. For now, I will assume (as is most probable) that the stadium won’t be moving anytime soon. There are still many improvements that can be made in its current location.

So let’s look… What is so great about AT&T Park?

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