Free Dodger Stadium Trolley Debuts but 50-Year Plan Ignores Transit

This low-mileage review covers a local sports venue instead of real estate, but those looking to buy a home in Glendale or Pasadena will be affected by Dodger game traffic if they drive between downtown Los Angeles and the two cities to the north, so excuse the digression, and be warned.

Blogdowntown reported that many fans lined up to catch the first free trolley to Dodger stadium July 25; city officials rode along as well.

The trolley is great news for those of us living farther from the stadium than this intrepid writer, who recently decided to walk two miles to a game instead of driving to the parking lot.

Dodger fans using the service will save a few dollars on parking and gas, but I doubt it will noticeably reduce pre- and post-game gridlock. Eliminating that will take a full-scale transit plan, which does not appear in the Dodger’s “Next 50″ initiative, as blogger Militant Angeleno points out.

Militant Angeleno also wrote that he and other trolley riders didn’t get out of the stadium parking lot any faster than fans driving their own cars on Friday night. Perhaps the Dodgers could clear a special lane for the trolley so riders can save time as well as money.

As I wrote, the trolley service is great news. However, it does not remove the bottleneck that baseball games create in the surrounding neighborhood. The Dodgers’ five year renovation plan includes a new entrance, plaza, restaurants, shops, a museum space, a central ticketing facility, and two terraced parking structures. So within five years, cars will be stacked vertically as well as horizontally, and there will still be no clear alternative to parking.

Why not reduce the number of parking spaces (as Pasadena appears to be considering for its business districts), and increase the number of transit options for fans coming from all directions? That’s certainly more appropriate for a plan intended to take the Dodgers through the next 50 years.

As for bike parking, a StreetsblogLA cyclist at first couldn’t locate the bike racks at Dodger Stadium. When they were located, this post reported they were right next to the designated smoking area. Again, a plan for the Dodgers’ next 50 years should take the growing population of cyclists into account.

I will suggest another building project for the plan, one I’ve seen in place at other major league ballparks: a Little League field, complete with stands, snack bar, restrooms, and scoreboard, built on the grounds of the parking lot. It will further reduce parking lot area, add green space, and give neighborhood leagues another available field.