Others have looked for street parking or lots with prices lower then the $25 to $48 dollars charged by the stadium lots.

Jesus Christ. No wonder nobody wanted to use them.

I don't know why anyone would drive into a major city just to park next to a stadium*. Seems like such a stupid thing to do and yet I know people that do it and they don't seem like they are stupid on the surface.

*Certain caveats do apply.

Wow. This is shocking. Never saw it coming.

does this answer the question why there is no cheap public transportation option to dodger stadium?

I don't know why anyone would drive into a major city just to park next to a stadium

I've gone as a passenger by car to Yankee Stadium. I guess the logic is that the park is so close to the George Washington Bridge on the one hand, and not very many miles across the Bronx from Long Island or Connecticut on the other, that it can be tempting (depending on where you're coming from) to drive all the way rather than to drive to some park-and-ride that might be full or inconvenient and then take two or three trains.

I'm with you, though, I'd always take the two or three trains.

The missus I drove down from Providence to see the A's play the Yankees last month. Gas and parking made it a wash over taking the train. However, I booked a parking spot online (through ParkWhiz) that was 10 minutes from the Stadium for $15.

But as TN has previously reported, the Yankees pushed hard in 2008 to add 2,000 parking spots, paving over parts of two nearby city parks to do it, even though the new stadium is smaller than the old one. The team made it a condition for staying in the Bronx.

Then Yankees president Randy Levine assured the City Council that despite the high cost of the new parking system, it would bring in sufficient revenue. “Those revenues will go back to pay the cost of the project and go to the city and a private operator,” he said.

Heh. The bondholders are going to get screwed, the City will get screwed and the neighborhood got screwed, but the Yankees got their parking spots...

I don't know why anyone would drive into a major city just to park next to a stadium*. Seems like such a stupid thing to do and yet I know people that do it and they don't seem like they are stupid on the surface.

I usually drive to Fenway when I go to games even though I'm going to pay between $30-$40 to park. The problem is simply one of convenience. If I take the subway I can usually get to the game no problem but on the way out congestion and a lack of trains means that I have to add 45-75 minutes to my ride home. Obviously traffic in Boston sucks but if I leave a night game at 10 I can be at my house by 11:15 if I drove and it's midnight if I'm lucky if I use the subway.

The incremental cost winds up being $10 cheaper because parking ($7) and subway pass ($2.50 one way) costs me $9.50.

The team made it a condition for staying in the Bronx.

Hahahaha.

I always drive to Fenway. I usually pay $16 to park in the Prudential Center garage just over a half mile from the park. It's much more convenient than taking the train. It's only a few hundred yards from an entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike. That's not right next to Fenway. You'd have to be an idiot to want to park in the lots *right* next to the park. From those lots you either have to leave the game in the 8th inning or expect to leave the lot 30 minutes after the game's over.

But, if you live outside Rt. 128 in Mass., the train is hardly unquestionably the best option.

The team made it a condition for staying in the Bronx.

So if not for those parking lots, Game Five today would be taking place in Charlotte.

I don't know why anyone would drive into a major city just to park next to a stadium*.

From a lot of the suburbs, it's much faster, even with traffic.

If you're coming from Long Island or NJ, you'd have to take the train into Penn St, and then subway up to the Bronx, and the trains don't run frequently at those times in those directions. Westchester just got Metro North access with the new Stadium, and even that's only on one of the three lines (Hudson).

Also, a round trip ticket on the train is going to cost you $20+, plus $4 for the subway. So, if even 2 people are going together, driving is break even cost wise.

It's funny y'know. Generally, if you're running a business and FOR FOUR YEARS your business is running under 50% capacity then, y'know, you might want to consider lowering prices.

wrong thread

It's a good thing no one involved in the decision to build so much parking had any financial interest in or considerations from any of the constuction companies that build them. Yup.

Walt: it's working the exact opposite of what you suggest.

"The garages are going belly up and [Bronx Parking's] only plan to remedy the problem is to increase parking rates," Diaz said. "But we have a real plan. We have developers and operators who have the funding and want to talk . . . and build."

Last September, Bronx Parking raised its gameday parking rates from $23 to $35 to cover a $6.9 million bond payment. With another payment looming April 1, the company is in trouble.

New York Daily News, March 24, 2011. Diaz is Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
The idea is they want to encourage hotels to be built there, that will use the parking. Of course, they are now negotiating from a horrible position.

Public transport to AT&T is pretty good, but unless you are on caltrain requires you to switch trains, the last 1.5 miles, and its almost as slow as walking when you factor in waiting for the train.

fortunately AT&T has free valet bike parking. Only way to travel.

Heh. The only way to go "public" transport to the Ballpark if you live in Arlington is to park at a shopping center a few miles away, spend ~$50 at ####ing Crate & Barrel, and ride a shuttle bus using your receipt as a ticket. #### that. I actually parked at the Ballpark (all of $15) for the play-in game this year, but for the World Series the past two years I've parked at my office and walked 2 1/2 miles. Pedicabs take some fans to remote lots, but most people pay whatever the going rate is at the park. Fortunately there are lots of spots.

I don't know why anyone would drive into a major city just to park next to a stadium*. Seems like such a stupid thing to do and yet I know people that do it and they don't seem like they are stupid on the surface.

I'm in NJ, about 10 miles from the GWB. These are my most convenient options:
1) Drive to the Stadium. If I leave early enough to avoid the traffic, I can get there in under half an hour, stop in one of the bars across the street, have a beer, wander into the Stadium early, and get settled in before the game starts.
2) Figure out the inconvenient bus schedule, take that into midtown and the subway up. That will take an hour if I'm lucky.
3) Take the train into Hoboken, the PATH across the river, and the subway up. Given time waiting around, this one probably takes an hour and a half, as would...
4) Drive half an hour down to Hoboken, then take the PATH and subway up.
I suppose there's also
5) Take the train to Penn Station (involving switching trains in Secaucus) then the subway up... also at least an hour depending on how much waiting for trains is involved, and what exactly the schedules are.

Amazingly, driving is just what works out to be the easiest and most relaxing way to get there.

From where I am on Long Island, it would be a two hour train ride in to Penn Station...then however long the subway takes to the stadium (i want to say 40 minutes but its been a while)...so generally at least 3 hours....and where I am on the Port Jeff line, trains are relatively infrequent during the day, and even worse at night. on top of that, round trip on the LIRR isn't exactly cheap either.

When I lived on the south shore that LIRR ride was only 45 minutes or so, so mass transit was a lot more practical.

The one game I went to this year I managed to pick a disaster of a traffic day and got to my seats in the ballpark around 8 PM after leaving my office at 4....suffice to say, the best place to watch a yankee game for me is either my office or my apartment.

I'm with you, though, I'd always take the two or three trains.

Because you decided to avoid the parking problem at the stadium by going somewhere else entirely?

Oh, two or three trains, not the 2 or 3 trains.

Public transport to AT&T is pretty good, but unless you are on caltrain requires you to switch trains, the last 1.5 miles, and its almost as slow as walking when you factor in waiting for the train.

25, 30-minute walk along the Embarcadero is pretty nice, actually, most days.

It's clear they need some parking, for suburban fans and the like, but clearly they built too much parking. Likely because the people making the decisions are used to getting around by car and they assumed everyone else does, too.

I always drive to Fenway. I usually pay $16 to park in the Prudential Center garage just over a half mile from the park. It's much more convenient than taking the train. It's only a few hundred yards from an entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike. That's not right next to Fenway. You'd have to be an idiot to want to park in the lots *right* next to the park. From those lots you either have to leave the game in the 8th inning or expect to leave the lot 30 minutes after the game's over.

The last time I went to Fenway was a month ago, on a Sunday. Street parking is free in Boston on Sunday.

Oh, two or three trains, not the 2 or 3 trains

:-D Yeah, I'd be like, the hell with this, let's go to the Brooklyn Museum.

It's clear they need some parking, for suburban fans and the like, but clearly they built too much parking. Likely because the people making the decisions are used to getting around by car and they assumed everyone else does, too.

I don't think they built too much parking, but it sounds like they built it with the assumption (which is obviously bizarre and insane) that "everyone who comes here will use our lots, and not park in cheaper lots father away, or on the street, or what have you."

Leaving aside the huge difference in travel time cited by others, there's also this: frequently, I'm bringing a small child.

As long as we're posting articles from Transportation Nation:

http://transportationnation.org/2012/10/10/nine-percent-of-all-d-c-bike-share-bikes-are-at-washington-nationals-stadium-for-the-playoff-game/

After today’s game ends, staffers will keep the docks full with those corralled bikes so fans can check out a bike as usual.

But, Lisle cautions, “after the game there is no guarantee you will have a bike share bike to go home, but we are not removing any of the bikes.”

So: Nats fans who chose bike to cheer on their team may want to consider checking out in the top of the ninth to ensure a two-wheeled ride home.

The bike corral will be in place at all Nationals home games during the playoffs.

They should flog it to Frank McCourt, he loves parking and needs somewhere to put all his new cash.

"Nats fans who chose bike to cheer on their team may want to consider checking out in the top of the ninth"

better advice has never been given

I don't know why anyone would drive into a major city just to park next to a stadium*. Seems like such a stupid thing to do and yet I know people that do it and they don't seem like they are stupid on the surface.

As opposed to what? Parking far away from the stadium? Or as opposed to mass transit? First, when you actually have multiple people in your car, there's not much price differential. Second, at the end of the game, it's nice to be able to get in one's car instead of having to hop on mass transit crowded like sardines and change trains a bunch of times to get home. Especially with kids. And when you live in NJ like I do, when the game goes as late as Game 4 did, you can't take mass transit home.