now, if they are not routinely hitting the stadium’s capacity, they might be motivated to spend some money to make it easier for more people to get to the stadium. But I’m sure that, from their point of view, they can have a bigger impact on their attendance and hence their bottom line by putting effort into keeping star players like Manny Ramirez than by funding the Dodger Trolley.

Still, they SHOULD be chipping in for the service out of civic decency. But you can’t expect a private for-profit company to do things just because they are The Right Thing To Do.

I don’t know if it drove ridership or not. I’m surprised there aren’t more efforts to get people to take transit to Angels games since the station is right there.

RE: Wad’s comment of Angels games… yes it’s a shame. The Ducks (next door at Honda Center) just started a cross promotion with Metrolink/Amtrak, after 15 years, for discounted game tickets, but no discounted train tickets. Hopefully we’ll see some late night Metrolink service (supposed to be until 11pm) once the Measure M money from the scrapped Centerline kicks in. But it’s too bad it will only run within county limits… though I have to say that Metrolink OC Weekend service has really low ridership based on my past experience. They could run a one car train that still wouldn’t be full.

One thing I’d like to see is train service directly after games, that Caltrain runs after HP Pavilion events, or Coaster after Padres games.

If they provide some sort of bus-only lane, then yes I’d imagine this service could improve, but I don’t see that happening: The streets leading up to the stadium are narrow and residential. It would be a tight squeeze to section off a whole lane just for buses, and I’d imagine it would be hard to enforce.

Maybe next time I’ll try the regular MTA service and hike the rest of the way. . . what line is it?

Theoretically, one can go with a Surfliner to an Angels or Padres game, but trains service ends too early to be used for night games.

The Dodger Shuttle primarily benefits the Dodgers, because it makes it easier for more people to come to a game and spend money on tickets, food, souvenirs, etc.

Public transit primarily benefits society as a whole, because it does not have a profit motivation.

I will paraphrase what I said at the City Council Transportation Committee meeting last year about this: If Frank McCourt wants LADOT to transport people to his ball park so they can give him their money, let him take some of the money he makes on the deal and fund the shuttle himself.

Open your checkbook, Frank.

Considering the support the McCourts receive from city leaders and their loyal fan-base, they should be ashamed for not supporting a busline to their boring games. If Manny leaves…I’m on the first but outta here.

Just wait until the Dodgers want public monies to replace their now-second-oldest-ballpark in the National League!

And maybe during the season give buses some sort of advantage so they don’t have to sit in the same traffic.

Full Disclosure: I’ve only ever been to one dodger game in my life, and I was excited about using the Dodger Trolley. But the fact is that the traffic getting to the game was so horrible that it took a full hour to go the two miles from Union Station to the stadium. To avoid that, I would have had to arrive at the station and get to the stadium over an hour earlier. And as I was leaving the stadium, I saw a line that must have been an eighth of a mile long queued up to get on one of the only 4 buses ready to take people through the traffic back to union station.

I always support public transit. . . but the access to Dodger stadium is simply abysmal and there were far too few buses detailed to this service. If there is barely enough funding to support this low level of service, I say let it die.