During the offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers promised improved bicycle access and parking at Dodger Stadium as part of the stadium renovations With CICLE and the Eastside Bike Club promoting their annual Dodgertown Bike Ride this Saturday, now seems to be as good a day as any to check in.
In 2008, Streetsblog completed a series on biking to Dodger Stadium that ended with sad results. Despite our pleas, the situation didn't improve while the parking lot capitalist owned the team. With new leadership, would we see new results?
The answer is a profound "not yet."
Streetsblog reader Tenney Hood tested the improved bicycle parking and found it lacking:
Although the bicycle parking map provided on the Dodgers official website shows bicycle parking at all of the Stadium entrances, these parking racks do not actually exist. I have asked many security guards at multiple games; the only rack any are aware of is on the Top Deck, which on the map is the bicycle rack in Parking Lot P. This in it of itself is a problem--I have to carry my bicycle up to the Top Deck, lock it, then walk back down to my own level to the enter the field. At the end of the game, I have to return to the Top Deck, against the traffic of thousands of people. Additionally, Stadium staff will not let you access the stairs or the elevator closest to the Top Deck, making this even more difficult.
Yikes, so there's quite a bit of room between the Dodgers and their rivals in the bay who have a functioning bike valet system.
As we found in 2008, staff and parking attendants seem completely confused as to where the parking actually is, and the Dodgers tend to move it around.
During the last home set (I attended the April 15 game), bicycle parking was at least inside the Top Deck gate, where it was secure. However, as of the current home set parking has now been relocated to a remote, dark, unsecured corner of the Top Deck parking lot, Lot P. I was unable to locate the rack even after a security guard told me where it had moved. A second guard had no idea where it was. Finally, I located it. I can hardly believe where it now is because the location is so remote as to invite bike theft. Of course, this means that the location of the rack in Lot P shown on the bicycle parking map is now incorrect as well.
...during the Stadium renovations the construction crews took out the formerly placed bicycle racks, but didn't adequately communicate this to the Stadium staff. He confirmed with me that there are currently racks in lots G (on both the right and left), D, P, and L, although no Stadium staff I have spoken to have ever been aware of the racks other than those in Lot P. By May 10, additional bicycle parking should be added in lots B, N, and P. He told me staff questioned why an incorrect map was published on the website and that they have even removed it; however, as of writing this email, the incorrect map is still currently available on the website......He told me that the current rack in Lot P, the Top Deck, was moved due to something about how they allow motorized vehicles, such as motorized wheelchairs into the Stadium, and that following my concerns, they reviewed the new location of the bicycle rack in Lot P and believe it to be secure enough, commenting that they have security guards on foot and in cars in all the lots. I told Brett that I had spoken with the security staff member closest to the bicycle racks, and that she had been unable to help me locate them and unaware that they were there. He told me he would send an email following up on this for me.
