Cardinals game: Carpool incentive for Dodger Stadium debuts Monday
In an effort to reduce the traffic headaches of thousands of fans trying to pack into Dodger Stadium on Monday, officials plan to open bus lanes to carpools of four or more people.
The carpools will also get free parking as the Dodgers take on the St. Louis Cardinals shortly after 5 p.m.
The Dodgers announced their new policy after recognizing how difficult, if not impossible, it was to accommodate all the cars for the sellout crowd for Game 4 of their National League division series against the Atlanta Braves. More than 20,000 cars parked that night and hundreds of drivers without parking passes were turned away.
Under the new carpool incentive, in the most congested stretch of Sunset Boulevard, bus lanes will be open to cars with at least four people. The lanes, between Figueroa Street and Elysian Park Avenue, will allow cars from three hours before the first pitch until 8 p.m.
“It’s a very unique situation,” said Jonathan Hui, a Transportation Department spokesman. “There’s not many high-volume places where there’s a bus lane to use ... and the Dodgers don’t make the playoffs that often.”
The Los Angeles Police Department will be ticketing any cars with fewer than four occupants that are using the bus lane, Hui said.
For those who want to avoid parking in the lot entirely, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be running shuttles from Union Station. The service is free for anyone with a same-day Dodgers ticket.
Buses leave every 5 to 10 minutes from Bay 3 of Union Station’s Patsaouras Transit Plaza, starting three hours before the game and ending after the third inning. The buses drop fans off inside Dodger Stadium, behind center field. Service ends 45 minutes after the last inning.
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Twitter: @laura_nelson
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