For the sixth year, baseball fans will have the option of taking a shuttle bus from Union Station to games at Dodger Stadium, beginning with the April 4 exhibition game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Meanwhile, fans in the South Bay will be able to catch a shuttle this season from the Harbor Gateway Transit Center. The shuttle was offered during the playoffs last season, with about 6,000 people taking advantage of the service, according to Rick Jager of Metro. This will be the first time the service is offered during the regular season.
Shuttles from the Harbor Gateway center will take advantage of the Metro ExpressLanes along the Harbor (110) Freeway to reach Dodger Stadium, according to Metro.
The Dodger Stadium Express bus is free for people with game-day tickets. It will start running from Union Station 90 minutes before the first pitch and continue for 45 minutes after games, according to Metro. Buses will run roughly every 10 minutes.
The Harbor Gateway service will begin starting two hours before game time, and also end 45 minutes after the game. Those shuttles will run about every 15 minutes.
More than 216,000 fans took the Dodger Stadium Express from Union Station last year, topping 2013’s record ridership of 186,000, according to Metro.
The fares of ticket-holding fans are covered under a grant from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee. Funding for the Harbor Gateway service is provided by Metro’s ExpressLanes Net Toll Reinvestment Grant Program.
The pickup spot for the Union Station shuttle will move this year to the front of the station, near the taxi zone adjacent to Alameda Street. It will have two drop-off points — one behind left/center field and the other at the Top Deck.
The Harbor Gateway shuttle will drop passengers behind right field.
The MRSC grant will also fund Metrolink service for four Dodgers/Angels games, on April 4, July 31 and Aug. 1 and 2.
— City News Service