Public Transit Serves Fans as Baseball, Soccer Seasons Begin

While the smell of spring is not quite in the air for many cities, the smell of optimism reigns as the Major League Baseball season kicked off over the weekend, and once again, public transit will be there all season to safely and efficiently transport fans to and from games.

In Cincinnati, Metro partnered with the Reds to offer fare-free service to their home opener, as well as to weekend home games throughout April and May with a valid gameday ticket.

Now operating 24 hours on seven routes as well as extended hours and more frequent weekend pick-ups on numerous others, the Reinventing Metro plan has provided connections to more jobs, more educational opportunities, and more shopping and entertainment in more corners of Hamilton County than any time in Metro’s 50-year history, not to mention the Reds’ Great American Ball Park.

"There's no holiday in Cincinnati quite like Reds Opening Day,” said Brandy Jones, sr. VP, external affairs at Metro. “It's been since before the pandemic began that the region has been able to truly celebrate this occasion as only Reds fans know how, with beautiful weather and a lively parade. We're proud to say our customers seized the opportunity to go Metro to the ballpark (or elsewhere) with nearly 43,000 trips taken on Opening Day."

Meanwhile, in California, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (L.A. Metro) is focusing on the continuation of its Dodger Stadium Express bus service to transport fans.

The service is still operating like previous years, running from Union Station in downtown L.A. and the Harbor Gateway Transit Center every 20 minutes, and free for all riders who have tickets to the game.

Ridership for the L.A. service has historically been strong, with the agency serving 150,000 fans during the 2019 season.

Other popular services continue from Minneapolis, where Metro Transit has provided service to Target Field since it opened in 2013, to New York, where the MTA provides subway services to both Yankees and Mets games.

Not Just Baseball

Public transit isn’t only providing transportation to baseball fans this spring, though. Soccer season also kicked off in March, with agencies providing services to both men’s and women’s professional soccer games.

In Phoenix, Valley Metro Rail is providing Phoenix Rising FC fans with free transportation to games using only their gameday tickets.

The partnership features branding initiatives, including dedicated signage at the 38th St/ Washington station, located a few hundred feet from Rising’s stadium.

The opportunity to develop the partnership with Rising became natural due to the proximity of their new stadium to the 38th St/Washington light rail station, Hillary Foose, director, communications and strategic initiatives, at Valley Metro told METRO earlier this month.

“Valley Metro Rail has had a successful ticket partnership, called RailRide, with the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix since 2009,” Foose said. “Footprint Center, which is located next to a light rail station, is a multi-purpose arena home to the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury, and many other sporting events and concerts. The RailRide partnership has served as a model for other sports and transit partnerships around the country.”

Foose added that this partnership model can be applied to professional teams located in an arena or stadium in close proximity to the transit system.

Transit also helped sports fans get to special events over the weekend, including in San Diego, where MTS provided Trolley service to Snapdragon Stadium for tens of thousands of WAVE FC soccer fans, as well as to the Mexican La Liga division match-up between the Xolos de Tijuana and Club America.

The agency was expecting more than 20,000 fans to each event, and to help alleviate traffic in the city, increased Trolley service to 15-minute frequencies, especially on its Green Line, which provides direct service to Snapdragon Stadium.