Getting to Marlins Park: The Transportation Thread

[jOOj]

I don't want to be part of this feud.

[Beef]

If you're gonna be Switzerland, I'm not picking you up.

[jOOj]

Nobody ever used Switzerland for their evil games.

[Party]

Sandro to answer your question, these trolleys are not Marlins-specific. The shuttles intended for the Marlins are still in limbo. County and team are negotiating.

[Party]

Misc routes, like the Doral Trolley.

[Party]

Transit plans stalled to ease traffic flow to new Miami Marlins ballpark

The status of two key transit options to help fans get to the Miami Marlins’ Little Havana ballpark is still uncertain

By CHARLES RABIN AND ANDRES VIGLUCCI

crabin@MiamiHerald.com


Hoping to attend games at the new Miami Marlins stadium in Little Havana, but would rather not drive to avoid traffic logjams? Good luck — your options could be slim.

Just three months before the $634 million, publicly funded stadium’s April 4 opening, city and Miami-Dade County officials have secured none of several promised transit improvements.

Those range from new city trolleys to Metrobus shuttles from nearby Metrorail stations, as well as designated pedestrian and bicycle routes to the ballpark.

After more than a year of meetings between city and county officials and a transportation planner working for the Marlins, the transit blueprint remains little more than a wish list, hampered by lack of funding and the Marlins’ apparent unwillingness to help pay for improvements.

There is one bright spot: The city commission last week approved a $20 million rubber-tire trolley system that will serve the ballpark, although it will have no direct routes from downtown, where many fans are expected to come from.

But implementation of the city’s trolley plan is being held up by the county commission’s transportation committee. Its chairman, Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, opposes the free trolley system because he believes it would “steal’’ passengers from the downtown People Mover system.

A $234,500 federal grant that would pay for Metrobus shuttles from the Culmer Metrorail station, meanwhile, has been delayed by procedural glitches. And city and county planners say there are no planned improvements for pedestrians or cyclists linked to the stadium, even though the new parking garages have racks for 250 bikes.

The transit element is critical, and not only for those wishing to avoid driving and parking.

A study commissioned by the Marlins that concluded surrounding roadways and available parking were adequate to serve the 37,000-seat stadium without producing serious traffic bottlenecks was premised on a significant percentage of fans — 10 percent — arriving on foot, by transit or by bike, minutes of the transportation-planning meetings show.

That assumes, as the Marlins do, that the stadium will sell out for most games.

Moreover, with the 5,700 spaces in the four new city-built parking garages at the ballpark reserved for season-ticket holders, that means casual fans driving to games will have to find parking in the surrounding streets or — as they did in the days of the Orange Bowl, which the Marlins stadium replaced — in residents’ yards and driveways.

Marlins executive Claude Delorme did not return several messages requesting comment.

Some transportation officials are sanguine, noting that the Orange Bowl held 80,000 seats, more than double the Marlins stadium capacity, without major traffic issues.

Charles Scurr, executive director of the Citizens Independent Transportation Trust, which oversees spending of transportation sales tax revenue, said baseball fans usually stagger in to games over several innings, diluting traffic impact.

“Given the nature of baseball as a sport, I don’t think there will be major transportation issues,” he said.

To be sure, there are also several regular Metrobus routes with stops within easy walking distance of the ballpark, including routes coming directly from downtown on Flagler Street.

Right now there are six routes within walking distance to the ballpark,” said Miami-Dade transit spokeswoman Karla Damian, rattling off bus routes that run through Little Havana. “And we’ll be monitoring to see if we need to increase the numbers. If more services are needed, we’ll adjust.”

Transit experts say getting people to use public transportation requires easy, frequent and direct service to destinations, clearly what city and county planners were hoping for in this case.

Other newer ballparks around the country depend heavily on fans arriving by transit — a key element in weaving stadiums into broader plans to revive urban neighborhoods, one of the public officials’ main justifications for investing public money in the Marlins’ new home.

For instance, AT&T Park, the San Francisco Giants stadium that has helped revitalize a swath of the city since it opened 11 years ago, is amply served by mass transit, including commuter rail and streetcars. There’s even transportation from Marin and Sonoma counties and Napa and Solano valleys, to the north – ferry service.

In Miami, by contrast, planners briefly considered a Miami River taxi, but the idea didn’t gain traction, transportation planning meeting minutes show. The same happened with ideas for marked pedestrian routes, dedicated bicycle lanes and directional signs for people on foot and bikes. One participant in the meetings said the Marlins made it clear they would not contribute financially toward the options.

One problem facing planners: the two nearest Metrorail stations, Culmer and Civic Center, by Jackson Memorial Hospital, are each about a mile from the ballpark, farther than most people are willing to walk.

The meetings produced two main options for expanded transit service during ball games: the long-planned city trolley, and a Metrobus shuttle from the Culmer station, similar to the service once offered during Orange Bowl football games.

But even if they are ultimately implemented, their usefulness to fans may be limited.

The trolleys will run through the Brickell, Overtown and downtown areas, but riders going to a game will have to transfer to another trolley at the Civic Center Metrorail Station to get to the ballpark. And the small trolleys would at best get a few hundred fans to the game, said Albert Sosa, the city’s director of capital improvements.

The Metrobus shuttle, meanwhile, was meant mostly to carry some 2,000 ballpark workers like food vendors and ushers to and from the stadium under the terms of the federal grant that would pay for it, said county transit’s Damian. And although anyone can ride the bus, most seats would be filled if all the workers show up.

Still, it’s unclear when both might be ready to go.

The city trolley plan, expected to sail through the county transportation committee last week, was held up by a procedural move. The agreement the city commission signed off on Thursday with a trolley service provider included a last-minute amendment saying the plan is contingent on county approval.

“I’ve been against [the city] spending their money downtown when we have the People Mover,’’ said Barreiro, who chairs the county’s transportation committee. Barreiro, however, said he was unaware the plan included a stadium route.

Deputy City Manager Alice Bravo, meanwhile, said she was unaware the committee had blocked the trolley plan.

“I guess I have to brief [Barreiro], too,” an exasperated Bravo said.

The county’s transportation committee is scheduled to meet again Feb. 13.

The Federal Transit Administration grant for the shuttle has been held up, too, in part because of a lack of a quorum in December at the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which had to approve the county application. That was finally done and the request forwarded on Jan. 5, but the federal government can take months to respond, transit’s Damian said.

That means fans attending the 7 p.m. weeknight games early in the season, at least, could have little choice other than to join the more than 10,000 additional vehicles expected to be traveling to the ballpark on surrounding roadways that are already often congested at rush hour, including State Road 836 and surface corridors like Northwest Seventh Street and Northwest 12th Avenue.

Public officials say they expect the trolley and Metrobus shuttles to be up and running shortly after Opening Day at worst.

“We feel the trolley and Miami-Dade Transit can alleviate traffic, and there is lots of capacity on the roadways,” said the city’s Sosa. “I don’t want to represent that there won’t be any traffic, but we feel we can accommodate it.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/1...d-to-ease.html

[CrimsonCane]

I foresee this being a disaster. (the garages cant hold nearly enough cars if mass transit is underutilized). No one to blame but the organization though. I don't know how you can go in to a brand new stadium while still having your transit plan undetermined a few months before Opening Day.

The sad thing is that this would be resolved for about as much as a major league minimum salary.

[Party]

The garages won't hold enough cars if their mass transit projections came to fruition. The rule for parking spots and stadia is 4 passengers per car. Where it could hurt is satellite lots like the Courthouse across the river and downtown north of Government Center.


I think this will be resolved before Opening Day. Marlins are just being difficult so this doesn't become an annual cost.

[fauowls44]

I don't see what the issue is. The OB held more then double the seating capacity and had far less on-site parking. Some how people always found enough parking.

[Party]

5 cars on your lawn @ $10 = $50 a night x 81 = $4,050



Those residents across the street are going to bank!

This is what I was talking about.



Green = Parking Lots
Red= MetroRail
Blues = Potential shuttle routes

I wouldn't be surprised if the endgame for this is shuttle service from Civic Center to the ballpark. Tons of additional parking + MetroRail stop. No Government Center or Culmer.

I see Civic Center to Ballpark as a safer walk if you decided to go that route. Area around Culmer is scary.

http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/govac...012/120034.pdf

Page 25 outlines the Health + Stadium District trolley. 10-15 minute headways based on demand, service Monday-Saturday 6:30 AM to 11:30 AM.

[CrimsonCane]

http://www.miamigov.com/trolley/index.html

The City of Miami will inaugurate its new Trolley service for the Health and Stadium District on March 1, 2012. The service will run approximately every 15 minutes from 6:30 am to 11 pm, Monday through Saturday. The Health District Trolley route will travel around the district between NW 7th Avenue and NW 14th Avenue and NW 14th Street and NW 20th Street.

In late spring the City of Miami will expand the service to include an additional loop along Brickell Drive and Biscayne Boulevard serving the downtown area and an additional loop connecting the Health District and Overtown.

[marlins02]

guess ill be trying it out this saturday

[Bobbob1313]

Wednesday, I'll be trying this out from the Metromover. I'll report how it goes.

[Party]

You gon get raped.

[Namaste]

You gon get raped.

Man, I would not want to be a passenger on that trolley. THE horror.