Getting to Marlins Park: The Transportation Thread

[marlins02]

When I go to games, I will not park in the garages. I can't imagine there being too many options that will get people out of the area slower than the garages.

yeah thats what i was thinking when i was offered the option

[Namaste]

When I go to games, I will not park in the garages. I can't imagine there being too many options that will get people out of the area slower than the garages.

If you're on the 3rd or 4th floor, yes.

But 1st and 2nd floor, no.

Beef, no way you go to more than 2 games this year so don't sweat it.

[Party]

Took us 1 hour getting to the stadium via MetroRail. 1.25 hours getting back. Yeah, we're driving.

[Namaste]

Yeah that is just ridiculous.

Like I've said before, I live about 5 miles from the Palm Beach County line and I got to the ballpark in 33 min on Saturday and 45 min today (I left at 5PM).

[marlins02]

That's crazy, thought it would be better today since it was a week night around rush hour.

[Bobbob1313]

The trolleys were fine. No complaints about them tonight. But I might have had complaints if the crowd was bigger.

[Party]

Posted on Thu, Mar. 08, 2012
Early verdict on Marlins stadium parking: It ‘really stinks’

BY ADAM H. BEASLEY AND CHARLES RABIN
abeasley@miamiherald.com


C.W. Griffin / Miami Herald Staff
The Miami Marlins ballpark as it looked during a media tour on Feb. 29, 2012.
Congratulations, Marlins fans, you have a beautiful ballpark. Good luck getting there — and finding a place to park your car.
For fans driving to the ballpark Wednesday night, a wreck on the Dolphin Expressway was only half the headache. For the first time since the complex was unveiled last weekend, fans came to grips with the reality of a 37,000-seat venue with fewer than 6,000 on-site parking spots.

The result: an hour-long scavenger hunt to find remote lots, and the hassle of snagging a seat on one of the city’s brand-new trolleys.

Marlins partisans spent Thursday kvetching about the situation on local talk radio and Twitter. A major gripe is that the four on-property garages are set aside for advanced-paying VIPs, team employees and news media. Anyone else is on their own.

Said Danny Pou of Miami: “The parking situation really stinks.”

When asked if he had trouble finding a spot Wednesday, Mike Ohanyere tweeted: “I definitely did. It took an hour and a half for me to find parking. I didn’t have prepaid parking.”

Marlins fan Lesther Hernandez shelled out in advanced for a garage spot, but sympathized with those who didn’t. “The problem with the stadium will be the traffic,” he said. “The area is very complicated.”

Built on the grounds of the razed Orange Bowl, Marlins Park provides a far different setup than the spacious surroundings of Sun Life Stadium, where game goers could usually pull up five minutes before the National Anthem and slide into a vacant spot.

Now, fans will have to be canny and resourceful — willing to park as far away as the county courthouse or negotiate a spot on somebody’s front lawn.

Wednesday’s dry run had plenty of issues, and that was just to accommodate the 15,000 or so people allowed into the Marlins’ exhibition game against FIU. For a regular game, there will be more than twice that total — at least the Marlins hope.

“It’s going to be terrible,” said Marlins fan Orlando Aloma, who missed the first half-inning of Wednesday’s game despite pulling up to the stadium more than a half-hour before its scheduled start. “I think people will have serious problems, unless they buy pre-paid parking.”

Albert Sosa, who oversaw the trolley implementation, said he hadn’t heard any complaints about the FIU game, and was beaming that 1,025 riders used the trolley Wednesday to get to the ballpark.

But Art Noriega, who directs the Miami Parking Authority that oversees the parking garages, admitted there were some kinks, and said it will likely take the first few series of the year to work them out.

He said the main problem Wednesday, other than the wreck on the Dolphin, was the that the public wasn’t aware of the new parking restrictions. In games held at Marlins Park Monday and Tuesday, anyone could park in the garage and there was little delay.

Noriega said the MPA is working on how to alert the public about the parking situation through massive email alerts or public service announcements.

The parking authority plans to spend the first few weeks of the season monitoring how many of the restricted parking spots go unused. If it’s a substantial number, the city will open them up to single-day-ticket customers.

“It’s part of the learning curve,” Noriega said.

Until then, be prepared to see market forces in action as you draw near the ballpark, and ask yourself: Do I want to park on this lawn for $10 or one a block closer for $15? Anyone who attended Dolphin or Hurricane games at the Orange Bowl will know the drill.

Meanwhile, the Marlins, who declined comment for this story, have established an email account to field fan reaction about the new stadium: ballparkfeedback@marlins.com.

The team’s website provides maps explaining how to get to and from the city-owned garages and surface lots located within a block of the stadium. The website offers no guidance for those not fortunate enough to have a spot in the garage.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/0...#storylink=cpy

They need to make the courthouse/UM Medical Center parking across the river available. The trolley stops right there and it takes 5 minutes to get there.

[Jorge18]

Is anyone else really tired about hearing about the parking? Wasn't this known from the get go?

[Beef]

Are people not parking on people's lawns?

[Party]

Claude Derlome on the ST telecast said they will be announcing changes and additions to the transit and parking situation.

[Jorge18]

On Wednesday for the FIU game the garages were sold out. I drove around for like 5 minutes and found parking perfectly fine. My parents paid $10 bucks and parked on someones lawn.

I feel like people are just complaining to complain.

[Beef]

I feel like people who are driving around for 90 minutes instead of parking on someone's lawn have never been to the area for a game and don't understand how things work.

[Jorge18]

That could possibly be it, but the Miami herald really ripped them for it. They should be a little bit more knowledgeable about the situation.

[Party]

A lot of the complaining is because people haven't adjusted. It's not as easy as pulling up to parking lot that holds 20,000 cars and is a fifth full, getting out and walking up to the stadium.

Eventually I think this under capacity of parking will make the area interesting for entrepreneurs.
--------------------

That could possibly be it, but the Miami herald really ripped them for it. They should be a little bit more knowledgeable about the situation.

This is The Miami Herlad we're talking about. They are only a few notches above the Miami New Times.

[Namaste]

The article says "good luck getting there".

Come.The.Fuck.On

45 minutes from north Broward and I left at 5:00 PM.