California is the home to more major league baseball teams than any other state. In honor of Opening Day (or Second Opening Day for those of you from Los Angeles), I thought I’d take a look at bike and transit access for the Golden State’s five teams.
All team links go to their transit pages.
Transit accessibility:
Giants, Padres – The Giants and Padres are in a first place tie here. Both teams have bus and rail stops within easy walking distance of the stadium and are located in an easily accessible downtown area. Both also have easy-to-follow directions for fans taking transit to the game that live both near the stadium or are several counties away.
Streetsblog SF editor Roger Rudick made the case during our editing cycle that San Francisco deserves the top spot because Oracle Field is not only one block from the newly electrified Caltrain depot, but also has a ferry depot next to the stadium.
But Petco Park in San Diego is also well served by rail, everything from trolleys to Amtrak, and has ferry service from Coronado Island.
Angels – The Angels are a distant third here. The stadium is located well outside of the urban parts of Anaheim and is much more accessible for drivers than transit users. It gets the nod over the Dodgers because of the ARTIC rail hub located across the street, with Amtrak and Metrolink service.
Dodgers – True story, the Dodgers are the only major league baseball team named after a form of transit, sort of. The former Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. From the nearest rail stations it’s a ½ mile or ¾ mile (uphill) walk to the stadium. Maybe one day fans will be able to take a gondola (although that’s both far from a done deal and faces opposition from the community that lives near the stadium).
In addition to the Metro bus lines that serve stops near-ish the stadium, the Dodgers do have the Dodgers Express bus service that stops adjacent to the stadium from Union Station and the South Bay.
A’s – The Oakland A’s had their own BART stop. The Athletics that play in West Sacramento have a pair of Yolo bus stops and a rail stop in another city (they advertise a rail stop in Sacramento). While there’s plenty of criticism that can be leveled at A’s ownership as the team continues its plan to flee the state, but the lack of transit serving the minor league ballpark they are playing in this season isn’t really their fault.
Also as a hilarious side note, when I typed “take transit to A’s game” into Google, before the actual transportation page, I got AI driving directions from Culver City, near where I live in LA County, to Oakland and then some BART options. I guess Google AI isn’t up to date on the A’s lodging.
Bike accessibility:
Giants – For years, the Giants had the “biggest baddest bike parking” in the country, but other teams have caught up a little in the last decade. Nevertheless, the Bay Area’s remaining team not only still has first rate guarded parking and hundreds of other racks around the stadium, it also has a network of bike lanes (protected and otherwise) that feed into the stadium that they proudly display on their own website.
Padres – Located in downtown San Diego, the park is accessible. However, biking to the stadium isn’t presented as a desired choice by the team, but rather is lumped in with other forms of “alternative transportation.” The stadium map is useful and the team spells out where there are bike racks near the stadium.
A’s – While there may have been a plan for the Oakland Athletics last year, the nomad A’s don’t mention bicycles on their West Sacramento page. West Sacramento has a decent “bike score” of 77 and the area around the stadium is reasonably flat so it probably isn’t too rough of a bike ride. Should I try it myself when I head to Sacramento? Yes, I should.
But, they do advertise a bike valet on their webpage and the stadium doesn’t have a steep uphill to get to a gigantic parking lot. That puts them ahead of the Dodgers.
Dodgers – One of my first stories that went viral for Streetsblog Los Angeles chronicled my first bike ride to Dodger Stadium in 2008. It was not a great bike ride and to be honest, I would rather take the trip from the Westside on foot (and I have!) than on a bike.
The stadium just isn’t built for bicycling. It’s a steep ½ mile mixed with car traffic ride to get to the parking lot which is patrolled like the wild west (i.e. not patrolled). To add insult to injury, the Dodgers webpage urges bike riders to “Take the bike lanes!” I have no idea what bike lanes they are talking about. It seems the bike parking has much improved since 2008 with bike parking “stations” located throughout the parking lot.
Angels – I am sure it’s possible to bike to Angels Stadium in Anaheim, but I can’t figure out how to, based on their website. Even going to the team’s F.A.Q., there is no mention of bicycles or bike parking.
