[M II A II R II K]

A win-win scenario for Farmers Field


April 23, 2012

By Donald Shoup

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...0,449413.story

If it is built, the proposed 72,000-seat Farmers Field stadium in downtown Los Angeles will bring many benefits but also major traffic congestion. Despite an optimistic estimate that 20% of patrons will ride public transit on a weekday, and 15% on weekends, the project's environmental impact report says almost 20,000 cars will also arrive for events there.

- Other stadiums have greatly increased transit ridership by contracting with public transit operators so that all ticket holders can ride trains and buses free on game day. The 72,000-seat Husky Stadium in Seattle, for example, contracts with Seattle Metro to allow game tickets to serve as transit passes on game days. The share of ticket holders arriving by public transit jumped from 4% the year before the program began in 1987 to 20% in 2008, according to the University of Washington.

- In Los Angeles, bundling transit rides with game tickets means treating each ticket as a Metro day pass. Metro charges $5 for a day pass, but AEG would pay Metro this $5 only if a ticket holder rides transit on a game day. If 20% of ticket holders ride Metro to Farmers Field, AEG's cost for offering free transit to everyone would therefore average only $1 a ticket. Fare-free or subsidized public transit is already common for specific groups in Los Angeles, and it works well. Cal State Long Beach and Santa Monica College, for example, offer fare-free transit for all students, and the ridership increases have been dramatic.

- AEG has stated that it intends to make Farmers Field a transit-oriented development that will increase transit use and decrease auto use. Nevertheless, AEG still plans to build two parking garages to accommodate the 20,000 cars that the stadium is expected to draw. Because peak travel demand at a stadium occurs infrequently, adding public transit service on game days would be much cheaper than building enough parking spaces to satisfy all these occasional drivers. By offering free transit to all ticket holders, AEG can reduce traffic congestion and the cost of building garages.

- If AEG builds fewer parking spaces, it can use what it saves on construction to pay for the free transit passes that will reduce parking demand. Furthermore, bundling transit passes into ticket prices will also provide a reliable new revenue stream for public transportation. Metro will have the money to increase transit service to Farmers Field because AEG will pay for the added event ridership. Including free transit in ticket prices offers obvious benefits to everyone who rides a bus or train to Farmers Field. Reduced traffic congestion and competition for parking spaces will also benefit those who drive to the stadium. And because many spectators drink at games, including transit passes in the ticket prices might even reduce drunk driving on the way home.

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