Reduced Metro Fare for New Stadium Considered
Via this morning's Examiner, the city is focusing on strategies to reduce the traffic impact of the new baseball stadium when it opens next April. One of the considered options is a reduced "ballpark fare" to try and entice more people to take transit. While reducing the amount of cars and congestion on game days is a certainly a crucial goal, the reduced fare doesn't necessarily seem like it would make much of a difference.
The concern is that the stadium's location, which is less accessible by vehicle (compared to RFK) and larger crowds (thanks to the draw of the new facility) will cause crippling congestion. The city anticipates that an average 27,000+ crowd at the new stadium will get to the stadium mostly via transit (almost 50%). Another 40%, though, is expected to drive, which translates to almost 11,000 fans needing to navigate neighborhood streets and find parking more than 80 times a year. Would reducing the Metro fare get more people out of their cars and onto transit? We're not so sure.
First of all, the benefit of saving $1 or so on Metro fare would hardly seem to register with someone who's paying nearly $50 for a ticket, a dog and a couple of drinks. In fact, reducing the fare might even have the opposite effect, making Metro seem like the inferior option, where customers need to be guilt tripped into riding (a strategy that has failed transit systems for decades). The better focus for the city's efforts would be to more fully promote the variety of transit options the new stadium will offer, as well as spreading the arrivals and departures out in time.
At RFK, we herd like lemmings for the Stadium/Armory stop as soon as the final out is recorded -- the city should discourage the same practice at Navy Yard, the closest station to Nationals Field. Capitol South and L'Enfant Plaza present walkable options to get directly onto a Yellow, Orange or Blue line from the game, so we should make sure the easiest routes to those stations are clear, safe, and well lit. Bus options for taking people to Southwest, to Capitol Hill, and downtown should be clear and obvious for those who don't normally use that option, but who would if it got them home 20 minutes faster. It's also great to see the city investigating water taxis to Alexandria, Rosslyn and Georgetown; though they won't move tons of people, many will take that option just for the novelty.
An even more effective strategy for avoiding gridlock, however, is developing the ballpark district itself. The City should ensure that the team will open the stadium early for batting practice to entice fans to get there early. More importantly, the sooner that neighborhood bars, restaurants and other options are created in the area, the more fans will spread out their arrival and departure times and reduce peak demand. Unfortunately, while the stadium construction is currently on time, the rest of the neighborhood lags sorely behind. This problem will be most apparent early next year, when crowds will be 40,000+ for most games and there won't be anything open near the stadium, so everyone will show up and leave at the same time.