After a soccer game last week in Santa Clara, California, people complained about lengthy waits to get a light-rail train home. The game attracted more than 48,000 fans, but only about 8,300 of them were able to take the light rail to and from the stadium–and it took 90 minutes to move that number away from the event.
“Mass Transportation,” a painting by Grif Teller used on the 1955 Pennsylvania Railroad calendar.
The sad thing is that transit agencies such as the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) have propagandized the wonders of light rail, calling it “high-capacity transit,” so that people actually believe it can do things like fill and empty a stadium with 68,000 seats. The reality is that light rail cannot come close to doing this, at least not without taking many hours. VTA should give up and rely on buses instead.
The above painting shows a rare case when rail transportation could move large numbers of people to and from a football stadium. From 1934 through the 1980s, the annual Army-Navy football game took place in Philadelphia’s 101,000-seat Municipal Stadium. For most of those years, the Pennsylvania Railroad carried up to 30,000 people to the game from New York, Washington, and various cities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
This was only possible due to an unusual set of circumstances. First, the Pennsylvania at the time carried one-fifth of all railroad passengers in the country, so it could spare 400 passenger cars for this event. Second, the stadium happened to be next to a major rail freight yard, so the tracks were available to park the trains. A dozen trains are visible in the painting, but the railroad used as many as thirty.
Finally, where VTA “officials admitted their planning had not been up to snuff,” the Pennsy began meticulously planning its part in the Army-Navy game three months in advance of each year’s event. This meant marshaling the cars in the right stations before the game, clearing out the freight yard to make room for the passenger cars, and installing special signaling to handle the extra traffic. Although Municipal Stadium was used for many games, apparently only the Army-Navy game attracted enough people from outside Philadelphia to require Pennsylvania trains.
This situation is just not replicable anywhere in the United States today. People have suggested, for example, that Amtrak be used to evacuate people in case of a natural catastrophe, but Amtrak simply cannot spare enough cars or quickly transfer them into one part of the country to move people out. Certainly, light rail isn’t going to do it.
VTA says it plans to build a new track that will hold three light-rail trains at the stadium. But that won’t do anything about the fact that no more than about 20 trains carrying about 9,000 people can leave the station each hour. As spectators at this year’s SuperBowl found, buses can move far more people than trains.
On the rare occasion, that I have used the Metro Area Express (MAX) in Portland, at the end of a big event, It has always been a long wait, as full trains drive past packed stations of people hoping for a opening to get on.
Especially after a parade and Blazer games.
20 years ago my dad wanted to use the Max to a Blazer game and it was the last time he made that suggestion. The long slow trip to the event and the longer wait in 30 degree weather at the station after the game, cured him of ever wanting to do it again.
As any attendee of the U2 concert at the Rose Bowl several years ago could attest, buses do not work either. After the event there was a 2 hour wait to get out of the area due to the poor planning of the organizers and not providing enough buses. But consider that moving 50,000 people by regular 40 foot bus would require 877 trips to maintain a load factor of 1.5 (50,000 / 57 = 877). (57 = 38 seats on a low floor bus and 19 people standing). If you want to clear out that crowd in an hour given congestion you’d probably need 400 – 500 buses – where are you going to get those buses?
Given even a subway like in Toronto or New York could only move 30,000 people per track per hour, any expectation of using transit to move great numbers of people to sporting events requires that the stadium be built literally on top of several rapid transit lines – like the new arena for the Brooklyn Nets is adjacent to something like eight different subway lines.
Ever try and get your car out of a parking lot at Mile High after a Bronco game? How about DKR after a Longhorns game. How bout driving home from a Knicks game? FYI, any time 110,000 people leave the same place at the same time, things slow down… a lot. To put things in perspective Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid seats 85+k and has virtually no spectator parking. The stadium has it’s own metro station and several bus routes serve it. After the game it is typical for spectators to hang out for several hours before getting a chance to leave (or wanting to). Seeing Real Madrid was one of the single greatest sporting events I’ve ever witnessed.
If you like sport and attending spots events 1/4 of the experience is the parking lot, the train or the street by the stadium. If you’re not in it for the full experience which includes pre and post game revelries, then show up late and leave early. Otherwise, don’t expect to leave in a timely manner. Getting to and leaving a sporting event (shit, even little league) is a laborious process the majority of the time.
Speaking of the Superbowl, remember the boondoggle at Jerry World in Arlington. Arlington might be the biggest city in America with no public transit. Despite the overbooking of the stadium (whoops as our Gov might say) there were many cases of people from Pittsburgh and Milwaukee who were astonished that there was no public transit available to get them from their hotels throughout the metroplex to the stadium.
The sad thing is that transit agencies such as the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) have propagandized the wonders of light rail, calling it “high-capacity transit,” so that people actually believe it can do things like fill and empty a stadium with 68,000 seats.
Well, in VTA’s defense technically it can…..provided you give them a few hours.
No one has ever suggested that transit would be required to fill the entire stadium. VTA plans expect 10,000 fans to take transit on game day.
Just about every mode experienced delays and hangups during the soccer game. Many drivers found their reserved, prepaid parking was already taken and then spent hours sitting in traffic jams just to get out of the parking lots after the event. People on bikes reported that much of the touted bike parking was nonexistent.
Speaking of the Superbowl, remember the boondoggle at Jerry World in Arlington. Arlington might be the biggest city in America with no public transit.
Emphasis on might.
Well there you go. I had no idea Arlington had made such steps. But my point stands. At the time of the Superbowl a few years ago Arlington had no public transit service.
Actually I take it back. The “MAX” is a joke. 1 hour long loop route!?!?! Goddamn loopers. When will they learn?
Ditto. Also the tickets expire. Yes, you can buy them before hand, but they need to be stamped to be valid by the same machine. They once had a Metro employee there and to aid the machine, but he just gave-up and told everyone to get on the Max. My brother eventually figured out that if you show-up 45 minutes early, you can find someplace to part at the Rose Eighth.
Assessing a light rail system is a tricky business. One the one hand, you’ve got systems that no one rides except bums and poor people. These should be shut down and replaced with buses. On the other hand you’ve got systems with too many people trying to ride them. These need to be studied carefully, with consideration for the median and peak capacity, and what events (sports, parades, etc) coincide with peak usage. Then and only then, they should be shut down and replaced with buses.
The key is to locate the stadium in a walkable area. The Meadowlands and whatever the place where the Cowboys play is called now are definitely not in a walkable area. Traffic is less of a problem after a San Francisco Giants game, where the crowd disperses as pedestrians in different directions to get to their car, transit etc. Levi Stadium is not in a walkable area.
Went to see Bruuuuce Springsteen in Zurich a couple of years ago at the Letzigrund Stadium http://www.letzigrund.ch/. Capacity is 30,000 and the place was full. After the show, queued for about 10 minutes for a tram. That’s pretty typical. They knew about when the show would finish, and had a steady steam of trams waiting to pick people up.
bennet and gecko55, your facts are irrelevant here. Spain and Switzerland are both countries that begin with the letter S. And you know what else begins with S? That’s right, Socialism.
gilfoil wrote:
bennet and gecko55, your facts are irrelevant here. Spain and Switzerland are both countries that begin with the letter S. And you know what else begins with S? That’s right, Socialism.
Switzerland as socialist? Umm, not exactly.
In Portland it is nearly always faster to drive, than to use transit or the Max.
CP, don’t reply to the planner troll please.
Also be sure to ignore bennet and gecko55’s facts about Zurich and Madrid.
Switzerland as socialist? Umm, not exactly.
What else would you call a country that subsidizes public transit, where gasoline costs $4 US a gallon, and whose street scenes look like this?
After the show, queued for about 10 minutes for a tram. That’s pretty typical. They knew about when the show would finish, and had a steady steam of trams waiting to pick people up.
How many of the 30,000 visitors carpooled to the event? Walked? Biked? Took a bus?
California.