A lonelier ride on Dodgers Express

You know the Dodgers are having a tough year when even the free bus service to the stadium is in a slump.

Ridership on the Dodger Stadium Express, which whisks ticketholders free of charge from Union Station to the stadium in clean-burning, natural gas-powered buses, dropped 19% in June and July. Passengers took 37,526 rides to and from the stadium on the Express during that period, compared to 46,337 rides during the same months last year.

On 16 occasions so far this year, regular season ridership on the dedicated fleet of buses has dipped below 1,000, hitting a low of 678 on Monday, July 25, when the Dodgers beat the Rockies 8-5. Last year, regular season ridership on the Express buses went below 1,000 just seven times. Overall, ridership this year to date stands at 81,518, compared to 82,222 at this time last year.

Metro launched the Express service’s rookie season last year with a $300,000 grant from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC.) A $450,000 grant brought the buses back this year, along with some new post-game Metrolink train service, amid high hopes that the team and its fans would have a season worth celebrating.

It was not to be. The opening day beating of Bryan Stow, along with the team owners’ well-publicized divorce, bankruptcy filing and a dispiriting string of player injuries, set the tone for a dismal season in which attendance has plummeted and the Dodgers are struggling in the lowest rungs of their division. This week, a posting on The Los Angeles Times’ Dodgers blog carried the headline: “It’s official: The worst Dodgers season ever.”

Ridership was so low on Metrolink’s special post-game night trains that the agency recently cancelled the service to the Antelope Valley and Ventura County—although 11 p.m. trains to San Bernardino are continuing as part of the regular schedule.

Yet there’s still hope that the Dodgers Express bus service—though possibly not the Dodgers themselves—will end up the season with the same or slightly better stats than last year. The National League East-leading Phillies are in town next week, and a half-price food-and-drink promotion will be in place for the 12:10 p.m. game on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Another bargain food-and-drink promotion is scheduled for Aug. 31, when the Dodgers play the Padres at 12:10 p.m. (The half-price deal doesn’t apply to alcoholic beverages—a policy change enacted after the Stow beating.)

Both promos are expected to boost ridership and perhaps put the Express on track to equal or even slightly exceed last year’s totals, said Elizabeth Carter, Metro transportation contract services manager. (A Duke Snider bobblehead giveaway on Aug. 9 couldn’t hurt.)

“What really hurt our ridership this year was that incident that happened on opening day,” she said, noting that the economy and public perceptions about the McCourts’ divorce also played a role.

Still, if ridership ends up matching last year’s, that will represent a significant contribution to better air quality in the region. Ray Gorski, technical advisor to the MSRC, said that 77,000 car trips and 1.37 million travel miles were eliminated by virtue of the Dodgers Express service last year.

“I think we still consider the service a success,” said Conan Cheung, Metro’s deputy executive director of service development. He pointed out that, given lower Dodgers attendance levels this year, Express ridership may actually end up representing a higher proportion of fans opting to take the bus.

Those who choose the Express get the good feeling that comes from choosing the environmentally-friendly option, as well as a good deal: a free ride for ticketholders, $1.50 each way for those without.

“We’re getting a lot of compliments,” Carter said. “We get a lot of dedicated riders. They leave the driving to other people, and they don’t have to deal with the traffic.”

Posted 8/3/11