Click above to enlarge. The football stadium would be just west of Staples Center (the round building). The Blue Line station at Pico/Flower is noted by the blue marker in the lower center of the photo. Credit: Google Maps.
As many of you know, the City Council today approved a Memorandum of Understanding with AEG to build a new football stadium, new convention hall space and two parking garages adjacent to Staples Center.
The good news for public transportation is that if indeed the stadium gets built — and it’s contingent on an NFL team agreeing to relocate to Los Angeles — there is plenty of public transportation nearby.
The present Blue Line station at Flower and Pico is a short walk from Staples Center, L.A. Live and the proposed location for the football station. as are many bus lines, including the Silver Line. It should also be noted that the Expo Line will stop at that Blue Line station, as well as future Regional Connector trains that will make it possible to board a train there and travel to Long Beach, Santa Monica, East Los Angeles and Azusa when the Connector, Expo Line Phase II and Gold Line Foothill Extension are built.
The Red/Purple Line subway station is about a .6-mile walk, with connections to Union Station (connections with Metrolink and Amtrak), North Hollywood and — hopefully within the decade — Westwood.
Metro staffers tell me that they’re coordinating with the city of Los Angeles and the stadium sponsors in the evaluation of the project; transportation needs will be studied as part of the stadium’s environmental impact report.
This situation is similar to Manchester United Football Stadium in Old Trafford. They have a Metrolink (their Light rail system) train that is about a 10 min walk from the stadium and it gets really busy on match days. They also have a National Rail station at the stadium so that their version of Amtrak goes right there.
I think it is good to look at a Red Line spur to serve the LA live/Staple/Megaexpensive football stadium, but with the current financial climate I hope they at least coordinate shuttles to Union Station as a minimum scenario.
Gosh….it’s not a long walk from 7th/Figueroa to 11th/Figueroa…it’s 4 blocks! We don’t need a spur for 4 urban blocks! How lazy can we be? Plus, for anybody coming in from Union Station, they can transfer to the NEW Blue or Gold Lines (when the Regional Connector is done in 2019) and get to Pico station with no transfers. So the discussion about a shuttle is moot as you will be replicating service on the new downtown connector rail project.
I think Pico Sta is good enough if they’d just make some wayfinding signs and maybe build a pedestrian tunnel or something.
It would be nice if the city and AEG planned from the beginning to make transit the preferred way to get to games there and restricted parking to mitigate traffic snarls around the stadium area. It would also be a great way for Metro to increase its ridership.
You know what else would be smart? Putting in streetcars in downtown that lead to the new stadium as well. That way, people using the Gold Line from Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley could catch a streetcar to the stadium.
Re: SMV
Having the private sector build an elevated pedestrian promenade, perhaps with a plexiglass roof,all the way from the Pico Station directly to the stadium/convention center grounds across Figueroa Street might be a better and lest costly idea.
@LAOFA
“So the discussion about a shuttle is moot as you will be replicating service on the new downtown connector rail project.”
I totally forgot about that. So yeah shuttles would be stupid.
First, we need the Regional Connector to bring people from Union Station down to Pico Station.
We also need the Downtown Streetcar for people already staying in downtown.
Pico Station needs some improvements, maybe even an extra track. And I like the idea of a pedestrian bridge/ promenade from the station to the stadium/ convention center.
Some ideas:
In the decade from Pico Station the Regional Connector will connect the Blue Line to Union Station and Pasadena without a transfer.
The Expo Line to Culver City, West Los Angeles, and Santa Monica will be accessible from Pico Station.
An additional set of side platforms for event passenger loading may be necessary as proposed by the Sierra Club and The Transit Coalition.
The LA Streetcar alternative including a loop down to Pico and on Figueroa should be adopted to pick up passengers from the Convention Center and LA Live.
Chick Hearn Ct should be closed to through traffic and be used as a pedestrian plaza leading to the Pico light rail station including additional bike parking, shade trees, tables, chairs, and umbrellas (when retail is installed).
When buildings are raised on the existing surface parking lots separating the LA Live and Convention Center area from the Pico Station more wayfinding signs (to Red/Blue Lines) should be installed and efforts should be made to include ground level retail in the buildings lining Chick Hearn Ct, Figueroa, Pico, and Flower St.
Ticket vending machines and optional ticket bundling should be offerred inside of the LA Live area.
Hourly and additional late service on at least San Bernardino and Orange County Lines in conjunction with the one-seat ride from Union Station via the Regional Connector
I wonder if anything will be done to IMPROVE BUS SERVICE IN THIS AREA (OR OTHERS!), given that the MTA is so ANTI-BUS RIDER AND ALL!