Despite the late announcement last week of service to the U2 concerts on Friday and Saturday night, Metrolink still saw big crowds on its trains.
I’m not too surprised. I’ve driven from L.A. to Anaheim on a couple of occasions for concerts and/or baseball games and it’s a royal pain. I bet even more people would take transit to big events if the info is out there way ahead of time.
Here’s the press release from Metrolink:
Metrolink Experiences Record Ridership with Special Trains to U2 Concert
Over 5,500 round-trips to AnaheimStation saves time and money while reducing gridlock
Los Angeles — This weekend, Southern Californians ditched their cars in droves to head to the U2 concert at Angels Stadium of Anaheim. Instead,they chose to hop on board a Metrolink train. The incentive: safe, reliable public transportation for only $7 for a round-trip.
To be able to accommodate over 11,000 boardings, Metrolink had to double the number of passenger cars and make two stops at each station to allow passengers to exit the train both Friday and Saturday nights.
Each train departed 45 minutes after the concert ended. As the train was pulling out of the station, Metrolink passengers witnessed gridlock they left behind in the parking lots and parking structures as automobiles were attempting to leave Angels Staduim.
“We are pleased to see so many Southern Californians take advantage of our service,” said Metrolink Chief Administrative Officer Bob Turnauckas. “In all, we estimate our passengers saved over $35,000 in parking costs for more than 2,000 cars that could have been on the roadway adding to already severe congestion.”
Metrolink also observed a 20 percent increase in visits to its website from the time the promotion was announced to local news media and by Live Nation to concert-goers.
“We applaud Live Nation for partnering with Metrolink to offer this service and encouraging its customers to take advantage of public transportation,” Turnauckas said.
ABOUT METROLINK
Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 19th year of operations. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network.
Categories: Events, Metro Lifestyle, Transit Service
“Hundreds of cars were trapped underground at a stand still, with no idea what was going on. It was a very frustrating end to an otherwise stress free commute.”
Just realized what caused the stress next time 😉
It would be a good example when advocating for more late night service for such events. Metro failed in coordinating some extra service for the concert. Next time, we’ll know that the service was sorely needed.
Its very good to see that so many people used the service. Metrolink is certainly gradually improving. Sounds like Metro itself though should have been running later gold line trains based on what Mary said. I don’t quite understand why that didn’t happen…
Metrolink offered a great service – I took the train to the concert and enjoyed the ride and cost savings. But what’s not told here is that Union Station passengers faced a MAJOR traffic issue when they arrived back to their cars following the concert. After the train dropped us off it took an entire hour to get out of the Union Station parking lot. The lot apparently only had one exit open, with just one man working the booth collecting money. Hundreds of cars were trapped underground at a stand still, with no idea what was going on. It was a very frustrating end to an otherwise stress free commute.
Warren, Metrolink did not just operate an LA-Anaheim train. They also operates a Laguna Niguel-Anaheim train which was also very full.
That is really great news! If LA decides to build the Football Stadium, I hope the residents of the OC would do the same to go see a game.