How to get around Los Angeles
There’s really no other way to put it: getting around Los Angeles can be a pain. The city’s size, traffic, and lack of useful public transportation options—not to mention Dodger Stadium’s hard-to-get-to location—can make local transit on your trip a little tricky. However, with our insider knowledge, visitors can easily navigate their way through the city and to Dodger Stadium.
There are five main ways to get to Dodger Stadium:
Where you stay and what you plan to do on your trip will certainly influence which of these options is best for you. Let’s take a look at each of these options and see which one is right for your trip.
Public Transportation
Here’s our advice on public transportation: with the exception of the Dodger Stadium Express (details below), avoid it like the plague.
We won’t bore you with the full history of LA public transportation and why it is so inept, but suffice to say, the infrastructure is just not there to make it a viable option for your trip. Not to mention the metro and bus lines are dirty and dangerous, particularly at night. You’re better off renting a car, or calling an Uber or Lyft. Just factor in that cost into your budget and call it a day.
Car Rental
Renting a car is the most popular option for many visitors to Los Angeles, as it allows for greater flexibility in exploring the city. If you’re staying anywhere outside the immediate areas surrounding Dodger Stadium, or you plan to visit multiple areas of the city during your stay, renting a car is the way to go. It offers flexibility and comfort, and can be more cost-effective than constantly booking rideshare services or taxis, especially if you are traveling with your family or with other large groups.
It’s important to note that driving in Los Angeles can be challenging due to the city’s notorious traffic congestion, so it’s best to avoid rush hour if possible. Additionally, parking can be hard to find in certain areas of the city and is very expensive, so it’s important to budget for parking fees if renting a car. At the stadium, general parking starts at $30 if you purchase online, while preferred parking starts at $50.
STADIUM INSIDERS TIP: Traffic getting into Dodger Stadium can be excruciating. Gates open 2.5 hours prior to the game, and we recommend getting to the stadium at least an hour to an hour and a half before first pitch to avoid long wait times getting into the stadium. There are tons of great areas to hang out and pass the time before the game, especially the outdoor food court near the outfield gates, and there’s also a ton of things to see inside the stadium. For more on our Gameday recommendations, visit our chapter on Gameday.
Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft have become an increasingly preferred transit option for visitors to Los Angeles, especially those attending games at Dodger Stadium. Rideshare offers all the convenience of getting around town by car without the hassle of looking for and paying for parking. If you are not planning to venture too far out of the area you’re staying in, or if you’re planning on enjoying adult beverages during your trip, rideshare can be a great choice.
The biggest case against rideshare is the cost, but remember parking in Los Angeles can be hard to come by and expensive, so make sure to factor this into your budget when considering if rideshare is right for you. Dodger Stadium offers special access lanes for rideshare services, usually on the far right of the stadium gates, that expedite entrance into the parking lot. Make sure your rideshare driver knows this as you approach the stadium.
STADIUM INSIDERS TIP: Following the game, thousands of fans relying on rideshare to get home from the stadium are ordering rides at the same time, so call your ride 10-15 minutes before you leave your seat (or even earlier than that—rides can take up to 30 minutes to get inside the stadium gates after the game).
Map courtesy of Google Earth, altered to show ridesharing pickup/dropoff
Shared Mobility Devices
This term refers are the random scooters you can pick up around town from companies like Bird and Lime.
They are around, but frankly, we wouldn’t recommend it, at least not as an option for getting to the stadium. They’re not always easy to find, and they’re dangerous–not to mention, you’re not allowed to ride them past the parking entrance, so you’d still have to walk the final half mile plus, depending on which gate you enter from. Much like our advice on public transportation, just rent a car or call a rideshare and have the peace of mind that you’ll get to the game on time and all in one piece.
Dodger Stadium Express
The Dodger Stadium Express is a free shuttle service that provides transportation to Dodger Stadium for baseball games and other major events. The service is operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), and is available to anyone with a valid game ticket (note: they don’t actually check tickets, since there would be absolutely no reason to get on this bus if you’re not going to a game at Dodger Stadium).
To use the Dodger Stadium Express, simply board at one of the designated pickup locations throughout Los Angeles. The Union Station bus just runs back and forth from Union Station starting at 90 minutes before the game, but the South Bay bus has five pickup points along its path (click here for more info) and starts running two hours in advance. Both buses will make return trips for 45 minutes after the game ends. The frequency of the shuttle varies depending on the game schedule, but shuttles usually run every 10-20 minutes.
One of the benefits of using the Dodger Stadium Express is that it drops passengers off right at the stadium’s gates, eliminating the need to navigate the complex parking lot. After the game, passengers can simply board the shuttle at the same location where they were dropped off and return to their original pickup location.
We’ve taken the Express, and we have to tell you: it’s really great. The bus is appropriately clean/nice, and it will be 98% full of local Dodgers fans who have figured out that this is a great money-saving hack. They park their cars at Union Station for $8, and then pile onto the bus rather than spending $30-50 on parking at the stadium. The bus takes local streets from Union Station to the ballpark, so there’s really no traffic of note, and it zips right into the stadium via a dedicated bus lane. There can be a little traffic on the return trip getting out of the parking lot, but it will never be as bad as the worst traffic problems that cars face when leaving. You can expect maybe a 10-minute slow down at worst.
It’s important to note that the Dodger Stadium Express is a popular service and can fill up quickly, especially for games with high attendance. They will continually run buses from the Union Station stop, so you would never have to wait for more than the next bus in order to get a space. If you’re coming from locations further away, you should get there early to make sure you get a spot on the first bus since you might hit traffic between there and the ballpark.
STADIUM INSIDERS TIP: we’ve very likely given you more info above than you really needed, because the shuttle running from the South Bay is unlikely to be relevant to most visitors to LA — it’s much more geared to locals. If you’ve selected any of the hotel zones that we’ve recommended in our lodging section, then the only bus that will be relevant to you is the Express running from Union Station. If you are staying in Downtown LA and can get to Union Station easily, or are taking Amtrak into Los Angeles for gameday, the Dodger Stadium Express is a great option. It’s also an excellent option if you’re driving and want to save money by parking at Union Station (for $8) and taking the bus. Outside of that, you should be sticking to either driving to the stadium or using rideshares. Click here for more details on how and where to use the Dodger Stadium Express.
Bottom Line
For such a confusing city, your local transit options are really quite easy: rent a car, or rely on ridesharing. If you’re staying in downtown LA, you can take the Dodger Stadium Express bus from Union Station to the ballpark, but beyond that, don’t try relying on public transportation to get to the game. Make things easy on yourself and stick to a car.
