SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Parking meters within a half-mile of Petco Park now cost $10 per hour during Padres games and major events, prompting more fans to ride the trolley to downtown San Diego.
The increased parking rates take effect two hours before games or any major events at the stadium. In response, the city recommends people take the Metropolitan Transit System trolley as a more affordable alternative.
"It's just more convenient and cheaper in general," Kathy Neal said.
For many fans, riding the rails to games has become routine as parking costs continue climbing.
"It's fast and there's never been a traffic jam on the trolley," Dan Odell said.
Some fans worry the rising costs could price out families from attending games.
"We have to pay a lot for Padre tickets and then you're gonna charge a lot more for parking. It just seems like you're gonna price people out of it," Neal said.
"Everybody was complaining about $10 an hour. I thought you guys are crazy, just take the trolley," Judy Odell said.
MTS sees between 8,000 to 12,000 riders heading to the stadium on game days, according to Hector Zermeno, MTS public relations specialist.
"Some of the benefits that they have is that we have free parking ride, uh, parking lots all across our system. Uh, it is only $2.50 to ride one way," Zermeno said.
For Lowen Julio, the trolley has become the clear choice given the parking price increase.
"Because of the increase in parking, we're definitely doing the trolley now. Before we would hit and miss depending on what time the game was," Julio said.
Like other fans, Julio says the trolley will now be part of her game day tradition.
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