Dodgin' The Trolleys: Dodger Stadium Shuttle Bus Begins Tonight!

The Militant can't stand the transportation transvetitism known as internal-combustion buses being passed off as "trolleys." Eugh. It's like a false advertisement. The misused term 'trolley' does not actually mean vehicle per se, but to the mechanism by which it picks up electric power from overhead wires. So yes there can be trolley buses, but they have to be powered by overhead electric wire. The term "trolley" is derived from "trolling," as in fishing.

Anyway, what a tangent to go off on. Tonight, the first-place second-place NL West Dodgers play their first home game of the second half of the season against the last-place NL East Washington Nationals at the Ravine. But tonight is especially significant since it marks the debut of the Dodgers Trolley, a free, LADOT-run shuttle bus service (Dodger Dash?) from Union Station to The Stadium, a 20-minute route that takes Dodger fans from the front of the 1939 transportation center to the back of the 1962 sports venue two miles away.

As any diehard Dodger fan knows, the team's name originated from "trolley dodgers" -- the fans back in the Brooklyn days who had to navigate the yard tracks of the old trolley system to get to Washington Park, the team's late-1800s era venue (Overlooked fact: when the Dodgers moved here 50 years ago, though Brooklyn's trolleys were already gone by then, Los Angeles still had them on its streets, at least for the next five years).

So in the interest of tradition and history, the Militant won't be offended when he sees these wireless, gas-powered things roll through Sunset Blvd. and into the park, where they will stop behind the pavilions in center field (the future "front entrance" of the park in the proposed "Next 50" renovation plan). He just hopes they don't actually look like the picture on the left. Looks like the package for some Kid's Fun Meal at the All-You-Can-Eat-Pavilion.

For the remainder of this season's home games, the Dodger Trolley will be making its rounds on every game day in 10-minute intervals, 90 minutes before the first pitch and 60 minutes after the game ends (you will stay until the end of the game, right? The Militant orders you to!). There are two stops along the route, at Cesar Chavez and Figueroa (so all those Evans students and Orsini residents can hop on board) and at Sunset and Marion, where people can connect to/from Metro Local lines 2 and 4.

Yes, We all can be trolley dodgers now...sorta. But unlike the half-assed, Friday-only service back in 2004, this runs during every home game. But most importantly, we finally have direct transit to The Stadium again. And (channeling the Sit N Sleep guy here) it's freeeeeeeeeee!

Of course, you can always bike there, as the Militant has (great way to work of them Farmer John All-Beef Super Dodger Dogs).

So thank you, City of Los Angeles for finally making this happen. You're putting the "SPORT" back in "TRANSPORTATION."