What's the fastest way to get to Dodger Stadium?

It doesn't take a seasoned Angeleno to know that Dodger Stadium traffic is painful. Fans come from all over the city and beyond, and, if they are driving, they crawl up Sunset Boulevard, crawl through the gates, then creep toward a parking spot. Surely, there’s a better way—a faster way—right?

To find the speediest route to the stadium, the Curbed LA team took to the streets by various means—by car, on foot, on bike, and by way of the Dodger Stadium Express—to see who could get to a Saturday afternoon Dodger game against the Chicago Cubs.

Before we reveal the results, a caveat: Saturday has to be the least congested day to visit the stadium, and we’re confident it had a bearing on our results. Anyone who’s tried driving to the stadium on a weekday—with the double whammy of game day and rush hour traffic—has probably had a dramatically different experience.

The fastest route from Union Station to the stadium was, to our surprise, the car. The driver made it from Union Station to Dodger Stadium via Chinatown and the Downtown Gate in just 20 minutes.

The slowest route was on foot, but the path, which involved taking the Gold Line to Chinatown, then winding through the hilly streets to the stadium’s Downtown Gate, was definitely the most picturesque.

Here’s what we learned:

The shuttle

The shuttle got us to the stadium in 25 minutes.

They start from Union Station—they look like regular orange Metro buses but their head signs say otherwise. They're free to ride with your game ticket, and they ferry riders to two stops at the stadium: behind center field and near the Top Deck. (There’s also a Dodger Express from the South Bay.)

The bike ride

The ride took just 23 minutes.

Most cyclists start at Union Station and head straight up Cesar Chavez Avenue to the Sunset Gate. (You can take the bike lane, but you might get some guff about it.) Even bicyclists coming from the west seem to prefer the Sunset Gate.

The walk

The walk took us about 35 minutes.

Active Dodger fans can walk from the Chinatown Gold Line station or the general Chinatown area toward the stadium. While some walkers prefer to enter through the stadium's Sunset Gate, the Downtown Gate also has its fans. Both routes usually head toward the stadium on College Avenue, turn north on Yale to take the cool pedestrian bridge that goes over the 110 Freeway, and drop onto Stadium Way. From there, go right to the Downtown Gate or left up Stadium Way to the Sunset Gate. (A map of the Downtown Gate path is here.)