Thursday, August 28, 2008
Beginning Saturday, a free shuttle, provided by the city of Lawrence, will charter fans from downtown to Memorial Stadium for home football games.
Starting two hours before kickoff, the bus will shuttle fans from the garages at Ninth and New Hampshire streets and Sixth and New Hampshire streets to Memorial Stadium. The buses will continue for one hour after the game ends. The two designated garages are the lower level of the Riverfront parking garage and the entire Ninth and New Hampshire garage. Both will be free on home game days.
City Manager Dave Corliss, who helped approve the busing plan, said the shuttle was an easy decision.
The city of Lawrence will offer a free shuttle to KU football games. Buses will pick fans up at the parking garages at Sixth and New Hampshire streets and Ninth and New Hampshire streets.
“A lot of it has to do with the success of the football team,” Corliss said. “We’ve always had problems with people parking in the surrounding neighborhoods.”
City ordinance prohibits cars from blocking driveways and parking within 30 feet of a curb, but during football games some fans ignore traffic laws.
The new football complex replaced the parking lot east of Memorial Stadium, initially eliminating 678 spots, said Donna Hultine, director of Parking and Transit. Hultine said the University added more parking spots west of the stadium, which brought the total loss of spots to about 300. She said the football shuttle would help get people situated for games.
“It’s really smart of them to do, to give people more options for parking, because before it was either pre-sold or toll,” Hultine said.
Naomi Wilfred, Boston junior, tried to go to every football game last year, and planned to do the same this year. She said she thought the shuttle was a great idea and would benefit not only the football fans, but the city itself.
“It attracts people to the home games, and you draw more people to the city,” she said. “It may make people more likely to come out rather than watching it on TV.”
Corliss also anticipated more business in the downtown area because of the shuttle.
“We are always looking to increase use of our downtown,” he said. “Now people can shop and eat before they go to the game.”
But not everybody thinks the shuttle is a good idea. Louie Disney, door manager of Abe and Jake’s Landing, said he was upset at the city’s decision to use the bottom level of the Riverfront garage because it was the designated place for bar patrons to park.
“The biggest problem I see is that this is taking away parking spaces for people who want to come to Abe and Jake’s,” Disney said. “It will force them to park upstairs in the hotel parking lot and get their cars towed.”
Disney also said he was worried about those who chose to leave their cars in the parking lot overnight.
“People won’t be able to leave their cars there on Friday nights, and instead of calling SafeRide of getting a ride home, they will just drive drunk,” he said. “It isn’t fair for our customers to have to park somewhere else.”
Corliss said the idea was brought up only a few weeks ago and that it would be paid for with city parking funds and other tax funds.
The shuttle will run for each home football game, and will continuously make only three stops: the two parking garages and the stadium. The buses will be marked “Downtown/Football Shuttle.”
— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes
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