Nobody likes paying $30-55 for parking at a baseball recreation, so we’re presenting alternate options.
Final week we shared details about utilizing HART buses to get to George Steinbrenner Subject.
In the present day we’re proposing one other different: you’ll be able to journey your bike.
There may be, certainly, bicycle parking on the ballpark – and it’s free. You’ll discover it on floor stage close to Gate 2.
Simply bear in mind, if you’re approaching the park in your bicycle from the Raymond James facet of Dale Mabry Freeway you’ll be able to’t use the pedestrian foot bridge. That bridge leads on to the second stage of the stadium, and doesn’t have entry to the bottom stage the place you’ll discover the bicycle parking. However there are avenue stage crossings you should utilize, and on gamedays they could have cops serving to pedestrians get throughout safely.
To get a greater concept of the right way to journey to the park on two wheels, we reached out to an skilled — Tampa Metropolis Council member Lynn Hurtak, who additionally leads Sunday morning bicycle rides round Tampa for individuals who wish to get extra comfy using on metropolis streets.*
She and her husband, journalist Tim Burke, bicycled to the Rays Opening Day this 12 months. After they had lived in St. Petersburg they’d routinely walked or biked to Rays video games, one thing tough to do as soon as they moved throughout the Bay to Seminole Heights. However the Rays (momentary?) transfer to Tampa meant they may get again to that apply.
After all we biked to Opening Day! Bike parking was harder than we might have preferred (no bike racks), however we made do by locking up proper outdoors Gate 2. It wasn’t even 10 miles, so now that we’ve got a great route found out, I can see us doing this so much this season! #raysup
— Lynn Hurtak (@lynnhurtak.com) 2025-03-29T00:11:39.121Z
Sitting on the very busy Dale Mabry Freeway, “Tropicana East” could not look like a really perfect bike vacation spot. But it surely’s surrounded by a lot quieter neighborhoods which make for extra satisfying biking. “I’ll be trustworthy, we researched fairly closely on Google Maps earlier than we went,” stated Councilmember Hurtak, “and we selected the route that we thought was going to be much less automotive intensive.”
Driving from Seminole Heights, they have been in a position to zig-zag by residential neighborhoods with only a few busier highway crossings. “I’ll be trustworthy, I used to be shocked at how little visitors there was and the way straightforward it was to get there as soon as we found out our route,” she continued.
To determine a secure and nice route, you’ll be able to’t simply put the ballpark deal with into Google maps and click on “begin.” Most mapping apps are set as much as present you probably the most direct path to your vacation spot, which is sensible when you’re driving.
However when using your bike you would possibly favor the route with the least visitors; you in all probability don’t wish to journey 5 miles alongside the facet of Busch Boulevard. That’s why it’s necessary to analysis a great route forward of time. Councilmember Hurtak factors out the the Strava app means that you can see routes your folks have taken; you would possibly be capable to discover neighbors who’ve biked to a video games at Steinbrenner Subject or Raymond James Stadium.
Don’t wish to journey your entire solution to the sport? HART buses are in a position to carry bicycles, so you’ll be able to for instance bike to the stadium however then load your bike onto a HART bus for the journey again. Councilmember Hurtak cautions, nevertheless, that every HART bus can solely carry two bicycles, so you would run the chance {that a} bus doesn’t have room for yours.
Councilmember Hurtak additionally shares a biking hack for individuals who reside too far to bike your entire path to the stadium. You may load your bike into or in your automotive, park in an space nearer to the stadium, after which journey the remaining few miles. You may park on the road in most Tampa neighborhoods (examine indicators for restrictions) so you must be capable to go away your automotive for just a few hours.
Contemplate bicycle and bus routes to the stadium — you’ll save on parking prices, keep away from some visitors, and have some nice tales to inform your folks who can’t think about that an individual can get round Tampa with no automotive.
*You may be part of Councilmember Hurtak’s Sunday morning rides — there may be one this Sunday (April 27) leaving from Henry and Ola Park within the Seminole Heights neighborhood of Tampa. To find out about future rides, observe her on Fb or Instagram underneath Lynn Hurtak.
