If you’ve ever been anywhere near the UT campus on game day, you know parking and traffic are a nightmare. At one time, you could park a mile or so away for free and hoof it to the game. Now you have to pay big bucks to the Longhorn Foundation just for the right to park at state government parking lots. In the end, this sort of supply and demand is good, but unfortunately a whole lot of people just fork over the money not knowing any better.
If you’re going to cheer on the Horns, why not bike to the game? Once you get near campus, you’ll be 10 times faster than a car plus you get free parking in the shadow of the stadium. I started doing this three years ago and it was a whole lot more fun than sitting cued up in my car for a half and hour then having to walk another 20 minutes.
To help you get there on two wheels, Bicycle Sport Shop is offering special pricing on bike rentals on game day when you mention their blog and the Horns. If biking just isn’t a realistic option for you, consider Capital Metro’s game day shuttle for $8 which leaves free lots at 51st Street or Barton Creek Mall. Better yet, just use Capital Metro’s trip planner and take the regular bus for 75¢ one way or $1.50 for a day pass.
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on Oct 11th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
We biked to the game yesterday – as far as I could tell we were the ONLY 2 out of 101,000+ people who biked.
However, police stopped us and told us we had to walk our bikes in front of the stadium at 4:30 PM, stating it was a pedestrian zone (there were no signs indicating this anywhere) and while we walked our bike in the street empty of pedestrians, we were passed by a employee going about 20 MPH in a cart and a car driving to park at the alumni center. I found that quite annoying.
After the game, of course, we had to walk our bike to MLK until we could find a road not full of people – but smooth sailing after.
Travel Time from our doorstep 3.5 miles away:
To UT – left at 4:09 PM, arrive north of stadium for tailgate – 4:45.
From UT – left at 9:40 PM and arrive home at 10:25 PM.
One thing to remember is no backpacks are allowed in the stadium, so either travel light, stash your bag in a friend’s car during the game, or lock it to your bike and hope no one steals its contents.
on Oct 11th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I didn’t attend the game, but I rode down that way yesterday. I cannot even fathom wanting to drive down into that mess.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jcmayson/BikeRideToAuditoriumShores
I live up in Jollyville and I’m not a particularly fit cyclist. I don’t go on century rides. But my 36 mile round trip was just about perfect and a great way to spend an afternoon in Austin.
on Oct 12th, 2009 at 9:02 am
We love biking down to tailgate (don’t usually go to the games). Always plenty of bike parking. If biking all the way from home is too far, you can park at the 51st St. lot and bike from there, and save the $8 from the bus (and use it instead to get into the history museum to use their bathroom). It’s all downhill and would probably take less than 20 minutes to get to campus. We’ve never had to walk our bikes through campus, but we tend to get there early. We do have to dodge a lot of wandering pedestrians on the way home, but it’s a small price to pay.
on Oct 12th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Joan,
That’s an interesting report and in keeping with UT’s recent move to try to ban bicycles completely from campus. I’ve had season tickets for 10 years until this year and was always able to ride right up to the stadium in the past.
From my personal experience with the UT transportation staff, they are more focused on building more parking (and the revenue that comes with it) than trying to get people to use alternative transportation. Not the first time UT has been less than a good neighbor.