Transportation Planners Get Down To Work For Super Bowl 50
SANTA CLARA (KCBS) -- The inaugural 49ers season will provide a blueprint for how to move tens of thousands of football fans between downtown San Francisco and the new stadium in Santa Clara during Super Bowl 50, event planners said Thursday.
Unlike this year's game in New York, where crowds had to negotiate just nine miles between midtown Manhattan and the Meadowlands, there are 43 miles to cover between the NFL experience in Moscone Center and the game itself at Levi's Stadium.
"Once Levi's Stadium opens, we'll have a much better sense of how people get down to the stadium, how long people stay at the stadium before and after the games, how they exit the stadium," said Keith Bruce, CEO of the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl Host Committee.
Transportation Planners Get Down To Work For Super Bowl 50
Bruce is a veteran sports event planner who's tackled the Olympics. He said observing Superbowl XLVIII offered some early lessons that will have to be tempered by actual football experience.
"Metlife had a light rail system right next to the stadium. We have a light rail system right next to Levi Stadium," he said. "Moving multiple people through the motor coaches, was extremely efficient."
Bruce said Bay Area tech companies have already provided the blue print for a motor coach system with their commuter shuttle buses.
Most significantly, of course, will be the many, many people who choose to drive to the stadium.
"So much of that is conditioned on parking spaces and adjacent parking lots," Bruce said.
The committee has more than 600 days worth of concerts, soccer games, and football games to figure it all out.
"We'll be able to map our transportation modeling much easier once we see a few of the NFL games actually happen at Levi's Stadium."
