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Herhold: Cisco Field: Getting there's the real issue

By Scott Herhold
Mercury News

Though I'm not as fervent a baseball fan as I once was, I've been on the Web recently checking out the cool features that the new Cisco Field will have in Fremont -- the big plasma screen that dominates the park, the swimming pool beyond right field, the ability to upgrade seats or order instant replay on a cell phone.

It's impressive. And there are few better cheerleaders than A's owner Lew Wolff or Cisco CEO John Chambers. "Technology is very important to Cisco, but customers are more important -- and we want to listen to what fans and customers want before delivering anything," Chambers wrote recently in an op-ed piece.

So here's one suggestion from a fickle fan with ancient allegiances to the National League: You need to think very hard about how difficult it will be for fans to get to your great new ballpark.

A choice of pain

By various means, I've been timing how long it takes to get to the site off Auto Mall Parkway from my house in the Shasta-Hanchett Park neighborhood of San Jose. And I can tell you this: It feels like traveling to a 21st-century performance at a first-century pace.

Here's the quick summation:

BY CAR: Thinking I'd get to the ballpark early for an evening game -- soak in the atmosphere, even catch a little batting practice -- I left my house at 5:20 p.m. on a Tuesday. At McCarthy Ranch, everything on I-880 slowed to refrigerated gravy. Total time for the 13.8 miles: one hour. I later learned there was an accident up ahead -- and there's construction as well -- but even so, I'm guessing the drive would be 45 to 50 minutes normally.

BY TRAIN: Hoping to make it to a day game by public transit, I left my house at 11:45 on a weekday. At the main San Jose train station -- 10 minutes from home on my bicycle -- I caught the 12:05 Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) train to Fremont. It goes by the ballpark but doesn't stop until it reaches Fremont's Centerville. Then it's a long trek by bike -- 7 miles or more -- back to the ballpark. There's promise if they create the new ballpark stop as planned, or a swift connection with BART. But neither ACE nor Amtrak is now equipped to handle the sudden heavy influx of fans before or after a game. Total time: one hour, 35 minutes.

BY BUS: This requires traveling by bike and bus to the Fremont BART station, which is six miles from the ballpark. Naturally, it takes forever, and I had good connections to the 180 bus returning to central San Jose. Pray for express buses, or maybe helicopters for the masses. Total time: one hour, 47 minutes.

BY BICYCLE: Early on Thanksgiving Day -- why not? -- I jumped on my wheezing Nishiki 10-speed and peddled the entire route, about 18 miles on surface streets. I felt smug about my exercise and I didn't have to depend on anyone else, but I can't recommend this to everyone. Time: one hour, 23 minutes.

Upgraded connections

Lew Wolff and John Chambers are persuasive men. And it's very likely that they will upgrade public transit connections. But from the 9,000 parking spots that the A's expect near the ballpark, it's clear they anticipate most fans arriving by car.

And that tells you something. Whatever its lure in open land, Fremont offers an inferior location for a ballpark. It's clearly worse than the current Oakland Coliseum site, which has easy BART access.

Eager to get something started, the 70-year-old Wolff doesn't have all day to wait around for something much more intricate and expensive in San Jose. And Cisco's backing clearly means something.

But all its whiz-bang electronics won't change this new stadium's geographical limitations. If my experience is any guide, Cisco Field has a ways to go before it seriously weakens the Giants' tug on South Bay fans. Rest easier, Peter Magowan.

Contact Scott Herhold at sherhold@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5877.