Getting to Busch Stadium

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Busch Stadium sits in downtown St. Louis with a light rail station directly across the street. That one fact should shape your whole plan. MetroLink, St. Louis’s light rail system run by Metro Transit, stops at Stadium station on the park’s west side, steps from the Musial statue. Both lines serve it, and the train runs straight from the airport.

Rideshare works here. Driving works too, and parking runs cheaper than at most downtown parks. Most visitors are better off taking the train.

Before you count on any parking rate, MetroLink fare, or gate time below, check it at mlb.com/cardinals or metrostlouis.org, since all three change from year to year.

Rideshare

The Cardinals split rideshare drop-off and pickup, so know both. Drop-off is on the west side of the park along 8th Street north of Gate 3, the Musial statue side, or on the east side on Broadway just south of Clark Street. Pickup is east side only: Broadway, just south of Clark Street. Getting dropped at Gate 3 puts you right at the main west entrance; heading home, you walk to the Broadway side.

After the final out, every rideshare pickup is in that one zone on Broadway, and prices in the apps may be surging, so give yourself a few extra minutes to find your driver.

Driving and parking

Parking in downtown St. Louis is easy and runs cheaper than at most downtown parks, with garages and surface lots ringing the stadium in every direction. The official lots run about $25 (or $20 with the online discount). Against MetroLink’s $5 day pass, the train stays cheaper until you have five or more people in the car; with fewer people than that, you’re paying extra for the convenience of driving.

What to know:

• The official options are the All-Star Lot (611 S. 8th Street, directly across from Gate 2) and the One Cardinal Way garage (269 S. Broadway), both right at the ballpark, usually around $25 depending on the game. Passes are sold through the team and delivered in the MLB Ballpark app, and buying an All-Star Lot pass ahead online or by phone takes $5 off.
• Third-party lots and garages start around $11 if you are willing to walk a few blocks. The gap between $11 and $25 is a short walk through downtown, so decide what your legs are worth that night.
• Post-game, the blocks around the park tend to clog while the crowd clears. Parking a few blocks out helps on the way out too, since you are walking past the worst of the knot instead of idling in it.
• There is a free option most visitors never hear about: park free at an outlying MetroLink station and ride the train the rest of the way in.

SpotHero for a downtown garage

To lock in a spot ahead of time, reserve a downtown garage near the park on SpotHero, a parking-reservation app. You pay in the app when you book, then drive straight to the garage on game day. Prices climb on higher-demand dates, Cubs weekends especially, so check live and book early.

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When to drive

• You have five or more people splitting a $25 lot, or you want the car and accept paying a little over the $5-a-head train fare.
• You are staying somewhere MetroLink does not reach well, and a rideshare each way would cost too much.
• You want to leave whenever you like, even if that means sitting in the traffic around the park after the game.
• You rented a car for the trip anyway.

MetroLink: the train across the street

This is one of the best transit setups in the National League. Stadium station sits directly across the street from the ballpark’s west side, by the Musial statue. You step off the platform and you are at the gates. No shuttle, no long walk, no transfer maze.

The basics:

• Both lines stop here. MetroLink runs a Red Line and a Blue Line, and both serve Stadium station. Around game time that works out to a train roughly every 10 minutes combined. Miss one and the next is close behind.
• $2.50 for a single ride, $5 for a day pass. The day pass covers the trip in, the trip home, and any side trip you bolt on.
• The airport connection is direct. The Red Line runs from St. Louis Lambert International Airport to Stadium station with no transfer.
• Free park-ride at 21 outlying stations. Metro maintains free parking lots at 21 stations across the system. Drive halfway, park free, ride the train to the gate, and skip downtown parking altogether. For suburban families this is the budget answer, and the kids get a train ride out of it.

The new fare gates are live at Stadium station

Metro Transit switched on automated fare gates at Stadium station on July 27, 2026. You cannot board here without a valid fare anymore, so buy one before you get to the platform. The gate checks it on the way in.

Here is how buying a ride works:

• Single rides come as QR-code tickets. Scan at the validator.
• One-day passes load onto a chip card. Tap at the validator.
• The Transit app (Metro’s trip-planning and fare app) sells rides on your phone, and Metro’s Ride On app and reloadable Ride On cards do the same.
• The gates do not take a tap of a regular credit or debit card. Buy a fare first, then scan or tap.

So have your ticket or pass ready before you walk up, and the gate will do the rest.

When to take the train

• You are flying into St. Louis Lambert and would rather not rent a car.
• You are staying downtown or anywhere near a MetroLink stop.
• You are staying in the suburbs but near a park-ride station, where free parking plus a $2.50 ride beats any downtown garage.
• You want to skip the surge, the garage, and the post-game crawl in one decision.

Getting here from the airport

The MetroLink Red Line stops at both terminals of St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) and runs to Stadium station, on the 8th Street side of Busch Stadium, with no transfer.

At Terminal 1, the station is through Exit Door 1 on the Ticketing Level, east of all the ticket counters. At Terminal 2, go out Exit Door 12 and through the parking garage. A one-way MetroLink fare is as low as $2.50. You can find more about paying for a ride and the fare gates in our MetroLink section above.

Heading back after a night game. On Metro’s schedule, the last Red Line train toward the airport leaves Stadium station a little after midnight on weeknights and weekends, and late in the evening the trains before it run about every 20 minutes. That is late enough for most night games, but check the Stadium station schedule for the trains toward Lambert on the day you go.

Rideshare and taxi. At Terminal 1, rideshare pickup is at Door 6 on the Departure Level, and taxis wait on the Yellow Level of the garage, through Door 14. At Terminal 2, rideshare pickup is at Door 12 on the Arrivals Level, and the taxi stand is across from Door 12 in the Terminal 2 garage.

With a rental car from Lambert, you can park at the All-Star Lot, the One Cardinal Way garage, or a cheaper lot a few blocks out.

The Red Line is the way to go from Lambert, and with a suitcase, your hotel is the first stop.

Luggage

Luggage is on the Cardinals’ list of prohibited items at Busch Stadium, and nothing in their gameday guide offers a bag check or a place to keep a suitcase.

The bags you can bring in have to be 10 by 8 by 10 inches or smaller, except medical bags and diaper bags with a child. The Cardinals also say backpacks are not allowed. You can find more about the bag rules and the outside-food allowance in our What you can bring in section.

Lambert says it has no lockers or other storage spaces for belongings, so there is nowhere at the airport to leave a suitcase while you are at the game. Ride the Red Line straight to your hotel. If you get there early, ask the hotel to keep the suitcase until you can check in, then head to Busch Stadium from there.

Gates and getting in

Six numbered gates ring the park, so wherever your train, car, or rideshare leaves you, an entrance is close.

Here is what to know about the gates:

• Gate 3 is on the 8th Street side, at the Musial statue. It is the classic meetup spot (“meet me at Musial”), the ticket windows are near it, and the team store sits at 8th and Clark between Gates 3 and 4. If you came by MetroLink or rideshare, this is probably the gate in front of you.
• Re-entry is allowed with a hand stamp at Gates 1 and 4. Get stamped on the way out and you can return through security until 90 minutes after first pitch.
• Gates open 1.5 hours before first pitch Monday through Thursday, 2 hours Friday through Sunday.

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