Getting to Comerica Park

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The address is 2100 Woodward Avenue, and it is right in the middle of downtown. Ford Field is next door, Little Caesars Arena is roughly half a mile up the street, and the sports district they sit in has been called the country’s most compact. Downtown means choices. A short rideshare, a garage within an easy walk of the gates, or a train that drops you a short walk away.

In short, rideshare is the default, a downtown garage makes sense if you already have the car, and the People Mover or the QLine gets you there without either if you are staying downtown or in Midtown. Both trains stop at Grand Circus Park, a short walk from the park, and both are free to ride.

Before you commit, look up the route from your hotel to Comerica Park in your maps app and compare driving, rideshare, and the trains.

Parking rates, transit fares, rideshare zones, and gate times in Detroit change from year to year, so check mlb.com/tigers for this season’s details before you plan around them.

Rideshare

Rideshare is the easy default. The Tigers name designated drop-off locations for Lyft on Adams Ave East and Winder Street. You skip the parking cost, and you skip the slow crawl out of a downtown garage after the game.

The harder part is getting home, because fares tend to surge right after the final out, when the park empties at once. After the game, the Tigers say to head to the designated Lyft pickup on Winder Street before you request your ride home. Another option is to have a drink nearby and let the crowd thin out before you walk over. You can find more about the nearby bars in our Around the Park section.

Driving and parking

The official Olympia Development garages put roughly 4,500 spaces within an easy walk of the gates, including the Tiger Garage, the Comerica Garage, and the McLaren Garage, so finding a spot is usually not the problem. Driving makes sense for a group with a car or for anyone staying out past the train lines. Getting out of a downtown garage is slow when everyone leaves at once, but it’s manageable if you expect it.

Here is what parking has cost:

• The Olympia garages have run roughly $15 to $30, depending on the garage and the game.
• Cheaper lots sit a few blocks out, at about $5 to $15.
• Street parking downtown has been free on Sundays, which helps if you’re going to a Sunday day game.
• Prepaying online has saved roughly 10 to 20 percent, and it speeds up entry.

SpotHero for a spot in advance

We partner with SpotHero, a parking-reservation app that lets you book and prepay for a downtown garage or lot, so you can drive straight to it on game day. Prices move by event, so check live.

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.

When to drive

• You would rather pay one parking fee than a rideshare fare each way, plus whatever the post-game surge adds.
• You are staying out past the train lines, in the suburbs or beyond an easy downtown connection.
• You want to leave on your own schedule, even if the garage is slow to empty.
• Your Michigan trip already includes a rental car.

The People Mover and the QLine

Two separate downtown trains stop a short walk from the park, and both are free to ride. Neither free ride is guaranteed forever, so check before you build a plan around it.

The People Mover

The People Mover is Detroit’s elevated downtown loop. Its Grand Circus Park station is a short walk from the gates, so once you are downtown it is the simplest way to and from the game. It is free to ride. The People Mover lists its hours as 6:30 am to midnight on weekdays, 10 am to midnight on Saturdays, and 10 am to 10 pm on Sundays.

The loop covers downtown only, so the People Mover is for short hops: from a downtown hotel, from a parking deck on the far side of the core, or from the riverfront. It does not reach Midtown or the suburbs. For those, the QLine or a rideshare is the answer.

The QLine

The QLine is the streetcar that runs up and down Woodward Avenue, from downtown through Midtown to the New Center area. It also stops at Grand Circus Park, the same short walk from the park, and it is free to ride. QLine says its streetcars run from 8 am to midnight Monday through Saturday, and from 8 am to 9 pm on Sundays.

Take the QLine if you want to pair the game with Midtown. The Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Historical Museum, and the Midtown restaurants sit along Woodward, a short streetcar ride up from the park. Stay in Midtown, ride down for the game, ride back after. Or eat in Midtown before first pitch and ride down with time to spare.

SMART and DDOT buses also serve downtown. (SMART is the suburban regional bus system; DDOT is the city of Detroit’s bus system.) For most visitors the two trains cover the game-day trip, but the buses widen the reach if your hotel is off the train lines, and the maps app will stitch the bus leg to the walk for you.

When to take the train

• Your hotel is a short walk from a People Mover stop or a QLine stop on Woodward.
• You want to pair the game with the Midtown museums or restaurants, where the QLine up Woodward is the direct connection.
• You would rather ride a free train than pay for a garage and wait in its exit line.
• You are solo or a couple and would rather not deal with a car downtown.

Getting here from the airport

Route 261, SMART’s FAST Michigan bus, is the one to catch from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) into downtown Detroit. It stops downtown at Rosa Parks Transit Center. From there, your maps app will show you the quickest way to the ballpark or to your hotel.

At McNamara Terminal, the 261 stops on the Departures Level near Door 1. At Evans Terminal, it stops at the Ground Transportation Center. A one-way SMART fare is as low as $2.

The DAX airport bus also runs to downtown, as low as $6 if you buy ahead, but its last trip back to the airport leaves downtown at 9:30 pm, so it only works after a day game.

Heading back after a night game. Book a rideshare back to DTW. Lyft riders meet their driver at the Tigers’ designated pickup on Winder Street. SMART’s last 261 toward the airport leaves Rosa Parks Transit Center before midnight every night, and earliest on Sundays. If the game runs long or you stay out after the final out, you can miss it, so look up the last trip for your date on the 261 schedule.

Rideshare and taxi. DTW says you can meet your rideshare driver only in the designated rideshare areas. At Evans Terminal, that is Level 1 of the Big Blue Deck, and at McNamara Terminal, it is Level 4 of the McNamara Parking Garage. Taxis are dispatched from the middle of the Ground Transportation Center on Level 4 at McNamara, and from the upper level of the Ground Transportation Center at Evans.

Renters can reserve a spot ahead of time in a downtown garage, and our Driving and parking section above shows how.

For the trip in, ride the 261. After a night game, a rideshare is the more dependable way back to DTW.

Luggage

The Tigers’ ballpark guide and security page list no bag check, lockers, or luggage storage at Comerica Park. Under the Tigers’ no-bag policy, single-compartment items smaller than 4 by 6 by 1.5 inches are allowed in, along with bags needed for medical reasons and diaper bags smaller than 16 by 16 by 8 inches. You can find more about what gets through the gate in our bag rule section.

A suitcase or a carry-on is far over the 4 by 6 by 1.5 inch limit, so go to your hotel on your way in from DTW. If it is too early to check in, hotel staff will usually hold your bags for you.

Gates and getting in

Gates open about an hour and 40 minutes before first pitch.

If you want the entrance with the most going on, look for the tigers. The main gate has 5 of them, the tallest standing upright at about 15 feet with a paw in the air, and another 33 tiger heads run around the brick facade. It is the signature Comerica photo.

Know Comerica Park better than we do? Tell us what we got wrong, or where we should be sending people instead.

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