D.C. issues 716 parking tickets

D.C. officials appear serious about ensuring that Nationals fans do not park illegally in the neighborhood around the team’s new ballpark.

The D.C. Department of Public Works towed 103 vehicles from the Southeast and Southwest neighborhoods around Nationals Park over the weekend and issued 716 parking tickets.

The agency used 12 trucks to tow 72 cars during the Nationals’ exhibition game against the Orioles. On Sunday, the agency used 16 trucks to tow 31 vehicles.

“They made a solemn promise to ticket and tow with vigor all season,” said David Sobelsohn, a representative from advisory neighborhood commission 6D, near the stadium. “We’ve been counting on them.”

Agency spokeswoman Linda Grant said large numbers of vehicles are typically not towed unless there is a special event and residents make a request. She also said the department usually never tows on Sundays.

By comparison, only four trucks were used to tow cars during the first Nationals game at RFK Stadium in 2005.

Grant said tickets were issued for violations like vehicles parked in emergency zones, restricted parking areas and no-stopping zones. However, the agency waived the towing charge over the weekend. Officials were noncommittal on whether they would continue to waive the fee.

Still, many baseball fans chose public transportation. The Nationals reported higher-than-expected ridership on its free shuttle service from the parking lots at RFK Stadium. And Metro reported that 21,492 fans — or about half of those who attended the game — took the Green Line to and from the Navy Yard Metro station near the ballpark Sunday. By most accounts, travel to Nationals Park by Metro went smoothly in part because the ballpark opened nearly five hours before the game. Fans had more delays getting home. Hundreds crowded Half Street Southeast outside the Navy Yard Metro station after the game. From 10:45 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. Sunday, the stream of fans tested the capacity of the station, which was recently expanded to accommodate 15,000 fans an hour.

“For a good half-hour it was super-crowded,” Metro spokeswoman Cathy Agato said. “It was just jam packed.”

Metro added 15 trains to accommodate the crush Sunday, and several fans said they did not have to wait long for a ride home despite the large crowds.

“There was a good size crowd leaving all at once, but it looked worse than it was,” said Mike Taylor, a commercial television director from Richmond.

Taylor said he waited five and seven minutes for a train.

“I thought that was fairly reasonable,” he said.

The next test for the Nationals, Metro and the city will be Monday’s game, when fans will compete with rush-hour traffic to get to the ballpark.

“It’s a whole new ball game because it’s a weeknight,” Agato said. “It’s going to be crowded, and everyone’s just going to have to be patient.”