Bay Bridge Closure Costs Tampa Bay Rays Player A $202 Cab Ride
OAKLAND (AP) - Tampa Bay starter David Price is certainly regretting his choice to take a taxi to the Oakland Coliseum on Friday.
With the Bay Bridge closed all weekend, the alternate route ran him a whopping $202 - and he posted live updates of his frustrating adventure on Twitter during the long journey.
Hour ride from our hotel in San Fran to Oakland coliseum since the bay bridge is closed...nice timing!! Expensive ride...
— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) August 30, 2013
On the day he was scheduled to pitch against the A's, too.
Manager Joe Maddon took the team bus, leaving at 2 p.m. and arriving at the ballpark at 3:45. But Maddon had bargained on a one-hour trip and left his headphones behind. While he had a fully charged cellphone and iPad, he opted to use the time planning a cross-country offseason RV trip.
The Rays headed south on Highway 101, then crossed the San Mateo Bridge instead, with a short trip up 880 North after that. With it being Friday, it took even longer.
"Then we went to Salinas, headed over toward Hollister and came back up somewhere," joked Maddon. "It was pretty severe. People complain about Southern California, but at least there's more freeway options down there. There's very few freeway options here."
The Rays were prepared for the traffic jams - yet still opted to stay in San Francisco with a three-game weekend series in Oakland.
"We definitely knew," Maddon said. "Listen, I had no problem with it. I kind of enjoyed it. It was very nostalgic."
Yet Maddon wished he had planned a little bit better and brought his headphones along for the ride.
"I had Anchorman loaded up for the trip and I should have done it," Maddon said. "I was counting on an hour, so I actually could have watched an entire movie had I been smart enough."
Maddon says he will ride BART public transit before Saturday night's game with the Athletics. Price's plan?
He said on Twitter:
Don't worry I have a helicopter rented for tomorrow!! I'll get to the field in an estimated time of 8 minutes 24 seconds
— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) August 31, 2013
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
