A first rail trip to Pasadena ends at Memorial Park Station, and the last leg is a bus that loads in an Old Town parking lot and runs only when an event page says so.
The Rose Bowl Shuttle runs from the Parsons Engineering Complex in Old Town Pasadena to Lot B, and it replaces a walk of approximately 2.4 miles from Memorial Park Station. Both ends of the ride and the walk come from Rose Bowl Stadium, read September 2026; the boarding lot, the operator and the frequency come from Metro.
The Rose Bowl Shuttle loads at the Parsons Engineering Complex and sets riders down at Lot B
The Rose Bowl Shuttle carries guests between the Parsons Engineering Complex in Old Town Pasadena and Lot B, according to Rose Bowl Stadium, read September 2026. It does not run for every event. Metro places the boarding point in Parsons Parking Lot B, two blocks along Holly Street and across Fair Oaks Avenue, and calls the service free.
Each row sets a rider’s question against what each issuer prints, and names the line worth planning on.
| Rose Bowl Shuttle question | What Rose Bowl Stadium publishes | What Metro publishes | The line to plan on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boarding point in Old Town Pasadena | Parsons Engineering Complex | Parsons Parking Lot B, across Fair Oaks Avenue | Metro’s, because it names the lot and the crossing |
| Set down point at the stadium | Lot B, where the shuttle depot is located | The stadium, with no lot named | The stadium’s Lot B |
| Operator of the buses | n/a: no operator named on the stadium pages read | Foothill Transit | Metro’s, the only issuer that names one |
| Fare or pass | A shuttle pass on Getting Here; generally free with an occasional fee on Accessible Services | Free | The event page for the date, since the stadium allows both |
| Start time | Printed per event, from 1:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday pages of 2026 read here | n/a: check with the event organizer | The event page timeline |
| Frequency | n/a: no interval appears on the stadium pages | Every 5-7 minutes | Metro’s, the only frequency in print |
| Days it runs | Not available for all events | Select special events | Both, which say the same thing |
| Walk from Memorial Park Station when it is not running | Approximately 2.4 miles | 1.5 miles through the Arroyo Seco trail | The stadium’s 2.4 miles, measured to its own building |
One bus, two issuers, and no fare settled for a given date.
Parsons Parking Lot B in Old Town and Lot B at the stadium are different lots on one shuttle
Metro directs A Line riders out of Memorial Park Station onto Holly Street, right for 2 blocks to Fair Oaks Avenue, and across it to a bus on the left in Parsons Parking Lot B, read September 2026. At the far end riders step off at Lot B, where the stadium locates its shuttle depot.
Two lots named B therefore sit at opposite ends of one ride, and a meeting point or an app pick up typed as Lot B has two candidates. Adding Parsons or Rose Bowl to the name removes the doubt.
Drivers get their own directions to the Old Town end. Rose Bowl Stadium publishes four routes into the Parsons parking lot, finishing on Holly Street from the 134 and the westbound 210, on Union Street from the 110, and on Walnut Street from the eastbound 210, with no price or opening hour beside them. ADA and access vehicle drop off sits in the stadium’s Lot B as well, and the lettered lots are measured in the Pasadena lots the stadium measures in square feet and never prices.
Each Rose Bowl event page prints its own shuttle start, and the 2026 Saturdays ran from 1:15 to 5:00 p.m.
Shuttle operation varies depending on the event, according to Rose Bowl Stadium, which sends riders to the specific event page for details, read September 2026. Those pages print a timeline, and on the ones below the shuttle line sits beside the parking line and the kickoff or show.
| Rose Bowl Stadium event page | Parking lots open | Shuttle operation begins | Kickoff or show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico vs Australia, Saturday, May 30, 2026 | 1:30 p.m. | 1:30 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. |
| Noah Kahan, Saturday, August 15, 2026 | 2:30 p.m. | 2:30 p.m. | 6:00 p.m. |
| Guns N’ Roses, Saturday, September 5, 2026 | 2:30 p.m. | 2:30 p.m. | 6:25 p.m. |
| San Diego State vs UCLA, Saturday, September 12, 2026 | 10:15 a.m. | 1:15 p.m. | 4:15 p.m. |
| Purdue vs UCLA, Saturday, September 19, 2026 | 2:00 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. | 8:00 p.m. |
| Wisconsin vs UCLA, Saturday, October 17, 2026 | n/a: no timeline when read | n/a: no timeline when read | n/a: no time when read |
At the two concerts and the Mexico match the shuttle begins at the same minute the lots open. At both UCLA games the timeline puts the shuttle 3 hours before kickoff and the lot opening 6 hours before it (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026). The 2024 USC vs UCLA page on the same site names the service outright as the Parsons Shuttle, beginning at 4:30 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
A UCLA tailgater who arrives with the lot opening will not find a bus from Old Town at that hour.
Free, a pass or an occasional fee: three Rose Bowl Shuttle fare lines from two issuers
On its Getting Here page, Rose Bowl Stadium tells Metro riders to purchase a shuttle pass, read September 2026. Its Accessible Services page says the service is generally free of charge, although occasionally there is a fee to ride. Metro prints a third version: the Foothill Transit Rose Bowl Shuttle is free.
None of the 2026 timelines in the table prints a shuttle fare or a pass, and their parking link points to JustPark, a marketplace whose listings are not a source here and whose prices are the seller’s, not the stadium’s. The line to plan on is the Accessible Services one, the only venue sentence that allows for both outcomes. A rider holding only Metro’s free, or only the stadium’s pass, has half the published record.
Metro names Foothill Transit as the operator, and the Rose Bowl pages read here name none
Foothill Transit is the operator Metro names, for a shuttle that runs to the stadium for select special events, and Metro tells riders to check with the event organizer that shuttles are in service, read September 2026. On the stadium pages read for this guide the bus is the Rose Bowl Shuttle or the Parsons Shuttle, with no operator named.
In the venue’s own words, shuttle buses service is not available for all Rose Bowl Stadium events or events and activities in the Arroyo Seco. When it is scheduled it is wheelchair accessible, and patrons with disabilities get front of the line access and the next available bus at the origin and in Lot B, according to Rose Bowl Stadium.
Some dates bring another arrangement. For the Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2026, the event page sent guests to park at Dodger Stadium for a free Dodger Stadium Shuttle, or to a Rose Bowl Game Shuttle at 100 W. Walnut St., Pasadena, and listed Shuttle Starts at 9:00 a.m. without saying which one. UCLA’s own pages, linked from the stadium’s game pages for tickets, are outside the sources read here, so no UCLA run service is described.
Metro’s 90 minute margin worked backward to Union Station for three Saturday events
Metro advises arriving at Memorial Park Station at least 90 minutes before the event start time, read September 2026. The table applies that margin to three 2026 Saturdays, using the A Line timetable Metro publishes for Saturday, Sunday and holidays, effective June 7, 2026, whose times the sheet labels approximate.
| Rose Bowl Stadium event, 2026 | Kickoff or show | At Memorial Park Station by, on Metro’s margin | Last northbound A Line arrival at Memorial Park before that | Same train at Union Station | Shuttle start on the event page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego State vs UCLA, September 12 | 4:15 p.m. | 2:45 p.m. | 2:42 p.m. | 2:18 p.m. | 1:15 p.m. |
| Guns N’ Roses, September 5 | 6:25 p.m. | 4:55 p.m. | 4:52 p.m. | 4:28 p.m. | 2:30 p.m. |
| Purdue vs UCLA, September 19 | 8:00 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:22 p.m. | 5:58 p.m. | 5:00 p.m. |
Arrival targets and the choice of train are derived from Metro’s margin and the Rose Bowl start times (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026). For Purdue vs UCLA, the 5:58 p.m. departure from Union Station is the last train that keeps the margin, reaching the platform at 6:22 p.m., eight minutes before the doors time on the Rose Bowl page.
What the pairing settles is the arrival clock: on all three dates the timeline has the bus running before Metro’s margin puts a rider at the station. What it leaves open is the stretch from the platform to Parsons, since neither issuer prints a walking time for the two blocks and the crossing. Metrolink riders, whom Rose Bowl Stadium sends to Union Station for the A Line, need to be off their train before those departures.
For a night kickoff reached from downtown Los Angeles, the A Line and the shuttle win, on the criterion that both halves of the trip carry a published clock. The walk loses on any date the shuttle runs, and a car driven to Parsons loses on a price nobody prints. The Dodgers fill the blanks Pasadena leaves, with a boarding landmark, a headway and, for one of two services, a last inbound bus, in the free Dodger Stadium Express from Union Station.
Memorial Park Station to the stadium is approximately 2.4 miles for Rose Bowl Stadium and 1.5 miles for Metro
Rose Bowl Stadium gives the walk from Memorial Park Station as approximately 2.4 miles, read September 2026. Metro, answering how to reach the Rose Bowl when the shuttle is not running, says to walk 1.5 miles through the Arroyo Seco trail. The gap is 0.9 mile (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026), and neither issuer says at which gate its count ends.
The figure to plan on is the stadium’s 2.4 miles: it is the venue’s own measure to its own building, and a group that budgets for the shorter walk and meets the longer one arrives late. The same Metro answer adds Pasadena Transit Route 51 or 52 toward the Rose Bowl, running Monday through Saturday, or a rideshare from the station, so a Sunday event without a shuttle is left with the walk and the rideshare on Metro’s page.
The ride back reverses the route, and the last southbound A Line leaves Memorial Park at 12:11 a.m.
After the event, simply reverse your route, according to Rose Bowl Stadium, and Metro says to pick up the bus shuttle where you were dropped off, read September 2026. Neither issuer prints a closing hour for the shuttle on the pages read here.
Both A Line timetables, weekday and weekend, show the last southbound train at Memorial Park at 12:11 a.m. and at Union Station at 12:36 a.m., and Metro warns that rail lines after 8 p.m. are subject to maintenance delays. The lot deadline and the two re-entry refusals are in the Rose Bowl exit that closes both doors in writing.
Rose Bowl Shuttle details that change a first trip into Pasadena
Each item rests on a line Rose Bowl Stadium or Metro publishes, read September 2026.
- A meeting point written as Parsons Parking Lot B or as the stadium’s Lot B cannot be misread, while a plain Lot B can.
- The Wisconsin vs UCLA page for October 17 had no timeline when read, so the shuttle start for a late season game has to be looked up again nearer the date.
- A cooler that rides the A Line still stops at the gate: Metro allows small coolers on board, and the stadium lists coolers as prohibited, along with the rest of the Rose Bowl refusal list, from purses to umbrellas.
- A round trip loaded on a TAP card before the event is Metro’s own tip for skipping lines afterward, and the last southbound train leaves Memorial Park at 12:11 a.m.
- Free parking at Sierra Madre Villa Station, listed by Metro, sits further along the A Line toward Pomona, where a Saturday southbound train timed at 5:51 p.m. reaches Memorial Park at 5:58 p.m., while the Parsons lot shows no price.
Rose Bowl Shuttle assumptions that strand a rider at the wrong Lot B
- Assuming the shuttle runs for every event. The stadium says it is not available for all events, and Metro limits it to select special events.
- Expecting a bus when the UCLA lots open. At San Diego State vs UCLA the lots opened at 10:15 a.m. and the shuttle at 1:15 p.m.
- Treating the trail walk as the fallback. The venue’s figure from Memorial Park Station is approximately 2.4 miles, longer than Metro’s trail distance.
- Counting Metro’s margin back from the gates. The margin runs from the event start, so a Guns N’ Roses rider aimed at the 6:25 p.m. show, which meant the 4:52 p.m. arrival at Memorial Park, and not at the 5:00 p.m. gates.
- Taking a JustPark listing for the shuttle fare. The event pages link JustPark for parking, and a marketplace price is not a fare the stadium publishes.
Which Rose Bowl Stadium and Metro pages carried each shuttle line, read September 2026
The Parsons Engineering Complex, Lot B, the shuttle pass, the 2.4 mile walk and the Parsons driving routes come from the Rose Bowl Stadium Getting Here page; the wheelchair access, the shuttle depot and the generally free line from its Accessible Services page; the start times and the 2024 Parsons Shuttle wording from the event pages. Foothill Transit, Parsons Parking Lot B, the frequency, the free fare, the trail walk, Routes 51 and 52 and the arrival margin come from Metro’s Rose Bowl destination page, and train times from Metro’s A Line timetable effective June 7, 2026, read by position on the sheet, column by column, all in September 2026.
The figures in this guide were verified in September 2026 against the sources named in each section. Shuttle operation changes with the event, event timelines are posted one date at a time, and rail timetables change with each service change; check the issuer’s page before you travel.
What riders ask before boarding the Rose Bowl Shuttle in Old Town Pasadena
Six answers drawn from the Rose Bowl Stadium Getting Here, Accessible Services and event pages and from Metro’s Rose Bowl page and A Line timetable, read September 2026.
At the Parsons Engineering Complex, according to Rose Bowl Stadium, read September 2026. On Metro’s directions the bus waits in Parsons Parking Lot B: from Memorial Park Station, right on Holly Street for 2 blocks, then across Fair Oaks Avenue, with the shuttle on the left. It sets riders down at the stadium’s own Lot B.
Usually. The stadium’s Accessible Services page says the service is generally free of charge although occasionally there is a fee, while its Getting Here page tells Metro riders to purchase a shuttle pass, read September 2026. In Metro’s wording the Foothill Transit Rose Bowl Shuttle is free. The event page for the date is where the stadium sends riders for shuttle details.
A different time for each event page. In 2026 the stadium printed 1:30 p.m. for Mexico vs Australia, 2:30 p.m. for Noah Kahan and Guns N’ Roses, 1:15 p.m. for San Diego State vs UCLA and 5:00 p.m. for Purdue vs UCLA. At both UCLA games the bus is timed 3 hours before kickoff (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026).
Foothill Transit, according to Metro, which calls it the Foothill Transit Rose Bowl shuttle for select special events, read September 2026. The Getting Here, Accessible Services and event pages of Rose Bowl Stadium read for this guide name no operator, and call the bus the Rose Bowl Shuttle or the Parsons Shuttle.
For the Purdue vs UCLA kickoff at 8:00 p.m., Metro’s margin puts a rider at Memorial Park Station by 6:30 p.m. The weekend A Line timetable shows a train there at 6:22 p.m. that leaves Union Station at 5:58 p.m., and the shuttle start on the event page is 5:00 p.m. (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026).
Yes, when it is scheduled. According to Rose Bowl Stadium, the shuttle bus service is wheelchair (ADA) accessible, and patrons with disabilities get front of the line access and the next available bus at the origin and in Lot B, where the shuttle depot is located, read September 2026. It does not run for every event.
One bus, two lots named B, and three ways of writing what it costs
The venue prints the start of the Rose Bowl Shuttle one event at a time, and Metro prints its frequency, its operator and a walk shorter by 0.9 mile (Lot Opens calculation, September 2026). Neither page alone takes a first time rider from the A Line platform to the right Lot B.
Related guides
- Chase Center by Muni and Caltrain, an arrival with a timetable at each end
- Climate Pledge Arena, where the Link stops at Westlake and the monorail finishes the trip
In Pasadena the bus is published one date at a time, so the event page, not the stadium’s standing copy, works as the timetable.