Artist and Crew Transport Coordination for Music Festivals.

For any remotely located music festival taking place on a greenfield site the coordination of transport for artists and crew is essential for the smooth running of an event. What solutions should organisers consider implementing for an efficient, reliable and sustainable transport infrastructure for artists scheduled to perform.

Traditionally transport logistics have been done using a combination of spreadsheets and staff with walkie talkies. This has largely been replaced by sophisticated software systems which are helping to streamline transport organisation for music festivals. A large-scale festival could have hundreds of artists scheduled at different times over a number of days mixed in with various accommodation and transport requirements. In addition, sustainability is becoming a key consideration, and the use of more eco-friendly transport is now more popular. What steps can organisers take to create robust transport coordination for their artists and crew.

Critical Transport Logistics.
Organisers schedule artists and crew for specific performance set times which requires them to be on site in green rooms in good time. Additional considerations are sound checks and accommodation management with everything agreed in advance in contracts and riders. Organisers often block book hotel rooms near festival sites and commission transport fleets and drivers which need to be scheduled for the duration of the event. Artists and crew may be arriving from nearby airports, but most will arrive by van, car or coach for example. Some may be going directly to the festival site while others will be taking advantage of local hotel accommodation. It is essential that organisers are fully aware of the movements of all artists and crew in order to ensure that the appropriate transport is available at specified times.

Software Assistance.
The manual management of transport logistics using spreadsheets has been replaced by dedicated software platforms like Festival-Pro. This solution includes a dedicated transport and accommodation module. Transport fleets and destination points are added into a system that links inherently with artist’s and crew's schedules. A set time change will obviously have a knock-on effect on transport arrangements so automated changes make logistics more manageable. Selecting the appropriate transport is also key, a large band and crew contingent may require a min bus or coach rather than a car or small SUV for example. Automated notifications of schedules and changes can be issued to drivers, hospitality managers and the artist’s management team too. For transport fleet managers the use of predictive rerouting is now commonplace ensuring that drivers are directed around known traffic congestion and despatched at earlier times to account for longer travel times.

Sustainable Transport Solutions.
In an effort to make events more sustainable many organisers are now considering wider use of transport options that use HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) or are 100% electric. A key consideration when using any EV is the range limitation, especially when transport is in constant use, meaning that an EV can potentially be offline whist it recharges. To overcome this problem organisers can install an Ultra-Fast Charging Hub, a temporary 350kW+ charging station backstage which are battery-backed to avoid straining the local grid or festival generators. In some circumstance it may be possible to create a V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) system where high-capacity crew coaches are used as mobile batteries when not in use, even feeding power back into the festival's mini power grid.

Festival Site Hospitality and Transport.
A large festival site with multiple stages, green rooms and hospitality suites can often require artists and crew members to move around a site. Organisers utilise electric golf carts and small SUVs to move them around a site using dedicated routes that are clear of festival-goers to ensure unheeded movement in a fast and efficient manner. Whilst most on-site transport is conducted using drivers form the hospitality staff some organisers are considering the use of fully autonomous shuttles. These can be used on a repetitive loop basis to move artists and crew between stages and catering zones for example.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by roslynlimousine via Pixabay

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