Planning Public Transport and Capacity for Large Music Festivals.

A sizable music festival that attracts large numbers of festival-goers taking place on a greenfield site requires meticulous planning. Whilst the most popular mode of transport for festival-goers is the car organisers are pushing for greater use of public transport options. This change contributes to a reduced carbon footprint and meeting sustainability objectives.

Existing public transport availability does not account for a sudden rise in demand from thousands of festival-goers over a long weekend. Festival organisers need to collaborate with transport providers to plan for a temporarily increase in existing capacity and where necessary commission additional transport options. Increasing use of public transport to get to and from a festival site can reduce local traffic congestion, improve safety and enhance the overall festival-goer experience. Use of private cars by festival-goers remains one of the biggest contributory factors for a festival's carbon footprint and increased public transport use can help reduce this impact. How should organisers coordinate with public transport providers to accurately plan potential capacities.

Public Transport Options.
There is generally no single mode of public transport available for organisers to consider, instead a dynamic mix is usually the most effective. Rail systems can provide scheduled high-capacity options, but local stations may still be some distance from a site requiring additional shuttle buses to get festival-goers onto a site. If a fleet of additional shuttle buses is commissioned, they can also be used to operate between a remotely located park and ride facilities. Coach operators often run scheduled services between major towns and cities, sometimes linking with locally run bus companies who operate scheduled services to smaller villages and towns. All these options generally run to strict timetables and have capacity limits which may not immediately deliver transport solutions for festival organisers.

Collaboration and Capacity Planning.
In order to integrate public transport as a viable option for festvial-goers, organisers need to collaborate with providers like rail and bus operators and local authorities, for example. This often requires providers to increase overall capacity and frequency of service as well as more staff for crowd control at stations. A key part of this collaboration process is for festival organisers to provide accurate forecasts of anticipated numbers of festival-goers along with expected dates and times. Organisers can check historical data to get estimates of ticket sales by type and day and where possible their home location to determine where they will be travelling from. In addition, organisers will know from previous events the estimated number of festival-goers expected to use public transport vs. private cars. Arrival and departure times can also be forecast depending on when an event opens gates and when the event ends. Some organisers use simple formulas to estimate potential demand for public transport: 20,000 festival-goers leaving over a 1-hour period would require 400 bus departures if each bus had a capacity of 50 people, for example. Additional factors for consideration can be unexpected traffic delays, plus loading and turnaround times. Similar assumptions can be made about trains where carrying capacities will obviously be much higher.

Infrastructure Logistics.
Once organisers have made agreements with public transport operators, these services can be offered to potential ticket buyers. The use of public transport is often pushed by organisers promoting it as helping to contribute to their sustainability objectives. Booking public transport options are usually made available during the ticket purchase process. When festival-goers have selected their transport options, organisers and operators can consider agreed staggered arrival and departure times to ease potential congestion. Organisers and transport operators should provide clear signage indicating waiting zones and fenced off queue systems at stations and on festival sites. With a large number of people, effective crowd control is essential to maintain safety. Live updates on transport arrivals and departures can be posted on the festival app or social media channels to keep everyone informed.

Sustainability.
Reducing the carbon footprint of a festival from private car usage is a key objective for most organisers running events on greenfield sites. They can use various incentives to encourage ticket buyers to choose a public transport option. This often takes the form of a bundled price that includes the ticket and public transport at an overall lower price than selecting a car option. If organisers are commissioning a shuttle bus fleet, they should consider contractors who can provide electric or low emission vehicles.

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.

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