Getting Around a Music Festival Site.

Some music festival sites can be huge making it a challenge for staff and volunteers to quickly get around the site. There are numerous reasons that organising staff may need to quickly get to another part of the site, what are the range of solutions available for rapid transit that meet cost and sustainability considerations.

The largest music festival sites can measure up to 1,000 acres in size, that’s the equivalent of 500 football pitches. For any event of this size, it is essential that organisers have the ability to get essential people, equipment and supplies across a large crowded space safely. Depending on the site layout, number of visitors and budget availability organisers opt for different on-site transport solutions. Once an on-site mobility strategy has been agreed it is essential to ensure that paths and routes used are safe for users and on-site visitors.

Walking.
Walking is sustainable, incurs no charge and with good planning staff and volunteers only need to walk short distances. Walking also promotes a healthy lifestyle approach and is preferred by many particularly on a very crowded site. For a festival organiser running the event on a tight budget they sometimes will provide no alternatives means of on-site transport insisting that everyone walks.

Bicycles. 
Some organisers invest in a small fleet of bicycles for staff and volunteers to use to get around a site. They are environmentally friendly and provide a quick means of traversing a big site. Purchasing up to 50 bicycles should not be too expensive for organisers and the cost can be written off over several events assuming they can be reused for several years or sold off at the end of an event. Pools of bicycles can be located at strategic points throughout the site without being allocated to specific individuals.

Electric Scooters. 
The investment required for electric rechargeable scooters and bicycles is considerably more and many will require maintenance and repairs. As with bicycles the cost could be written off over several events however, it may difficult to Justify the additional expense as they are unlikely to be any faster around a site than bicycles because of crowding.

Golf Carts. 
It is unlikely that a festival organiser will invest in purchasing golf carts, the rental route is far more sensible. Golf carts with a carrying capability can provide an essential service particularly for medical emergencies. They are also useful for getting essential equipment delivered to a stage or for managing on-site rubbish collection and vendor deliveries. Large festivals may hire a small fleet of golf carts with each allocated to specific duties and the can even be used for ferrying VIPs or artists and crew around the site.

All these transport solutions are environmentally friendly but the costs need to be scrutinised by organisers. Costs can be minimised by offering sponsor branding spaces or organisers can try doing a deal with manufactures of bicycles, electric scooters and golf carts to get a reduced cost in exchange for branding and advertising space or complimentary tickets.

For festival organisers planning their events 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, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Photo by Alexander Zvir via Pexels

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