More than 100,000 Belmont Stakes-attendees at Belmont Park, Long Island, were caught in a massive traffic jam on Saturday after the event, causing some to scramble for alternative modes of transportation.
People waited several hours to take the Long Island Railroad, which had about 36,000 passengers that day, according to Newsday. Attendees complained on social media about the rail capacity and lack of lighting and security in the parking lot where they were trapped for as much as 12 hours.
The traffic incident at the Belmont Stakes is an ongoing issue across North American venues: how to get large crowds safely in and out. Several venues have turned to shuttle systems to deal with traffic problems.
The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, managed by Nederlander Concerts, launched its new shuttle program in May. After searching many years for suitable off-site parking, the venue found shuttle parking at the Griffith Park train and pony-rides lot on Crystal Springs Drive, near the I-5 exit.
The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles now offers ADA-equipped, air-conditioned and energy efficient shuttle transportation for guests.
The 6,000-seat venue is nestled within Griffith Park, in the Los Feliz neighborhood near Hollywood, with limited parking around the venue. The parking has previously been so bad that many cars had to be stacked, meaning they were not able to get out until the car in front or behind them left.
“It’s an exclusive neighborhood,” said Rena Wasserman, GM at the Greek. “[The residents] live directly on – for the most part – the one road in and one road out so, obviously, you’ve got congestion going on. You’re in a park; you’re not in an urban environment where there are parking structures.”
Ridership has gradually increased and the venue has gotten positive feedback, she said.
The shuttle parking lots have a 300-car capacity, and the shuttles can take 21 passengers. The ride takes about 10 minutes, with the first starting 90 minutes before the show and going on a loop until an hour after the show ends.
“It’s easy – it’s well-signed; it’s well-lit,” Wasserman said. “You get yourself out of the part that we all hate about going to a venue that has one road in and one road out.”
The Greek Theatre runs the shuttles through Standard Parking, their partner for their parking lots, which uses Empire Transportation for the buses themselves. Shuttle tickets cost $7 in advance, as opposed to self-parking in the venue’s lots for $15-$25 advance and $20-$30 day of show.
“On a sold-out night, you’ve got roughly 2,000 cars,” Wasserman said. “If you take 300 out of that equation, almost everybody can be nonstacked.”
Other venues around the U.S., like the Mishawaka Amphitheatre in Bellvue, Colo., are using off-site parking and shuttle transportation to help with congestion during events.
Officials at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre started running four of its own buses this year. It is located within a national park, in the Poudre Canyon. Built in 1916, the 1,000-capacity venue has only 60 parking spots.
“Historically the scenic byway was the venue's parking lot, which caused a lot of consternation and really was pretty dangerous,” said Owner and GM Dani Grant.
There was uncertainty whether the venue could even continue to exist because of authorities’ safety concerns, and the National Forest Service wanted to turn the venue into a boat ramp at one point, Grant said. Shuttles were a way to resolve that conflict.
The ride takes about 45 minutes up to the venue and costs $15 round-trip, as opposed to self-parking for $40. The venue has seven buses that hold 40-50 people each.
“At first, people were waiting two hours,” Grant said. “Now we have a really well-honed system. When the buses come, we call it a crowd-in-a-can. We stage them. We’ll bring 500 people over the course of two hours.”
People are willing to reserve the ride ahead of time for the sake of sustainability and also so that they don’t have to navigate the windy road up and down the hill at night, she said.
Venues in downtown areas reap the benefits of shuttle transportation as well. The Mizner Park Amphitheatre, Boca Raton, Fla., located in an outdoor upscale shopping and dining center, offers free trolley service for big events, for now.
"If we find that they become a neccessity and there is a great demand for most events, then we will revisit a for-fee ride, but at this point it's not being considered," Community Relations Manager Chrissy Biagiotti said.
The pick-up and drop-off spot is outside city hall and the downtown library, about one-quarter mile away from the venue.
“When we have big events, there’s not enough parking on site,” Biagiotti said. “For bigger festivals, if we know we’ll have 5,000 people, we'll contract with the trolley service. We really tailor it to the events.”
The whole downtown needs additional parking, she said. Trolleys are a common solution around that area.
“We don’t want to invite people and not have a place for them to park,” Biagiotti said.
Shuttle service can not only be a means of avoiding parking traffic, but also as a way for guests to move around easier within large venues.
At the Winter X Games in Aspen, where there are 20,000-25,000 attendees a day, all spectators are shuttled in since there is no parking on-site.
Next year, X Games Austin-attendees may be getting around the 350-acre Circuit of the Americas venue via shuttle. Shuttles are already used to get people to the main entrance because it is a long walk, but the ESPN X Games may take it a step further.
"There's so much real estate here — how can we make it more convenient to get from one end to the other?" asked Deane Swanson, senior director, content strategy global X Games, ESPN. "We may see what we can do as far as transportation within the actual space, from one competition to another."
Interviewed for this article: Rena Wasserman, (323) 665-5857; Dani Grant, (970) 482-4420; Chrissy Biagiotti, (561) 393-7700; Deane Swanson, (310) 642-1509