Based on limited publicly available information, the average number of people per vehicle is 2.5 in round figures. Nothing has changed attendance-wise since 2007 of course. This very much implies to me that the number of vehicles with 1 or 2 people in is very significant given the fact that so many peeps claim to always have 3 or 4 in their car and not to mention the number of families of course who no doubt almost certainly come by car. There is absolutely nothing in any way wrong with a car used responsibly and having 4 peeps in a car is without doubt being used responsibly. The cost of driving on your own and quite likely even with just 1 passenger is unlikely to be less in
real terms than travelling by a more sustainable means ... unless you want to make it so in order to justify your position of course ! As for alleged loss of funding to the festival due to less cars - get real !! I doubt the income comes remotely close to paying for the bl**dy car parks and all the associated costs at all
Particularly so this year of course with all the additional clean-up costs that will without doubt be necessary hence the increased car park ticket price this year I guess.
However, the fact is that this year, Glasto appears to be predicting a 15% increase in the number of vehicles. Or at least that's what they appear to be expecting and have planned for as a matter of routine. This equates to them expecting around a 30% reduction in the number of peeps coming by public transport this year as compared to 2007. That hardly constitutes "encouraging peeps out of their cars and on to public transport" now does it, even if that is what they believe is the absolute worst-case scenario. No matter what, it's only an estimate and could equally well be a best-case scenario of course ! Something tells me that there's a *very* good reason why more up-to-date figures on vehicles and public transport use aren't published ... they would likely be somewhat embarrassing ! And figures for 2010 and 2011 highly likely to be even more so I reckon.
The lots of me.me.me bad attitude above comes as no surprise but what I always do find very pleasantly surprising is the number of groups of peeps who
DO come by public transport. Mostly young(ish) peeps but there can't honestly by that many peeps these days well over the legal age for driving who don't have a car themselves or don't have access to one. I'm quite sure they don't all do it because it's more expensive, less convenient, because they all want to save the world or for any of the other various standard responses that get thrown out of the pram when car drivers get asked questions and/or asked to act responsibly
Oh yeah, they're fairly often laden with shedloads of stuff including cooking gear, food, trolleys of booze etc. as well. I'm talking by train here rather than coach BTW, I have no experience of using the coach services.
Also, regards my somewhat tongue-in-cheek car parks open Wednesday suggestion ... nope, you definitely don't have to worry about putting tents up in the dark at all. Why on earth would you need to think about doing that FFS ? You can simply sleep in your car just like you would/will be doing on the Tuesday. There's absolutely no difference at all between what I suggested earlier and what is planned other than it being very much LESS convenient for YOU - the very people who are causing all the problems that the festival feels it has no choice but to address. YOU'RE the people causing the inconvenience to the locals and those who choose to travel sustainably by being irresponsible. So what makes YOU think that YOU deserve priority treatment of some kind ? Should quite rightly be more a case of cause problems and get a bl**dy good slap surely
Grow up, get real and all that
So there you have it: If car parks were to open 2000 hours
Wednesday, no problems whatsoever for the locals and you don't have to leave the car park and put up tents in the dark unless you want to. So where exactly is the problem ? You get to use the car, those wanting to use sustainable transport get to come as normal, locals aren't inconvenienced in any way and everyone wins it appears
I don't understand your problem at all, seems like a totally ideal solution to me and clearly meets everyone's needs ... unless you're just having a me.me.me stylee tantrum of course which I suppose is only to be expected when selfish and inconsiderate car drivers are trying to justify their often irresponsible actions
With 30% of peeps apparently coming by public transport and those mostly arriving on Wednesday, such a scheme with a late opening of car parks would surely tend to increase the use of public transport, hopefully to around the 50% level at least. It would also tend to balance arrivals more towards 50:50 across Wed/Thurs as was pretty much the case in the past and as the festival no doubt always intended it to be. Like I said, all problems apparently solved with no side-effects or unpredictable issues and a positive environmental benefit into the bargain ... SO WHY NOT !!!!!!!
PS: I do fully understand that the above would be detrimental to those responsible drivers who also bring 3 passengers with them so no need to shout about that aspect. It is quite clear that there are some vehicles with a sensible number of passengers but regrettably it is also clear that by far the majority probably do not. It is this apparent majority of irresponsible car drivers who are the primary cause of all of the problems and not the small minority of responsible drivers but unfortunately there is no particularly easy and non-problematic way that I can think of just now to differentiate the two
As I've said several times before tho, there is nothing at all wrong with private vehicles being used responsibly, I am not suggesting cars effectively be banned or anything suchlike.
Edited by mikeb, 15 February 2010 - 04:49 AM.
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But the real cost of using a private vehicle is not just the cost of diesel or whatever and I'll put a significant amount of money on there being a large number of vehicles with only 1 (or 2 at most) on board. I don't drive - I always use public transport everywhere I go (other than locally) no matter where or when or what for so I know all about the cost and other issues. But the fact is that it can often be cheaper than driving unless you have 3 or 4 peeps in the vehicle ! Unfortunately tho, you can and do get ripped off, esp when travelling to major events or popular destinations such as Glasto of course 
