145 replies to this topic

[eFestivals]

amfy, on 03 September 2010 - 08:25 AM, said:

I do think the problem with Glastonbury coaches is that with the size of the festival, the buses out can be a bit chaotic. The year we went to Glastonbury by coach (98 I think), I do have a memory of treking along a road in the pouring rain absolutely exhausted trying to find a coach with "Birmingham" on the front. I heard that in 2007 people were getting on coaches to anywhere in the end just to get out of there! Hearing the horror stories from 2007 leaves me feeling that for the moment - I'm paying the £20 parking and considering it good value for the convenience but I know the husband, who does the driving, would like to give more thought to the idea of the coach.

While I've not used the coaches myself, I think it's fair to say that 2007 was a one-off badly organised scenario - there's not been the same comments made in the years since.

[___S_o_m_a__]

I have to say that they seem to have the traffic, if not sorted then as close to it as possible. I've not really had any dramas entering the site on the Wednesday or leaving again on the Monday. No sitting about for hours on end either way. This is coming from the East. They get some roads that are normally two way and turn them into one way to allow more traffic to leave which certainly helps.

[tristanshout]

Where can I find out if there are buses to/from Hereford? As far as I'm aware they only run from big cities, but I could be wrong?

And not having travelled to Glastonbury by train, if we were to do so then how much waiting would we have at the station for the bus to the festival, and to leave the fesitival site to get back to the station on Monday morning? From what I gather from friends who we were camped with, they had to leave about 6am on the Monday just to avoid waiting for hours to get the train from Castle Cary.

We got up about 8am, packed up, and were in the car and out of the carpark by 9.15am. I'm not really sure why I'd want to spend an entire day with all my stuff, stood around in whatever weather conditions are thrown at us on that particular day, and cramped up in some tiny seat with loads of smelly people and nowhere to put luggage, and pay shitloads for the privilage. That's without even thinking about how many connections by train or bus would be needed, and time spent waiting around in between.

I'm pretty sure I'll be paying the £20 for us to park the car. It's not much to avoid all the inconvenience of travelling any other way.

[123ginge]

Somewhat pointless statement but there are carparks in London that charge over £20 for half a day, I'd rather go to Glastonbury.

[Bradders]

If the environmental thing is the issue (I think 75,000 cars (or whatever it is) driving to Glastonbury once a year is a drop in the ocean environmentally, but anyway...) then why doesn't Glastonbury implement Green Man's system, except with more expensive tickets? For example car parking is free for cars with 3 or more people, £30 for people with 1 or 2?

[MEGABOWL]

amfy, on 03 September 2010 - 08:25 AM, said:

I think the main thing we realised the couple of times we went to V by coach was that it was so much better on Monday morning.

You don't have to worry about staying under the limit from Sunday's drinking. It is always a concern that despite slowing down on sunday, 5 culminative days of drinking are likley to leave you over the limit on monday morning.
Even if not a drinker, it's great just to be able to doze off in that traffic, no sitting there with your foot on the clutch, inching forward for mile after mile. We slept right through the V traffic and we did find this a major bonus.

I do think the problem with Glastonbury coaches is that with the size of the festival, the buses out can be a bit chaotic. The year we went to Glastonbury by coach (98 I think), I do have a memory of treking along a road in the pouring rain absolutely exhausted trying to find a coach with "Birmingham" on the front. I heard that in 2007 people were getting on coaches to anywhere in the end just to get out of there! Hearing the horror stories from 2007 leaves me feeling that for the moment - I'm paying the £20 parking and considering it good value for the convenience but I know the husband, who does the driving, would like to give more thought to the idea of the coach.

FWIW I get the impression most of the problems were due to the weather, but also the Seetickets coaches themselves. Me, my fianceé and a mate used National Express in 2009 (to a different destination each!) and getting out on the Monday was great, really well organised. I think they're a bit expensive but their experience showed whereas Seetickets charter a variety of different firms to do their coaches.

I drove last year so I have a very fresh comparison in my head and I'm 99% certain I'll be back on public transport next year if I get a ticket