Parking

[uscore]

Does anyone know whether the amount of parking tickets sold over the last few years is decreasing?  The price goes up each year and I'm wondering if it is having an effect, or if people just shrug and consider it a necessary expense.

How expensive will it have to get before people really start buying into alternative plans?

[bennyhana22]

7 minutes ago, uscore said:

Does anyone know whether the amount of parking tickets sold over the last few years is decreasing?  The price goes up each year and I'm wondering if it is having an effect, or if people just shrug and consider it a necessary expense.

How expensive will it have to get before people really start buying into alternative plans?

About £500

If people are fortunate enough to secure that Golden Ticket and are gonna drive, they're gonna pay, price increase or not. Not saying it's right, btw, just how it is.

Ben

[The_Amazing_Oblong]

Well it's £50 pp for the return coach, we normally have 4 in a car (I'm lucky enough to have a fuel card so only pay the tax on fuel) so the parking for us would have to be close to £200 for us to make a loss. Even then people would pay more than that for the convenience.

As Ben said, it's not right but it is what it is.

I've opted for coach this year but that was partly down to getting 2 bites at the ticket cherry, partly down to avoiding a repeat of last years fiasco and arriving completely knackered.

[BagpussSeesAllThings]

I don't think it's too bad if you're sharing and in a small car. If I got the coach I'd be able to take less things I'd like (like fancy dress and booze!) also it just stresses me out a bit more relying on public transport (3 hour queue at Castle Cary last year was a killer, so close but so far).

Out of interest regarding the parking, can you buy a parking ticket on the day? Or should I just get one now? 

[duke88]

34 minutes ago, mattiosmith said:

Out of interest regarding the parking, can you buy a parking ticket on the day? Or should I just get one now? 

You can buy on the day, think it's a fiver more.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I'd imagine the festival could do with nobody driving as most of the cost of the ticket is probably going to the associated land owner. So I can see the car park ticket rising fairly substantially over the next few years one way or the other.

[p.pete]

1 hour ago, The_Amazing_Oblong said:

Well it's £50 pp for the return coach, we normally have 4 in a car (I'm lucky enough to have a fuel card so only pay the tax on fuel) so the parking for us would have to be close to £200 for us to make a loss. Even then people would pay more than that for the convenience.

As Ben said, it's not right but it is what it is.

I've opted for coach this year but that was partly down to getting 2 bites at the ticket cherry, partly down to avoiding a repeat of last years fiasco and arriving completely knackered.

A green system might be something like £50 plus a further £50 per empty seat in the vehicle.  If there's 4 in the car it's cheaper than the bus, but at least you're group travelling.  At the moment if there's 1or2 people in the car they might have similar costs if they used public transport, but there needs to be a bit more of a push.

Edit: Obviously that slows people getting off site, and can't rely on people to be honest up front.  

Edited May 11, 2017 by p.pete

[blackred]

I doubt it makes a huge difference but hopefully increases the number sharing cars?

Cost of coaches is crazy, for most people just doubling up would work out cheaper - 3 or 4 significantly so.

Not really sure how they could solve this issue without reducing tickets sold.

[Dave_c]

Coaches are too expensive to be honest so there is no real incentive to take a coach given the limitations that come with it.

[Alvarhanso]

If the price is mainly driven by the cost of the landowners demands they could in theory do a park and ride system. It at least reduces the journeys of those travelling a little and would drastically reduce traffic 

[duke88]

3 hours ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

I'd imagine the festival could do with nobody driving as most of the cost of the ticket is probably going to the associated land owner. So I can see the car park ticket rising fairly substantially over the next few years one way or the other.

There must be a limit of how many people can actually travel by coach though, just because of the difficulty of sourcing enough vehicles from enough locations. Know it would never happen, but you'd need almost 3,000 coaches if everyone travelled by coach.

[medzy]

I do three shifts on the car parks as my way to get into the festival.  I would say car park tickets sold are still high, I remember on one of my shifts I took in about £3k and thats not including all the cars coming in with a car park sticker already purchased.

I don't think there is a problem with car parking, most people who pay on the day are usually ok, some think its a rip off but overall they aren't too bothered because they just want to get on site.  When I have done the late shift (midnight to 8am) I do feel sorry for the ones that still have to setup and its pouring with rain and travelled for hours on end! (I have to admit that I don't miss that part of the festival when I used to get my tickets through general sale!)

[Ollie9917]

I'm parking by my aunts house and walking there. I can't afford that £50 lmao 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Does anybody know how much parking is if you haven't pre-bought a ticket?

[uscore]

I agree with most that although it's expensive - what else can you do?  It would be lovely to arrive by coach, but the times are restrictive and the luggage limits are prohibitive.  Maybe the next price increase for car park tickets should be used to subsidise the coach travel?

Some method to bring extra luggage on the coach would be good too - similar to the bike scheme where if you cycled in they would bring your stuff in and you could collect it all onsite.   That would make me consider coaches - if all you needed to carry was your tent - once that's up you can go and collect the rest of your stuff from a pickup point.

[___S_o_m_a__]

21 minutes ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Does anybody know how much parking is if you haven't pre-bought a ticket?

Think it's a fiver on top of the current price so would be £50 at the gate on the day.

[___S_o_m_a__]

16 hours ago, Deaf Nobby Burton said:

I'd imagine the festival could do with nobody driving as most of the cost of the ticket is probably going to the associated land owner. So I can see the car park ticket rising fairly substantially over the next few years one way or the other.

Suspect if nobody drove there wouldn't be enough money for the festival to go ahead the next year.

[Alvarhanso]

1 hour ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

Does anybody know how much parking is if you haven't pre-bought a ticket?

If you already have your festival ticket but no car park ticket it's actually cheaper to pay on the day as you'd be charged postage etc on the car parking ticket booked on its own which takes it over 50

[Avalon_Fields]

My guess is the parking numbers - in official car parks - have reduced but not because of the cost, more because there's a bigger proportion now staying at off-site locations, CV fields, and with the cycling and bus initiatives.

 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, ___S_o_m_a__ said:

Think it's a fiver on top of the current price so would be £50 at the gate on the day.

Nice one ___S_o_m_a__.  

My approach to this Glastonbury is going to be an attempt at frugality. I think. Well, maybe, anyways! I don't really spend much at Glastonbury in any case. The main expense is always the shit load of drugs you've got to take in, to last you 5 days. 

[ghostdancer1]

3 of us in a car works out way cheaper than going by coach from an inconvenient location at a possibly inconvenient time, so we always drive.

I'd certainly be in favour of parking at B&W showground (or somewhere else offsite for example) and getting a free shuttle bus to the festival, if GFL wanted to stop dishing out big money to the surrounding landowners to rent their fields for parking.

[uscore]

I suspect those land owners moan, but wouldn't want to miss out on the £££ when it comes down to it. 

[evilduck]

19 hours ago, p.pete said:

A green system might be something like £50 plus a further £50 per empty seat in the vehicle.  If there's 4 in the car it's cheaper than the bus, but at least you're group travelling.  At the moment if there's 1or2 people in the car they might have similar costs if they used public transport, but there needs to be a bit more of a push.

Edit: Obviously that slows people getting off site, and can't rely on people to be honest up front.  

I only have two in my car, but petrol and the car park ticket make it about £45 each. To get a return coach from London (plus the expense of getting to London) is still more than this. It's still cheaper for me to drive, and I get to cram all my stuff into my car. The car park ticket would have to go up an awful lot, or the coach to get a fair bit cheaper for it to be worth it for me to switch.

[Maurice Mecca]

£45 seems steep, but when you think it's £9 a day for the 5 days it doesn't seem unreasonable, compared to council run and NCP parking in cities and towns around the country.

Over time it will drive more people to car share where possible but I don't see it being replaced by coaches/trains etc. as the convenience of driving and getting all your stuff door to door far outweighs the alternative.

 

[___S_o_m_a__]

1 minute ago, Maurice Mecca said:

£45 seems steep, but when you think it's £9 a day for the 5 days it doesn't seem unreasonable, compared to council run and NCP parking in cities and towns around the country.

But when you pay for parking in town you're not also paying £200 to go to the town.