TRANSPORTATION
Checklist
Here’s what you can do, rated on effort involved:
- Offer secure bike parking (bike racks) for guests, staff and volunteers
- Provide information about how event goers can use public transit by showcasing maps, bus and subway routes for participants
- Promote local cycling or walking tours in your areas
- Charge for parking to promote carpooling and using public transportation
- Minimize the need to commute by choosing a venue convenient to most local participants
- Promote secure and accessible bike parking before and during the event
- Support and encourage employees to use alternative transportation choices (by providing change room facilities, discounted transit passes, incentives for carpooling)
- Have an employee training program in place that outlines the policies and procedures relating to fuel, equipment, and vehicle use
- Try to upgrade to more energy efficient vehicles on site, such as electric or biodiesel-powered vehicles
- Offer an incentive to festival-goers who arrive by public transit, carpooling, or active transportation. For example, make it fun by giving a prize to the most eco-friendly participant, such as priority camping or chance to win VIP ticket
- Provide a shuttle bus to get participants to the venue. If your event is large, consider contacting your local public transportation provider and see if you can negotiate a transit pass for the event or at least ensure regular service
- Use only sustainable energy powered vehicles on the festival site and shuttle buses using green energy to get participants to the venue
- Develop and enforce an anti-idling policy during events for people arriving to the festival
- Achieve a company-wide CAFÉ (corporate average fuel economy) standard of 35 mpg for all vehicles purchased by 2020
Transportation Facts
Best Practise Case Studies
Tune Your Bike
Toronto Bicycle Music Festival
The Toronto Bicycle Music Festival is a yearly series of free outdoor pedal-powered concerts taking place in and between the city’s great community parks and streets. Tune Your Ride is a company that provides a bike trailer stage with music powered by a car battery, and charged with pedal power. This company brings the electricity generating bicycle rig, PA, and experienced sound and bicycle technicians to this event providing this very unique form of energy!
Secure Bike Valet Parking
Windfall Ecology Festival, Canada
In 2015 the Windfall Ecology Festival had a secure, locked up bike area that festival visitors could leave their bikes at for free. The initiative was clearly promoted on the website and obvious when attending the festival. This was a great way to encourage people to bike to the festival and reduce the impact caused by transportation to and from the festival.
Carpool Contest
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, United States
A carpool contest makes people who arrive in a vehicle with four or more people eligible for prizes:
1st place is VIP upgrade for everyone in the car
2nd place is two meal vendor tokens for each passenger in the car
3rd place is a Bannaroo merchandise item for each passenger in the car
Coffee for Carpool
Ilosaarirock Festival, Finland
Festivalgoers have to pay a fee to park in the festival’s parking areas. But for those who drive to the festival with four other people in their vehicle, free Fair Trade Coffee is given to each passenger. Those who ride bikes can leave their trusty transporters in the festival’s supervised bike park.
Bike Support Network
Boom Festival, Portugal
In 2012 30 people biked to the festival from all over, including Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin, Rome and more. To support all the bikers, Boom Festival has created the Boom by Bike Initiative that is essentially a support network with travels tips and useful information collected from bikers who have previously journeyed to Boom. As part of the Initiative we will be offering 10 festival tickets to bikers that collect video footage and photos of their journey to promote this beautiful initiative led by Boomers.
Shuttle Transport
Mariposa Folk Festival, Orillia
Mariposa Folk Festival encourages sustainable transport. One way they do this, is by providing a free shuttle bus. The shuttle bus schedule is easily accessible on the festival website, and gives festival goers many options to get the festival while leaving their cars at home. Buses run from 9am in the morning until late into the night with the last bus leaving at 1:15am!
Sustainable Golf Carts
Coachella, United States
Golf carts are re-engineered to run off sustainable energy including solar, wind, biodiesel, ethanol and more. Each golf cart is designed to match a different Coachella band.
Gas Emission Reduction
Harvest Jazz and Blues, Canada
The goal for the 2008 Harvest Jazz and Blues festival was to reduce 32 tonnes of Greenhouse gas emissions produced in connection with the 2007 festival. The organizers of this festival implemented green initiatives in the office as well as on the festival site. In the office these include: eliminating plastic bags, replacing all light bulbs with energy efficient ones, paperless meetings, recycling, energy audit etc.
Cycling Initiative
Shambala Festival, UK
The festival has teamed up with Sustrans (charity supporting cycling) to encourage people to cycle to Shambala. This initiative combines a commitment to encourage low-impact (and fun) ways to travel to the event, and Sustrans unquenchable enthusiasm for cycling! As a little incentive all cyclists will get a free Shambala programme and a discount on massages two days. Also, there is subsidised coach travel from 6 cities (to reduce travel carbon emissions and FREE biofuel shuttle bus from local public transport links.
Green Traveller Package
Glastonbury, UK
The festival wants to reward people for choosing to come to the festival by public transport or by bicycle. So, this year, for the first time, we have put together a Glastonbury Festival Green Traveller package, which we hope will provide an extra incentive for you and your friends to “go Green”. Ticket holders who arrive at the Festival by public transport or bicycle will be given a Green Traveller lanyard, offering:
-Vouchers for discounts on main meals
-Solar showers, solely provided for Green Travellers
-Access to compost toilets
-Discount on a Festival T-shirt
Bike Discounts
Hot Docs Documentary Festival, Canada
Hot Docs partners with Curbside Cycle to provide all attendees discounts on bike rentals used for moving between festival venues.
Bike Parking Survey
Mariposa Folk Festival, Orillia
Mariposa Folk Festival provides free bike parking for any event attendee that rides their bike to the festival. In 2015 festival goers using this bike parking were surveyed to learn more about their choices and behaviours. Research showed that 41.2% of the cyclists chose to bike in order to contribute to the festival’s greening efforts!
Free Shuttle Bus
Aliston Potato Festival, Canada
There is a free shuttle bus running every thirty minutes on the Saturday of the festival that encourages people to visit the festival but leave their vehicles parked at home.
Transport Survey
Island Vibe, Australia
In order to monitor the carbon footprint, festivalgoers are asked to fill out a transport survey which will then help organizers decide on future transport initiatives. Say you’re a keen cyclist, but you would need someone to carry your luggage…tell Island Vibe on the survey.
Travel Carbon Fund
Shambala Festival, UK
Our ‘Travel Carbon Fund’ is made up of donations from car and camper pass buyers who choose to make a small donation when buying tickets. The rationale is that the festival must accept that attendees are making the journey to and from the festival, and that we can do something positive to account for it. The find is used focus on a carbon-free future through wind energy.
