Park Area - One Way System

[Glasto96]

Anyone else think this made things even worse than previous years?

 

I can’t remember who was on or the exact time but Saturday daytime the queue down the left side to get into the Park area was a shambles. Barely moving for half an hour with no way to turn back as the crowd was so congested.

 

Surely there has to be a better way to sort the area out of overcrowding?

[Ben7amin_]

6 hours ago, Glasto96 said:

Anyone else think this made things even worse than previous years?

 

I can’t remember who was on or the exact time but Saturday daytime the queue down the left side to get into the Park area was a shambles. Barely moving for half an hour with no way to turn back as the crowd was so congested.

 

Surely there has to be a better way to sort the area out of overcrowding?

 

Barry Can't Swim & The Jarvis/Alexis DJ set was on Stonebridge.  

 

It was definitely necessary to do something for crowd control  (while I agree the solution was problematic) - though I can not help feeling - it might have worked better the other way round - where people could only enter at the bottom of the park and exist out the side.   

 

As a lot of the trouble was people arriving at the front of the park to be told they could not get in (i suspect this is what a lot of people consider the "normal" way to get in)   

 

No idea if there was any attempt to communicate via the app or not - perhaps someone can shed some light on that. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

 

32 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Barry Can't Swim & The Jarvis/Alexis DJ set was on Stonebridge.  

 

It was definitely necessary to do something for crowd control  (while I agree the solution was problematic) - though I can not help feeling - it might have worked better the other way round - where people could only enter at the bottom of the park and exist out the side.   

 

As a lot of the trouble was people arriving at the front of the park to be told they could not get in (i suspect this is what a lot of people consider the "normal" way to get in)   

 

No idea if there was any attempt to communicate via the app or not - perhaps someone can shed some light on that. 

 

That's strange, why would they have people entering at the side and leaving at the bottom?

 

Last year, it was the way you described and seemed alright. Obviously there were more people entering and people could leave before or after Stonebridge Bar. Thought it kind of made sense doing it like that, because as you say, the common thought would be that the main entrance is the one with the big arches and The Park sign etc.

Edited September 2 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[Nobody Interesting]

13 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

it might have worked better the other way round - where people could only enter at the bottom of the park and exist out the side. 

 

I agree that would have worked better.

One of the two times we saw it in use we needed the loo so went right before the bottom entrance, stewards were fine with that if you wanted the loos, but when we came out there was nobody stopping people from the other direction entering at the bottom, so we joined them and missed the narrow and long queue up towards the side entrance.

[CaledonianGonzo]

If you enter the Park arena at the bottom when it's busy you immediately hit the front of the crowd.  Sending people up to the top so they fill in from the back is absolutely the right way to manage it.

 

They do the same in the Pyramid Field.

[MilkyJoe]

As others have said it seems a backwards way of doing things. Maybe it was just to slow down the people entering by creating a bottleneck rather than have masses coming through the wider entrance at once.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

If Stonebridge is heaving and the Park stage is in full swing, entering from the top left hand side is going to bring you into a wall of people. Seems counterproductive to me. And if you're not in the Park area for the two main music centres, you've then got to negotiate through huge crowds to get to where you actually want to go.

[CaledonianGonzo]

It will bring you into the back of a wall of people - which seems fine?

 

Better than channelling late arrivals direct into the stagefront area.

 

It's only in place for very busy acts  - in recent years its probably only been in place for Wet Leg, Fatboy Slim and Barry Cant Swim. 

 

If you're just heading in for a mezze platter or to do play with the Sandalism it's a bad idea anyway.

 

 

[Justcalledtosay]

There were some major crushes at the entry point for the top of Arcadia/bottom of the park in 2022, so i imagine they wanted two different entry points although i can't imagine there was a lot of demand for Arcadia at that time of day...

Edited September 2 by Justcalledtosay

[CaledonianGonzo]

2 minutes ago, Justcalledtosay said:

There were some major crushes at the entry point for the top of Arcadia/bottom of the park in 2022, so i imagine they wanted two different entry points although i can't imagine there was a lot of demand for Arcadia at that time of day...

 

That area's been revised - the throughways are now much wider (and I think a bank of longdrops have also been removed)

[Skip997]

Thankfully I missed such nonsense.

 

 It is,however, more evidence that there are far too many people on site 

[CaledonianGonzo]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

Thankfully I missed such nonsense.

 

 It is,however, more evidence that there are far too many people on site 

 

The Park is a small area.  If they sold 50% fewer tickets overall but a hefty chunk of the remainder all wanted to check out  a secret set or a hyped up name you'd still get a log jam of people into the field.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

For me at least, it still seems odd that they'd do it that way. If most people are at the back end of the field at SB and PS, you'd be filling in the Park directly into the gap at the traditional entrance and centre, avoiding a log jam down the side where the narrow walkways were.

 

By filling it in from the side, people either join the crowds at the SB or PS - causing more crowding on the walkways, leaving the entrance more empty. 

 

I guess there's gonna be people waiting either way, and the only positive I can think of is, is that it would avoid people clogging up the main crossroads where Arcadia, the Park, and Pennards meets.

[gfa]

3 hours ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Barry Can't Swim & The Jarvis/Alexis DJ set was on Stonebridge.  

 

It was definitely necessary to do something for crowd control  (while I agree the solution was problematic) - though I can not help feeling - it might have worked better the other way round - where people could only enter at the bottom of the park and exist out the side.   

 

As a lot of the trouble was people arriving at the front of the park to be told they could not get in (i suspect this is what a lot of people consider the "normal" way to get in)   

 

No idea if there was any attempt to communicate via the app or not - perhaps someone can shed some light on that. 

I'm not sure crushing people uphill on the way in is a good idea, its pretty sloped.

 

It also brings you to the front of the crowd, not allowing anyone to move around

[CharlotteB]

3 hours ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Barry Can't Swim & The Jarvis/Alexis DJ set was on Stonebridge.  

 

It was definitely necessary to do something for crowd control  (while I agree the solution was problematic) - though I can not help feeling - it might have worked better the other way round - where people could only enter at the bottom of the park and exist out the side.   

 

As a lot of the trouble was people arriving at the front of the park to be told they could not get in (i suspect this is what a lot of people consider the "normal" way to get in)   

 

No idea if there was any attempt to communicate via the app or not - perhaps someone can shed some light on that. 

 

That definitely would've worked better. Entering at the bottom just seems the right way (I do realise that sentence in isolation could be taken massively out of context).

[Ben7amin_]

3 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

It will bring you into the back of a wall of people - which seems fine?

 

Better than channelling late arrivals direct into the stagefront area.

 

It's only in place for very busy acts  - in recent years its probably only been in place for Wet Leg, Fatboy Slim and Barry Cant Swim. 

 

If you're just heading in for a mezze platter or to do play with the Sandalism it's a bad idea anyway.

 

 

 

While i get what you are saying, However the Stonebridge bar was absolutely rammed (Jarvis Coker B2B Alexis Taylor)- and had a big crust of people outside it, away from the queue  so as opposed to entering the field straight into the back of the park crowd you were walking into the park area immediately into the Crust outside the stonebridge.  the area witht he yellow circle here is where the most congestion was - 

 

If the Stonebridge bar was a less popular venue then entering the side might have made sense - but while its as popular as it is - this really did not work for me 

 

Perhaps some stewarding to move people on from this area might have made it work better 

 

Edited September 2 by Ben7amin_

[CaledonianGonzo]

Fair enough - with a big old crowd outside the Stonebridge I can see how that would get less optimal.  However that's pretty rare for day-time and usually that throughway is free of people.  

 

Otherwise the old adage applies - if you want to see an act and it promises to be busy just plan to get there early 

[AVALON.G]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

I'm not sure crushing people uphill on the way in is a good idea, its pretty sloped.

 

It also brings you to the front of the crowd, not allowing anyone to move around

 

By having the entrance on the side they definitely succeeded on crushing people on the way in -  Id definitely prefer the wider uphill route 

 

This would make sense if they got rid of the stonebridge bar 

[gfa]

1 hour ago, AVALON.G said:

 

By having the entrance on the side they definitely succeeded on crushing people on the way in -  Id definitely prefer the wider uphill route 

 

This would make sense if they got rid of the stonebridge bar 

I don't see how crushing people in going uphill would be safe with nowhere to go, squeezing them in between packed stonebridge and park. at least coming in from the side people can just head up the hill if they want to get out vs being inbetween a horde and barry's crowd

 

To be honest though - the issue isn't the operation of the one-way system, its booking acts in stupid slots.

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

I didn't even notice a one way system 🤔 Edit: sorry, took the time to read the full post and realised my mistake lol

Edited September 2 by A Particular Grey Chihuahu
Explained

[KJ3]

Alright gang - yeah was the queue during BCS - was kinda crazy. A good half an hour and everyone stacked — main issue I reckon the one way system didn’t work as loads of people were leaving those exits where we were trying to get into - they needed to redirect punters out of the main exit at the bottom or the hills above whereas everyone was trying in / out at the same tiny entrance. Ahh sure yeah loads of stuff this year in a similar vibe - still best on earth so small sh*t in the scheme of things! Love and fishes xx 

[CharlotteB]

I just avoid anything that might be remotely busy nowadays. That's a young person's game😂