Mobility: the forgotten pillar of your event

Before you book a single shuttle, you draw up an accessibility profile of your venue. That starts with three questions. How do guests arrive by car? How do they arrive by public transport? And what are the bottlenecks at arrival and departure?

On the car side: how many parking spaces are available at or next to the venue? Is there a car park nearby and what does it cost? Also map the space for coaches and minibuses, and the presence of charging points for electric cars. This sounds like detail, but it determines whether your guests arrive in a good mood or not.

On the public transport side: which train and bus stations are nearby, and what is the walking distance and walking time? Do buses or trains run after the programme ends? This is a point many organisers miss. Programme ends at 11:30 pm and the last train leaves at 11:15 pm? Then you have a problem.

On the bottlenecks: are there traffic movements around the venue that disrupt your arrival peak, such as a market, a school closing time or another activity on the same evening? Ask the council or venue about known traffic bottlenecks.

A shuttle is not optional. Sometimes it's the only solution: when the venue is hard to reach by public transport, offers limited parking or sits outside an urban area.

When do you organise a shuttle? It makes sense if more than 30% of your guests come from well outside the venue, if the programme ends after the last public-transport service, if you want to bundle transport to encourage sustainable choices, or if you expect guests who don't have or drive a car (older guests, people drinking).

How do you organise a shuttle? Choose a central departure point that is reachable by train or metro: a major NS railway station or P+R location. Plan multiple departure times: arrival in the 30 minutes before the start, departure in two time blocks after the end. Communicate the times explicitly in the invitation and in the reminder email. Anyone who misses the shuttle should know what their alternative is.

Also read: Event transport: the options for your event at a glance →

A parking plan is not a floor plan with a P on a square. It's a description of how you organise the parking flow. How many cars do you expect and where do they go? How are they guided and what is the policy if the car park is full?

Start with a count: how many guests do you expect and what is the average occupancy per car? On average, reckon on 1.8 people per car for a business event. With 400 guests that means around 220 cars. Then count the available parking spaces: the venue's own car park + nearby car parks + possibly a temporary car park.

If the venue does not have enough parking capacity, there are three solutions. A P+R arrangement with shuttle. A referral to public car parks in the area, with a discount via a parking pass. Or active communication about public-transport alternatives. Always include the parking advice in the invitation. Guests who arrive blind and then have to search are irritated from the start.

On the day itself: put parking marshals at the entrance who actively guide cars. Not just signs, but people in sight. That brings calm and prevents chaos on the road.

The best transport plan only works if your guests actually use it. And they only use it if they've received the information in good time and clearly.

Communicate transport information at three moments. The first moment is the invitation: include a short "Accessibility" section about parking advice, the public-transport route and the shuttle arrangement if there is one. The second moment is the reminder email 48 hours before the event: repeat the transport information, add a route link and state the shuttle times again. The third moment is the day itself, at the entrance: put up signage for parking guidance and shuttle pick-up points.

Also consider an event app or a simple landing page with all the transport information. Guests on the way want to look something up quickly on their phone. A page with the shuttle times, the parking address and a Google Maps link is enough for this.

A transport plan is too often treated as a side issue in practice. It's left to the venue, vaguely communicated to guests or arranged at the last minute. That shows. On the road in front of the venue.

We at Live Impact build transport planning in as a standard part of our production approach. We analyse the accessibility and assess whether a shuttle is necessary. We arrange the parking communication and make sure guests know where to go before the event. On the day itself, we coordinate the shuttle service and have parking marshals on hand.

Also read: Crowd control at your event: how to manage the flow of people →

Guests who arrive well begin your event with a positive feeling. Guests who leave well take that feeling home with them. Mobility is the quiet force behind the experience.

Want help drawing up a transport plan for your event? We're happy to think along. Get in touch via hello@live-impact.nl or call us on 085 401 40 14.

Seriously fun.