450 vehicles and drivers recruited

25,000 festivalgoers transported over a 6-day event

Additional staff recruited to support on the ground operations

The Challenge

For the second year running First Travel Solutions (FTS) were awarded the contract to operate shuttle bus services for festivalgoers attending the 2017 Leeds Music Festival.

Leeds Music Festival has become and iconic event hosting rock, pop, indie, electronic and alternative music all under one banner. With an eclectic mix of the world's biggest artists, pulsating sounds and a fantastic atmosphere, this festival is now at the forefront of the British music scene.

Working with organisers Festival Republic, FTS were asked to deliver multiple transport solutions for this event.

Firstly, FTS were asked to propose a traffic plan to move, as then, an unknown quantity of passengers mainly from Leeds using 2 separate locations. One location was Leeds train station and secondly for bus users who would be arriving in a different part of Leeds.

Secondly, FTS were asked to provide a more limited shuttle service from York train station to the festival venue.

In addition to this FTS were asked to provide a shopping shuttle service from the festival campsite to the local Tesco supermarket. This was to operate before and during the event.

The Solution

The team at FTS set about establishing the number of staff they would need to support this high profile music event as well as the sheer volume of vehicles that would need to be recruited along with drivers.

FTS reviewed the areas involved and sourced suitable locations in the centre of Leeds where festivalgoers could be easily collected. Plans were pulled together and the team liaised closely with the local authorities that they were feasible and would deliver the best shuttle service possible.

In addition to this FTS then arranged ticketing outlets at each location as well as drawing up operational plans for transporting festivalgoers from train and bus stations to central departure points.

Buses were converted into ticket outlets to ensure public footpaths weren't blocked and wristbands were sold to festivalgoers. FTS also arranged an additional ticket cabin with Internet access and a power source at the festival location, Bramham Park. Working with organisers Festival Republic, only one entrance gate to the festival was utilised with the use of Thorner Village between 2300 and 0100 hours only on the Sunday Egress service as agreed with the locals.

Finally, the team at FTS had to estimate what the daily demand for services would be, recruit the number of buses required, then design a timetable that would match the daily demand across the 6-day festival.

The Result

This was a major project for FTS and it tooks months of internal planning and organisation.

However, thanks to a consolidated team effort by FTS the transport and travel arrangements for this iconic music festival worked really well for the second year running.

Over the 6-day festival FTS transferred approximately 25,000 festivalgoers. 

Over 450 vehicles and drivers were recruited to support the transport operations.

Additional FTS staff were recruited to support on the ground at train stations, city centre pick up points and of course to assist with selling the wristbands to festivalgoers.

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