reports of this happening again due to on-site parking limitations...if true, this is not good...again.

[This message has been edited by DPwarrior (edited 11/25/2009 8:04a).]

?? The website doesn't say anything at all about buses.

No buses, from what I gather the roads out there can't support that traffic. 6 was backed up all the way to Bryan. I was at OSR when I was turned back.

just to clarify, all parking was on site this year, so no need for buses this time.

What happened most likely has to do with the fact that it rained last night, and the majority of roads/parking out there is dirt/fields which get crazy muddy and gross when a ton of people drive their vehicles through it.

So who was recommending buses to anyone?

Or did that come from the same place most of this site comes from?

Certainly no surprise that SB has logistical burn night issues. Huge plague amongst their house. Perhaps they should have listened to Keegan after all.

"Gates will open at 3 pm. To avoid heavy traffic, arrive early. Please Carpool!"

^There are some people that have things to do after 3:00.

That answer is a cop-out. You're essentially telling folks "Here's how it is, F you if you can't do it our way (coming early)."

This part of Bonfire is business, and it needs to be treated as such.

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no need for buses this time

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Except for the fact that there's not enough damn parking on site!

Geez...how many f'ing years does it take the event's organizers to figure out that in order to host 1,000s of people, you need TO HAVE PARKING FOR THEM!

Once, eh, twice, nobody's perfect...but year after year!

All the parking places were not filled. Police were rerouting people, i.e., "turning them away," because the main access road was clogged. But we just U-turned and came back. It took being rerouted twice, but we got there in plenty of time for lighting of the Bonfire.

I think some people were denied access the first time, got discouraged, and then went home.

should they be required to circle the entrance like buzzards before being permitted to drive down a road?

if true, the failure becomes pure queue management.

Get people there earlier. Give them a reason to come early.

Get people to mass transport. A huge parking lot does not mean you don't need buses. 50 people in a bus lowers your vehicle queue by 12-18 cars per load.

So much more you can do here...

No, they shouldn't. But the access road was narrow and could accommodate only so many. Rural Robertson County is a nice place, but there are very few places there that can handle a sudden influx of 10,000 people.

SB was advertising "come early." We didn't, but we still got there. They held up the lighting of Bonfire until about an hours past zero-dark-thirty.

Another thing - I wouldn't light it until 1005

Square, you're all kinds of off-base on this one. Parking was not full. There was a steady flow in until it got lit. Yes a few people got stuck, but considering it rained for a couple days straight last weekend, everything possible was done to cope with that problem. The problem was not lack of parking or even queue management as we split the paths every possible which-way to relieve as much congestion as possible. The problem was 30,000 people were trying to get down a one lane road in about 2 hours time. And no that's no an exaggeration.

Solution: show up early, or don't complain about getting turned away.

guys I helped direct traffic on site for an hour or so, mostly picking little cars out of mud (and watching big trucks get winched out). there was still parking on some of the property. definitely still some when it lit

Short of controlling the weather and having a highway bordering property with multiple gates, there's not much more they could do to better organize tonight. tons of mulch had been laid out, tractors were on site smoothing marked driving alleys. multiple lots had been laid out and there were multiple ATV's and tow trucks onsite that would spring into action if a car got stuck. plus a lot of bonfire participants were available & able to push or pick up cars that became stuck, which honestly I think a lot of people got a kick out of…at least one car full of good looking girls did….

it was not perfect, but theres always something. it was a lot, a lot, better than the bottleneck issues of last year. The reason they began turning people back was because you cannot have a standing parking lot on a state highway. Highway patrol had the call to shut down or cut off further entry because of backup issues. My parents were turned back at OSR and had to find an alternate route.

I would've liked to have seen multiple gates open, but I think the terrain of the field just didn't allow for it. Overall I say it was very well planned, the great limitation was the weather the last week. sorry to those turned away, at least 4 of whom were my good friends, stuff happens.

It did NOT rain at stack last night...

the rain stopped at N 2818.

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Solution: show up early, or don't complain about getting turned away.

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This is not an option for several of the people you are trying to appeal to. This attitude is tiresome.

Regardless of what the official excuse is this time around, any time people travel over a hundred miles to attend your event and you turn them away because of your failure to plan...that's bad...very bad.

So, Squareone07, what would you have them do? You criticize, but I don't see you offering any helpful suggestions. They worked with county officials to get the best possible traffic plan in place given the entry/exit routes available, but there is only so much traffic that a small country road can handle. Your claim that there was insufficient parking is incorrect. People were not turned back due to insufficient parking.

So Square, if you have some magical solution that can turn a rural two-lane country road into a 6-lane highway, a plan that can temporarily turn a landowner's pasture into a paved lot capable of being reverted back to pasture overnight, and some means of controlling the weather to make sure we don't get too much or too little rain, I am sure Student Bonfire would welcome the suggestion(s).

As it stands SB did the best they could given the situation. They worked out the best traffic plan possible with the local authorities, had wreckers and work crews on hand to assist with vehicles getting stuck after record rains over the past several weeks made some areas of the parking area somewhat soupy, had tractors working throughout the event to try and address the areas of the parking that were dug up by several thousand cars digging up the vegetation, and had more than ample parking available. There were, in fact, significant amounts of parking left available when the authorities made the call to start sending people back. The parking areas were not exhausted as you seem to believe.

In short, they did the best they could given the resources available.

I can understand people being frustrated, and thus wishing to give voice to criticism, but if you truly wish to see this organization succeed it would be more constructive to let the anger subside and offer workable solutions to the issues that arose during their first year at a new site. I myself think the student leaders did a great job with what they had. While there is no doubt room for improvement, I believe they are making significant progress and applaud them for that.

I don't understand saying that for some people it's just not possible to leave early. If you really want to be there, you will make it happen. I think a lot of people feel they are ENTITLED to be there and should be able to leave whenever they want and just cruise right in.

ummmmm.... does nobody remember the horrendous traffic and parking problems for Bonfire back when it was ON CAMPUS???

Traffic was backed up for miles, there was no parking anywhere CLOSE to campus, and there were smaller roads that got closed down and any additional traffic was turned away the night Bonfire burned ON CAMPUS.

That many people showing up for a single event with limited highway/road access and parking is a logistical nightmare no matter where it occurs. And there will always be people that got there earlier than other people. And the people that got there late will always be upset. Some will vow never to return. Others will vow to get there earlier next time.

Life goes on.

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Regardless of what the official excuse is this time around, any time people travel over a hundred miles to attend your event and you turn them away because of their failure to plan...that's bad...very bad.

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FIFY. And, see my post above. If I was going to be traveling over a hundred miles to get to an event, I'd make dang sure I was there with time to SPARE and not after the majority of people have already arrived. It's a BIG event. It's organized by people, not miracle workers.

The attendees have a responsibility to plan ahead, too, if they wish for an enjoyable experience at a crowded, full event. That's just my opinion, though.

i remember going to bonfire in '04... parking a mile or whatever away, and having the cops tell us that "its already out" at 9pm. The bus's had stopped so we walked, and had a blast at bonfire till 2 in the morning.

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ummmmm.... does nobody remember the horrendous traffic and parking problems for Bonfire back when it was ON CAMPUS???

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ummmmm.... NO.

Sincerely yours,
Classes of 2003-2013

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ummmmm.... NO.

Sincerely yours,
Classes of 2003-2013

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Well, I certainly do! The 1998 Bonfire, in particular... it took us over an hour to walk to campus (I lived off-campus that year). That was after driving around for about hour in ever-expanding concentric circles (while enduring the stop-and-go traffic) looking for a place to park as close to campus as possible.

If I had arrived in town at 7:00, I would not have made it to the stack until after 9 - if I made it at all (I understand that Hwy 6 was a parking lot of its own that night).

Sincerely yours,
Class of 2001


P.S. My point is that people seem to be doing a lot of complaining about traffic and lack of parking and getting turned away by cops, etc.... and I was just emphasizing that the logistical problems being encountered are not new with Student Bonfire. They are the same logistical problems encountered for Bonfire as before. I'm sure there were people that didn't want to hassle with it before. I'm sure there were people who just decided to plan better the next year.

The same will continue to be the case. Congrats to SB for a successful Bonfire!


[This message has been edited by BTHOB (edited 11/25/2009 9:33a).]

Not saying that there could not be improvements made. But I made sure and took a half day, drove in from Houston around 2, and was at Stack by 5. No parking problems. I still think busing could alleviate some of the problems experienced. But take a look at "professionally-organized" events such as the Houston airshow or the O'Rielly Spring Nationals...worse traffic cluster***** than last night. There's just no solution for too many people showing up at the same location at the same time.

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There's just no solution for too many people showing up at the same location at the same time.

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Flying cars

BTHOB -- Your post really brought back some memories! We drove down from Dallas for the '98 bonfire and I swear the drive to College Station took twice as long as normal. Hwy 6 was a parking lot well before we even got close CS. We couldn't move once we got to town and just chanced it by parking at a gas station. We kept our fingers crossed that any tow truck driver would see it as a waste of time to try and tow our car in such ridiculous traffic .... we got lucky.

I haven't made it back to Texas for a Thanksgiving since graduating in '03, so I kind of have to live vicariously through all of you that post your experiences on the forum. Hopefully all the kinks with the traffic issues get worked out, but that aside, looking at the pictures and reading the posts on this forum makes me so proud of all the current and former students that are keeping the spirit of bonfire alive!

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ummmmm.... does nobody remember the horrendous traffic and parking problems for Bonfire back when it was ON CAMPUS???

Traffic was backed up for miles, there was no parking anywhere CLOSE to campus, and there were smaller roads that got closed down and any additional traffic was turned away the night Bonfire burned ON CAMPUS.

That many people showing up for a single event with limited highway/road access and parking is a logistical nightmare no matter where it occurs. And there will always be people that got there earlier than other people. And the people that got there late will always be upset. Some will vow never to return. Others will vow to get there earlier next time.

Life goes on.

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Really surprised to read such a defensive post regarding off campus bonfire. This does nothing to attract those who have been on the fence about attending. The fact that so many people want to watch off campus bonfire should be seen as a positive, and alternatives to traffic problems be investigated, not shoulder shrugged as the cost of doing business.

Does anyone have a count of how many people were there?

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from what I gather the roads out there can't support that traffic. 6 was backed up all the way to Bryan

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So, are you saying that Highway 6 wasn't running both ways?

I'm going to save my criticism because I believe both sides have major flaws in their arguments.

Here are some things I propose to help alleviate the problems:

1. Parking management- Charge a higher premium for parking. $20 would probably get you the same revenue as $5 when you account for less people driving. But it will also encourage people to find an alternate route.
2. Use busses. This is pretty self-explanatory but busses will provide for those who don't want to pay $20 and will reduce the number of cars coming.
3. I know a prominent professor has property near the site. Contact him about using his property for overflow parking. I know him and know he isn't thrilled about Bonfire's new home and he is wealthy so money won't sway him. But he does LOVE A&M. Offer to do something for the school in return for using his property (think of it as a mini Big-Event using all of the Bonfire crews and completing a project that benefits the school).
4. Offer incentive for showing up early. Have a stage set up with some bands playing so people have some entertainment. I thought I heard no food was offered but you were able to bring your own (please correct me if I am wrong). Look at all the local restaurants that set up stands outside of the Zone on gamedays. Offer them the chance to do the same thing near/on the site. They can keep 100% of the revenue (as they aren't competing with Bonfire). Then people will have less reasons to not come out early.