Lack of shuttles was definitely part of the problem - I usually try not to park downtown but I was coming in from South Austin both for Tech 2009 and Ohio State 2006 so went ahead and did it. I found closer parking more easily for the latter game.
I'm usually there early enough to do alright but will be coming in a little late this weekend. Hopefully the shuttle being back will make my last minute entrance to the general area a little simpler.
I know last year they would run a little bit past game time. But the bus filling up will sit longer than normal until it either fills up or gets close to filling up. When the amount of people dwindles they will leave less full each time until a large gap in new customers occurs. When it does, they vacate to a staging area on campus to be there when it lets out. Don't miss them all together. I was really expecting this to happen last week and it actually could have. Oh well, at least the fans are taken care of from here on out. They tweaked the route, specifically, the drop off points. They are not right at the stadium but a couple of blocks away. This is smart, really smart, imho. Now there should hopefully be a designated area for the Barton Creek bound people and the IM fields people after the game (or when the people leave). Buses can be directed to go to one or the other if there are more people one place compared to the other. And if it is like it was in past years and you think you get a ride back if you leave in the 3rd quarter or earlier....WRONG. You get to stay put till just about the end of the game. Shame on you.
They have always started back at the end of the 3rd quarter. They have to, or the lines after the game would be so long, they'd still be hauling people back at midnight. I also favor the "new" pick-up/drop-off points on campus. This is how they used to do it a few years back, and it worked much better. There wasn't as much confusion about which line to get in because they're on totally different sides of campus. And since it's away from the stadium, there isn't as much foot traffic to slow down the buses.
This whole fiasco was preventable. A performance bond should have been part of the bid package. The bonding company would have taken the hit with no reason for an expected lack of service. I can only assume that someone tried to keep the bids low without taking precaution for an unsuitable bidder to win. And fail. Which they did.
Ridership was low, lower than usual even for a game like UTEP. Many did not know they were back and with the UT Shuttles doing the work. I heard from many drivers that people said they did not know till that morning or the night before. A lot of people were glad to have things back the way they were. Other than some traffic issues from Barton Creek to campus (which is to be expected and reroutes were issued) things went really smooth. If any of the powers that be are perplexed as to why the numbers were so low here you go. The first company scared a lot of people away and they need to be made aware that things are back to normal. Having no shuttles last week was a major issue that turned people away if they even knew they were back to begin with. OU Sucks.
I agree that they need to do a better job of publicizing it. They said after the ULM game that they were cancelling the service for the remainder of the season, so not many people were really looking out for some kind of announcement that they were reinstating the service one week later. Also, the $8 fee pisses a lot of people off because it was only 2 years ago that the fee was $2. Then it went up to $5 last year and now $8, so whether you believe it's worth that or not, the massive increase in price in a relatively short timeframe has a lot of people not really wanting to support a service that is getting significantly more expensive every year. It was an incredible bargain at $2 because a family of four could ride the bus for about the same price they'd pay to park in one of the state garages and not have to walk as far, get downtown as early, or deal with postgame traffic. Now, that same family of four is paying almost 5 times what it costs to park in a state garage. It doesn't make any sense. I know they're claiming they were operating at a loss, but they say they can get 60 people on a bus. At $8 a person, that's nearly $500 per load. You will never make me believe it costs anywhere near $500 to get a bus from the IM fields or Barton Creek Mall to campus and back. I hope the university is holding their feet to the fire and demanding to see documentation for every dime, since Capital Metro is insisting that they make up the difference.
