Traffic management - transport planning

Public Transport Plan – events affecting public transport

If your event impacts public transport (rail, buses, taxi), Public Transport Victoria must be notified and an ‘Event Notification Form' (Form 2) completed and submitted for approval.

For advice on what plan is required visit the Public Transport Victoria website.

If your event does not impact public transport, it is still a good idea to include information in your briefings, programs or event plan about public transport details (including times, locations and routes) to distribute to the event spectators and participants.

How to develop a transport plan

You should have completed the Public Transport Victoria ‘Event Notification Form' (Form 2) to determine if extra services are required, or if there is an impact on an existing transport service (such as causing an alteration to a route or cancelling a service).

One of our Events Officers will contact you if a Transport Plan is needed as part of the event management plan.

People getting to your event

You need to consider how spectators and participants are travelling to your event.

Parking

You should develop a Parking Plan. This should take into account how many people will be attending your event by private vehicles, and what parking is available.

Consider public and private car parks and show the location on your promotional material. It’s a good idea to make contact with car park operators to discuss operating times.

Shuttle Buses

Familiarise yourself with the local transport timetables and consider where patrons are likely to be coming from.

For example, if a number of patrons are likely to catch a train or a bus to the nearest station or stop, and there is not a local bus service that links the train station to the site and it is too far to walk, consider hiring and coordinating shuttle buses to transport the patrons to and from the event site.

If the patrons are likely to head to another location after your event is finished, you may consider hiring shuttle buses as safe means of transport.

Providing a shuttle service to and from your event can assist patronage of events and minimise other traffic disruptions.

Taxis

Make contact with the local taxi company and advise them of your event finish time. Request that taxis are directed to a nominated location and time/s to the event site. Consider arranging a temporary taxi rank on site and include this in your communication to patrons.

How to develop a Parking Plan

Depending on the size of your event you may be asked to develop a Parking, Transport and Access Plan.

You will need to know approximately how many vehicles will require parking spaces and at what times. Your Traffic Management Plan and these plans should include the following:

Participant parking

Identify the requirements of the participants and arrange suitable parking (that is: how many parks are required, will the participants have equipment to carry, and are they likely to cycle from their vehicle to the event?).

Pre-event communication to participants should include information about location of parking, cost, opening and closing hours etc. Consider placing temporary signs at the entry to these car parks to assist with communications. 

Contractor and staff parking

Generally the City does not permit event contractors to park their vehicles on an event site unless it is during the set up and pack up phase. This is why it is important for you to designate staff and contractor parking and ensure that pre-event communication of these arrangements takes place.

If there are suitable commercial parking areas close to the event site that could be used as participant, spectator, VIP, contractor or staff parking, it is worth contacting the owner to discuss car park availability.

If you have a website or face book page it is a good idea to promote available parking to your event audience. Provide a map to show car parking locations.

If there are no existing public car parks available near the site, and it is agreed that there is an area of the site that can be used as a temporary car park, then it will be your responsibility to manage this car park.

You could consult with a traffic management company or experienced service club to develop a plan of the parking arrangements.

Locate the entry and exit points, examine how the vehicles will be positioned to maximise parking spaces and maintain emergency access. The plan should also identify how many vehicles can park in the area, what equipment is required to manage the car park and what the staff roles and positions will be.

Building car parking into your Traffic Management Plan

You may require traffic controllers and/or event marshalls to manage parking.

Signage with clear messages can be very helpful. Consider the following temporary signage:

• Car park open and closure times
• Accessible parking
• VIP areas
• No parking times
• Bus/taxi/disabled drop offs pick up

Other important considerations

Lighting

Consider the adequacy of existing lighting at car parks, the venue and along connecting pathways. Is the lighting always on or does it need to be manually turned on? Ensure that the lights are pointed the correct way so that they provide light to the required areas and doesn’t blind drivers of vehicles.

It is also worth considering if it will be a dark or a well lit night, depending on the size of the moon and the weather forecast.

If there is not enough lighting you need to factor in temporary lighting.

If delays are expected exiting the car parks you may need to think about temporary toilets and bins being positioned in these areas.

Pathways

Pathways connecting the car parks to the event sites should be checked for trip hazards and staffed by security to ensure the safety of patrons.  It is also worthwhile erecting temporary signs to show the route from the venue to the car parks and vice versa so that patrons take the right path.