[ST] [SA] Member Services report: Transportation

[Lisa Hertel]

Name of Area?
Transportation & Parking

What you did?
Interfaced with hotel, MIT police, and MIT parking; got bus quotes which 
were later unused; put up signage.


What went right?
The shuttle got good usage, and most people were able to find a space. 
The hotel paid for most of the shuttle bus.

What went wrong?
Lots! The MIT police didn’t have a clue no matter how much we explained 
things to them; they were the reason the lunch trucks didn’t come. We 
had problems with dealers parking on the street, apparently told to do 
so by the hotel; this should be stopped. The lunch truck lot should also 
be cleared. Larry Brutti of MIT was annoyed when we pushed him. We 
should ask for the MIT lots until midnight Monday. There was no place 
for over height dealer vehicles until 5pm Friday; they were taken to 
Arisia storage. The shuttle driver Friday worked from noon to 4am. The 
shuttle broke down Sunday afternoon and was out for an hour; on Monday 
morning it disappeared for another hour while the driver went to get the 
(supposedly repaired) larger shuttle, drove it half-way back, found it 
still broken, returned it, and went back to the smaller shuttle. Also, 
we needed signage *inside* the T stations.


What should be done differently next year?
Have a sit-down, face-to-face meeting with Larry and the MIT police; 
make sure the shuttle company offers the driver relief; tell the driver 
not to wait at any stop above a couple of minutes (he was trying to go 
to a schedule, rather than run continuously); clear the shuttle stop of 
vendor vehicles; more signage. Make it clearer who’s in charge—Ops, 
Hotel, Transportation?

What sort of schedule/timeline did you use?
We put up signage around noon Friday; this should have been done 
earlier. Pre-con, we made a route & map, and got them on the website.

Are the any changes you'd make to the schedule for next year?
Start earlier with MIT & the MIT cops.

Vendors you used?
Bethany for the busses.

Experiments to try next year?
Two small shuttles may be as effective as one large one, if the cost is 
the same.

Any comments about the rest of the con (other divisions, hotel, ...)?
None.

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