Preferred Parking????

[Yrose]

If a long walk at the end of the day is so bad why not pay for a rickshaw ride?  At least some of that money goes to a hard working driver.

I was thinking of asking this as well. I've never used the rickshaw though (so I can spend more on food) so how much is a ride?

That depends on a lot of things, time of day, distance, and weather. I paid $20.00 once to go from row one parking to the camp row 7. The traffic wasn't moving and he took 3 of us and our camp chairs.

[Singed]

Terre,

No belch or rant here, but could you comment on why the LEOs directing traffic were forcing all of us to go left (towards 105) and not right (towards Magnolia) Saturday night at 7:00ish?  The only thing we could do was go down a ways and u-turn on 1774 in to a rather long traffic backup they were creating.  

No skin off my back really, I go that way sometimes when I feel like taking a longer drive with less traffic.  

[Singed]

hmm belch was not the word I used...

[Fenster]

We tested preferred parking for the first time this week.  It was not advertised because we are working out the signage and bugs.  TRF will always have free parking and no this doesn't open the door for paided parking, we can't do that.  In no way does this require anyone to pay to park.  We added 180' to peoples walk as our rows are 60 feet a part.  When you come you will see that very little has changed in the parking lot except we have worked the traffic so that people get out faster.  We have had VIP parking for years for weddings, media and others, now everyone can get a close spot later in the day.  

And you consider 4 empty rows up close a success?  What was wrong with rewarding those that show up early and stay all day with the close parking?  This just seems like an attempt at a money grab to me. And it seems I'm not alone here or at TRF since the late arrivers didn't want to pay and would rather walk even further.

[BryanPopp]

I found the post on Facebook. So I do not think they deleted them. They may just be hard to find as other topics and newer post arrive.
I even posted my own $0.02 worth about the parking on their page right under Dbaldock's.
Now if you are talking about other post on the subject please correct me.
I will say again all this does is annoy and put off those who show early and stay all day. That means we are spending money all day.

[Fenster]

I found the post on Facebook. So I do not think they deleted them. They may just be hard to find as other topics and newer post arrive.
I even posted my own $0.02 worth about the parking on their page right under Dbaldock's.
Now if you are talking about other post on the subject please correct me.
I will say again all this does is annoy and put off those who show early and stay all day. That means we are spending money all day.

Edited my post since you founf the comments.  FB is not easy to use these days, but that's a rant for another time and place. 

[Fenster]

Terre,

No belch or rant here, but could you comment on why the LEOs directing traffic were forcing all of us to go left (towards 105) and not right (towards Magnolia) Saturday night at 7:00ish?  The only thing we could do was go down a ways and u-turn on 1774 in to a rather long traffic backup they were creating.  

No skin off my back really, I go that way sometimes when I feel like taking a longer drive with less traffic.  

What I think they are doing is trying to make the traffic flow better.  In years past those of us that wanted to head north couldn't get out of the lot due to the Houston/Magnolia traffic back up to turn right.  No traffic jams heading north, but we had to wait a LONG time to just turn out of the lot.

Can I ask why you'd want to park in the camp side lot if you are heading to Magnolia? 

[Terre Albert]

We didn't have 4 empty rows, we only started with three.  By the end of the day they were all sold out. 

From what I gather they were making people turn left out of 302 becuase traffic was jamming up the main entrance.  They change back after a few minutes of clearing the main gate. 

[Terre Albert]

How was the traffic this weekend?  I've heard everyone was able to get home fast.

[Fenster]

We didn't have 4 empty rows, we only started with three.  By the end of the day they were all sold out. 

From what I gather they were making people turn left out of 302 becuase traffic was jamming up the main entrance.  They change back after a few minutes of clearing the main gate. 

I meant 2 on each side, if they were sold out they must have come and gone quickly.

And traffic wasn't bad, but it gets worse after daylight savings when more people stay later to see fireworks.  Unless fireworks will remain around 8ish this will likely be a problem again.

[Singed]

Terre,

No belch or rant here, but could you comment on why the LEOs directing traffic were forcing all of us to go left (towards 105) and not right (towards Magnolia) Saturday night at 7:00ish?  The only thing we could do was go down a ways and u-turn on 1774 in to a rather long traffic backup they were creating.  

No skin off my back really, I go that way sometimes when I feel like taking a longer drive with less traffic.  

What I think they are doing is trying to make the traffic flow better.  In years past those of us that wanted to head north couldn't get out of the lot due to the Houston/Magnolia traffic back up to turn right.  No traffic jams heading north, but we had to wait a LONG time to just turn out of the lot.

Can I ask why you'd want to park in the camp side lot if you are heading to Magnolia? 

I camp in participants, we don't have any other options at the time I had to take off.  We leave through the campgrounds and they have redirected traffic that way (which BTW, seems to be working quite well other than being pretty confusing the first time). 

Traffic was a nightmare 20 years ago, it still is, but there is not much TRF can do in that regard that they are not doing already.  The LEOs in Magnolia seem to have it flowing better than before, but there are just too many cars, not enough road and regular trains blocking egress out of both TRF and Magnolia.   An 8:00PM train is going to screw things up even if the traffic volume was halved. 

[Terre Albert]

Last season when we did the fireworks later traffic was great.  Most likely they will remain late to hold a crowd and allow the lots to clear.  

We may drop to two lanes on the North side this week.  That's why you soft open a new idea and not advertise it.  We are learning and changing to make sure everything runs without messing up regular traffic.  We've had VIP parking for years but it was only available to wedding, media and few others.  We believe it is a great service to offer everyone .  Right now we basically added 180' to everyone walk.  

[Breandan]

Terre, you are getting a lot of feedback on this, and you can see it's not just me who finds this problematic. It's not the issue with paid parking, other faires do that, its an issue with it having been done mid-season with zero forewarning. I assume you have experience in other businesses, so you know well how a sudden fee change without any heads-up to the customers NEVER goes over well, and should never be tested "live". The standard practice in every industry I have ever worked in is to feel out the customers first, be it through polls, surveys, focus groups, etc., and balance the positive/negative feedback ratio to the potential profit/loss ratio. Might I recommend that next time you post a poll on the FB page and here before dropping this kind of bomb on your customers with several months of lead time, and- if it is decided to implement the new policy or procedure- post it at LEAST 90 days in advance? Just a suggestion, but it will go a LONG way towards minimizing backlash and upset customers.

[Terre Albert]

Are you under the impression that everyone had to pay this past weekend? 

[Chandler]

Let em charge, every person that pays 10 bucks to get a little bit closer helps keep my ticket prices down.