This is my second time going. Last time, there were a series of shuttles that hit the block hotels - I think I was on the blue line - That was five years ago.
Is there still a shuttle service? Does anyone know?
The shuttle service was not very well loved due to various problems (not on time, not enough shuttles, and not the best customer service) from what I recall. I do not believe it has run the past 2 years. Last year there was a special discount code for Lyft that was available during the days of Gen Con.
It was contracted out to a third party IIRC.
IIRC, the shuttles ran in 2014 and 2015, and both years had problems.
The first year, if you weren't at a hotel near the start of a line, chances are, when the shuttle got to your hotel, you would be told, "Sorry, this one's full; wait for the next one." Needless to say, the next few buses had the same problem. The problem also existed going in the other direction, and as shuttles ran once an hour, a lot of people had to wait quite a while to get one going back to their hotel - if they could get one before they stopped running for the night.
The second year, they tried fixing this with a reservation system. The problem with this is, you would have to know in advance when you were done at the convention - something not possible if there is a chance you will qualify for a tournament round that takes place at night.
Both years had another problem: the buses to the convention ran only in the morning (except for some that ran on Saturday night, I think), and the ones back to the hotels ran only in the evening, so you were pretty much stuck at the convention center all day, which is not a good thing if you're carrying a lot of stuff you bought in the dealer's area.
My question is, is the GoGreen Downtown Indianapolis Airport Shuttle different from the one everyone is complaining about? Because this sure sounds like an ideal solution but I have never used it to be sure. O.K. yes I realize this is an airport-specific shuttle but a lot of people seem to end up in airport hotels so it seems relevant :)
The shuttle people are complaining about was arranged by Gen Con to run to most of the hotels in the housing block.
I've used GoGreen twice (2 separate gencons). It worked great for me, travelling on my own (once) and with a friend.
Book ahead of time to guarantee your place, especially for arrival. For to the airport, book your approx time, but you can get any that day as long as you have a ticket (and they have room on the shuttle). It picks up at several hotels by the ICC (Closest stop is right out front of the JW).
It is UNBELIEVABLE that Gen Con is unable to have a reasonable, good shuttle system. I went to Star Wars Celebration a couple weeks ago, and I was shocked how good they were.
It wouldn't be that expensive. They could literally raise badge prices by 2 bucks, and fund a 24hr shuttle system for the convention. If they wanted to go cheaper and charge $1, they could have a system that ran in the morning, and in the evening, with a break mid day, and a break middle of the night.
I used to work for a coach bus company part time.
People paid $50 for the shuttle service. You don’t need to raise general badge prices, but you could.
What they needed was larger busses (many were smaller airport shuttles) and there were not enough of them.
They already had an evening break. The last shuttle was 11 or midnight. It was still terrible service and large lines.
Unfortunately Indy lacks proper rail service between its hotels and convention space/downtown which other cities have and make it much easier. It’s why the hotel prices out of block are insane, because they know space is limited.
"The cost of light rail construction varies widely, largely depending on the amount of tunneling and elevated structures required. A survey of North American light rail projects shows that costs of most LRT systems range from $15 million to over $100 million per mile."
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail
How many miles of rail were you planning on charging the citizens of Indianapolis for?
It does not make sense for Indianapolis to invest in an improved public transportation system when it would be unused 340 days of the year.
"Our most recent figures show Indianapolis receiving 28.2 million annual visitors, who spend roughly $4.9 billion dollars. Visitor spending supports more than 77,800 full-time equivalent employment positions in our hospitality industry. Tourism also produces $1.1 billion in tax receipts each year - including $682 million in local government tax. " Source: https://www.visitindy.com/indianapolis-about-visit-indy
What is reasonable is demanding GenCon relocate to a location that does offer this... or simply not attending...
lets be honest - they aren’t going anywhere and most people won’t boycott so its back to a pipe dream and we can stop arguing about it