I’ll admit that when I resigned myself to the fact that I had to go to Boomtown on the shuttle bus, I was pretty annoyed. Then again, after a completely seamless journey and entrance experience to the festival thanks to the shuttle bus, my initial anger was totally unjustified.
I’m most definitely a “show up in the car” kind of person when it comes to music festivals. I like the freedom to travelling at the time I want, using a route I chose and generally having more control over the situation by being in a private vehicle over public transport.
Have my views changed? Let’s find out…
The Boomtown Fair Shuttle Bus from Winchester – Review 2018
Here is just a brief backstory for the context of this review: I was going to Boomtown Fair with my friends. My friends were travelling from one end of the country, I was coming from the other. Long story short, we decided to meet there. That also meant that I would be travelling alone to Boomtown, so I decided to get public transport as I do not like driving alone.
I planned for this – Boomtown actually run a shuttle bus service from Winchester Train Station – so I bought a ‘Festival Shuttle ticket’ just to guarantee I had a spot on the bus, even though it was the same price as a regular festival ticket.
Winchester Train Station
I’m an experienced festival-goer in my 30s, when I arrived at Winchester train station, I was greeted by a sea of youth. Everything was well organised, there was a queuing system where the queue snacked through an undercover car park. The queue was moving constantly. There was no time to stop and standstill, which was challenging whilst you’re laden with stuff.
On that note – I don’t quite know how I managed to carry a large backpack, a small backpack, a 4-man tent, a carrier bag full of food, a box of beers and had my coat tied around my waist. Oh – and I had no trolley – which is very unlike me for a festival.
Anyway…
I believe I was in the queue for about 20 minutes. Shuttle buses were leaving as soon as they were full.
They were large double-decker buses. Everyone was instructed to put all of their luggage and camping gear on the bottom deck and to sit on the upper deck.
When the bus was full – off we went.
Arrival at Boomtown
I imagined the festival site to be about half an hour away from Winchester town centre, but we were there in about 15 minutes.
Again, everyone was instructed to pile off the bus, picking up random pieces of luggage and camping gear on the way down to pile it all up outside the bus.
This avoided people faffing around on the bus gathering their bags together, so everyone gathers their bags outside of the bus.
The shuttle buses stop at Gate A, which is located in the Downtown area of the festival. As expected for Boomtown, there is a large hill between the bus drop-off point and the gate itself. But, honestly, if you can’t handle a hill, then Boomtown is not the festival for you.
Fortunately, I grew up in Wales – hills are not a problem for me!
Once you get inside, the entire festival is basically large hills – good luck!
Conclusion
All in all I highly recommend the shuttle bus as a means of transport for Boomtown – even as an avid car traveller.
Boomtown in particular have put a lot of work into sustainability, sustainable public transport is a very efficient way of travelling to festivals. It helps to reduce your own, and the festival’s carbon footprint.
You also have the option of entering the festival a day early – but only if you travel by sustainable transport (bus, coach, train or carshare)
Do you have any questions about taking the shuttle bus to Boomtown? Drop a comment below and we’ll do our best to answer your question!
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