Local
Getting Through Outside Lands
By Jessica Griffiths
Aug 22, 2010 - 11:25:19 PM

SAN FRANCISCO — The Outside Lands Festival took place during the weekend of August 14, and countless concertgoers gathered inside the Golden Gate park area of the city to see their favorite groups. However, with the crowds came the expected transportation issues, and people struggled to make it to see their bands in whatever way they could.

This year the festival did not start on Friday, as it had in the past, but rather on Saturday, which helped alleviate some of the stress of concert crowds for SF residents. Guests were encouraged to take public transportation and for weekly MUNI commuters, the concert starting on Friday would have created a serious problem.  

For those who opted to drive to the festival, traffic and parking presented a serious problem. The city streets are congested enough without adding the large numbers of new drivers trying to make it to the shows, countless street closures and blocked driveways.  In an attempt to curb some of these problems, concert organizers set up a system of tow trucks and parking officers on-call and on-site at the festival to respond to these issues. Officials were stationed on each side of the event to deal with problems such as blocked driveways when they occurred.  

One concertgoer from the South Bay, who spoke with San Francisco News, drove up to the city, but did not drive during the festival. “We knew parking would be an issue. We took taxis when we could, but they are definitely hard to get. Mostly you just walk…one day we walked for an hour after the festival because we couldn’t get a ride, but that's just the way it is.”