2011 Entrance - how can we reduce the wait to < 4 hrs???

[Kimo]

What the fuck was up with entering the event this year? We personally waited in line for 4+ hours at 9:00am on Monday and I heard of waits of 6+ hours through Tuesday night / Wednesday morning!!! WTF?

I know they're looking for the typical fireworks and stowaways. And this year being the first sold out event might have led to a higher probability of stowaways. But the line wait was ridiculous!

One major contributor... WILL CALL!!!! In years past it has been on the right. This year it was placed on the left for some reason that makes no sense to me. The website says it's on the right, but then the JRS announces that it will be on the left this year in like the next to last issue. WHY? And why no signs indicating "WILL CALL LANE ON LEFT" once your tires leave the pavement? And why not have a designated WILL CALL LANE? So every other 4th vehicle in all 8 lanes is being allowed to move across all 8 lanes of traffic to enter will call. And then, once the tickets are picked up they are allowed to move through the inspection station while everyone else waits since the will call area is so tiny. C'mon people.... put will call 2 miles from the inspection gate so there isn't a CLUSTER FUCK at the gate!!! And puta fucking sign or two in the ground indicating which side it's on.

And then there's the people who abandon their vehicles while in line to chit chat with other vehicles. Fuck that! Leave a fucking person in the drivers seat! I saw numerous times where 10+ cars would simply change lanes and move into a lane where the vehicle was abandoned because all 4 occupents were doing shots of tequila with the RV 4 lanes over!

I don't know about you, but I prefer to do my shots when I arrive into camp. I prefer not to spend a half day in a fucking traffic jam. We can help by keeping someone behind the wheel in our vehicles at all times. And BMORG can help by doing a better job of the will call gate. And one last thing... to thegate inspectors - only a midget or a contortionist can fit in an ice chest. Can we keep the search process to something a little more realistic? This is only going to get worse if the population swells to 70k. Hell, 50k is too many.

How about you? How long did you wait in line? (this excludes the early arrival pass people)

[FIGJAM]

I hit the line on gate road at 8pm sunday and was parked at my camp by 10pm.

[Kimo]

Nice! So they opened the gate before midnight, or you had an early arrival pass?

[junglesmacks]

*yawn*

If you don't like it, dont go.


Next.

[Dustdevil]

*yawn*

If you don't like it, dont go.


Next.

Hey JS,

That is waaay too jaded of a comment from you. I would have expected something more like, "If you don't like it, volunteer for Gate and change it".

[junglesmacks]

Too jaded? Now now, my dear friend. You should know by now that nothing is off limits except my old lady.. and hell.. if you ask nice enough, we may be able to work something out.

It's just mildly amusing to me to hear all this whining about how long it takes to enter an event in the desert with 40k people at once via a two lane highway with limited resources. We're in the middle of the desert for christsakes and the gate and greeters do a stellar job with what they are given. If you don't like being around crowds or you have a problem with the logistics of moving that amount of people, then seriously.. stay the fuck home and watch the webcast. Participating in an event of this magnitude takes patience and understanding.. and if you can't handle a few hours waiting in line then you need to get a grip.


..and remember.. hate is the new love.

*yawn*

If you don't like it, dont go.


Next.

Hey JS,

That is waaay too jaded of a comment from you. I would have expected something more like, "If you don't like it, volunteer for Gate and change it".

[Kimo]

[quote="junglesmacks"]*yawn*

If you don't like it, dont go.


Next.[/quote]

great solution js. thank you for that wonderful contribution and for putting so much thought into your post. now the world will be a better place.

[Kimo]

JS - i am sure that anyone who refers to his significant other as his "old lady" is intelligent and refined. So i dare not try to attempt to approach you with logic. There are ways that we can improve things in life and constructive feedback is one of them. Try to be a little more open to others' opinions and if you decide to respond, perhaps you might be less abusive and holier than though. Nah, never mind.... i probably lost you at "significant".

[FIGJAM]

I think gate opened at 6pm sun.

[boulderburner]

I experienced my quickest entry and exit ever.

Entry was Tuesday around noon - line at gate took about 20 minutes

Exodus was Sunday around noon - drove right up to the '15-30 minute wait section' - time from camp to 447 was less than an hour.

[kelizabeth]

We got in line at about 8:30pm on Sunday night, after a brief bathroom visit/beer at Bruno's. We were headed to our camp at about 12:25. We had lots of fun dancing around the line, playing music, talking to people, and sharing snacks. I had hoped for it to be quicker, but 4 hours didn't seem absurd considering how thoroughly they were checking for stowaways this year.

For example, we drove up in my four door sedan, which was packed to the brim with almost all of our shit, the rest having gone up in our truck a few days earlier on someone's early entry pass. I have never used a bike rack. I acquired a trunk bike rack from a friend. I attached it incorrectly to my trunk. During the 6 hour drive to the event, the weight of the bike rack pushed against the rear bumper and pulled against the back of the trunk opening, resulting in distorting the trunk's hinge orientation, literally pulling the trunk lid half an inch out of place.

The ticket-tearer/car searcher told me to open my trunk. I said I'll have to take the bikes and bike rack off my trunk to do this, this trunk is not opening with this crap attached to it. They took this to be sort of excuse and my refusal to open the trunk, and were kind of aggressively rude to me about it. I was merely honestly explaining the situation I was in, and that getting into the trunk would take a while, nothing more. So my partner and I get out and start unlocking/unstrapping the bikes. Another gate worker person comes by and starts giving us a hard time for doing what we are doing, that he'll just help me open the trunk with all the crap loaded onto it. I calmly explain the situation to him - no, you can't. This bike rack broke my trunk, see? I have to take everything off to open it, otherwise it will get worse. He didn't want to believe me, but whatever. We finally get everything off and the trunk open 15 minutes later to reveal: A tightly packed trunk full of lots of shit.

I sighed at the mess strewn around my car, they gave me the thumbs up after groping through my trunk stuff, and I calmly began the process of re-attaching the bike rack (this time correctly). The little darlings who had checked my car, rather than offering to help expedite the process by assisting me with reconfiguring and attaching everything, exercised a decent level of impatience and annoyance at the time it was taking me to get everything in order again. Dude even told me to just strap my bikes to my spoiler and keep moving, it wasn't that much further and I'd only be going 5mph anyhow. I briefly fantasized about smacking his stupid top hat off his head, smiled, and finished up getting everything on my trunk properly.

The gate-check experience last me about 25 minutes. One car. 25 minutes. Apologies to anyone who was behind me in my lane, but all I can do is shrug. And I'm still cranky about my poor trunk lid.

I don't think that was an answer to "How can we reduce the wait time to < 4 hours?", but may perhaps give some perspective on the issue.

[Bay Bridge Sue]

That does suck. I understand what and why they are doing it, but you would think they would have some compassion.

And someone telling me to fuck up my shit for their convenience- sorry, no. Strap to the spoiler my ass. Grr!!

Lessee, took 20 minutes to get to won't call, and another 45-60 to clear gate. Piece of cork. Got to meet folk and have fun.

Exodus - was a straight shot. Left terminal city at 12 noon, was on 34 by 12:20. I would say 20 minutes is pretty fair.

On a relavent unrelated note, Glad to see the post-playa anger and withdrawl snark is warming right up. Screwtape would be most proud. We needs to CTFO. Thank you.

[Kimo]

i really do believe the inspection process is what took so fucking long this year. they must of been on high alert warning of stowaways due to the sellout. in retrospect, i wonder how many stows they actually found if any? i had a similar situation at the checkpoint as they wanted to get into my crammed to the ceiling RV with a luggage rack in the rear hitch with totes strapped down, preventing access to the door. they just had to open the rear door, even though they could access the crammed living space from the cab (well sort of). so they had me go through a similar routine which took about 15 minutes to unload and reload. of course they found nothing. and yeah, no offer to help me put the shit back on. there's the burner spirit!

why the fuck can't they get some kind of xray machine that senses warm living creatures? it would be a hell of a lot more efficient. better yet, get TSA out there to do the cavity searches. and after all the BS to get through the gate, i saw at least 3 different dogs out on the playa this year! and no, they weren't "service animals".

[junglesmacks]

Ahhh the smell of wanna be pseudo intellectual babble in the fall breeze..

TSA scanners. Sweet. Can we burn them afterwards?


Please, just stay home next year.

[rubymermaid]

My wait times:

4 hours in (arrived about 1 am Monday) + stopped at will call

1 hour out (mid temple burn)

All and all way smoother than I expected. I thought they did a great job!

[hnrys69]

Hit the line at 1am Weds morn (really Tues night still) We didnt get to camp til 5am. The guy who checked tickets, walked in the RV for 2 seconds and got our tickets and we were off. I dont even think he checked the shower. We just sat and sat. All the rigs where trying to overheat from sitting and maybe moving every 10min a few cars. Fail IMO! Exodus was money, left at 9am after man burn and it took 20min to the pavement.

[vargaso]

Entry/exodus is always a crapshoot. This year was my smoothest BY FAR. Arrived around 6pm on Tues., straight shot in with just a 10 min. wait at the gate. Left on Sunday at 3pm, hit the pavement at 3:50. Seems every year they try new strategies, and every year it's still a crapshoot. Hell, in 2009, we arrived at the gate 6 minutes before it opened, they shunted us off into the dreaded D lot where we stayed for 9 hours. Pretty sure that is the longest entry in BM history. Total bullshit. But whatever. I really don't think there's a solution to it, 50K people coming in and out on one road is gonna result in a clusterfuck.

[Elorrum]

entrance 5.5 hours (Monday 7:45P - 1:15A)
exodus one and half hours or two? (Sunday, left camp at 7:45 A)
Even with no traffic, at 5mph, how do people get out so quickly? by driving too fast and stirring up a shit load of dust perhaps.
The entrance time did disappoint me, but it's a crap shoot, and I just did my best to keep awake. I was listening to biggest load of shit audio book, and kept alert by shouting obscenities at the author, and watching the dorks who couldn't find their cars after running around like assholes and not paying attention. I also really love to see people opening up the backs of their vans and r.v.s and leaving the door flapping in what is essentially the dustiest part of the trip. The time just sort of passed. I was semi dozing while stopped, and happy to be so near, sort of in a waking dream.

[Token]

Ahhh the smell of wanna be pseudo intellectual babble in the fall breeze..

TSA scanners. Sweet. Can we burn them afterwards?


Please, just stay home next year.

Hey JS!

Is that a new pic your sporting? Can't tell if it's your pre-pubescent ball sack or your vagina.

I'm really curious. Looks like there is some sand stuck in it either way.

[theCryptofishist]

The entrance time did disappoint me, but it's a crap shoot, and I just did my best to keep awake. I was listening to biggest load of shit audio book, and kept alert by shouting obscenities at the author, and watching the dorks who couldn't find their cars after running around like assholes and not paying attention. I also really love to see people opening up the backs of their vans and r.v.s and leaving the door flapping in what is essentially the dustiest part of the trip. The time just sort of passed. I was semi dozing while stopped, and happy to be so near, sort of in a waking dream.

Jax Dee and I threw a lot of snark at the sparkleponies. Including the Sparklepony McGiver who had replaced a lot gas cap with a plastic bag and rubber band, and the woman on top of some truck in gold lame bikini and chaps who could not stop posing. It was a frightening display of narcissism. (Jax also took a nap. I didn't have a timepiece, but I'm guessing about two hours, long, but not out and out torture. Good thing I had a protein shake, though.)

[BBadger]

Interesting how I hear so few complaints while at BM, even in miserable, terrible conditions; however, outside BM, even at the gates, it is just endless. To me, every default world inconvenience is a boon for BM, because it hopefully discourages people who aren't willing to just "deal with it" from attending.

endless_cars.jpg (14.52 KiB) Viewed 1308 times

[junglesmacks]

+10000



[quote="BBadger"To me, every default world inconvenience is a boon for BM, because it hopefully discourages people who aren't willing to just "deal with it" from attending.
[/quote]

[kelizabeth]

I re-read what I responded to and realized I was confused. Ignore.

[mudpuppy000]

I think they were just holding people at greeters for whatever reason when I got there on monday evening. (traffic in the city?) I swear it must have been 15 minutes/car in every lane once I got through gate. Exodus was a breeze though on sunday. I didn't stop rolling till I hit the 15 minute sign.

[lucky420]

Did anyone see the dumbass who didn't put the big roll up door back down after gate inspection? Seems the gate guys didn't pull it down and she was so excited she didn't notice. As she was rolling past greeters her stuff was falling out of the budget rental truck...pack of PBR, silver window cover,etc...

Ha that was me I am such a ms. magoo sometimes. Thank you to the people honking to let me know and for picking my stuff up for me and a big thank you to the gate person who jogged that pack of PBR back to me.

Could've turned into a Hansel & Gretel type of trail for me

[FIGJAM]

"It's art, damnit!"

[Gravybrain]

Entry on Wed before the event, about 15 minutes... Exit on Monday morning, leaving 6:45/A at 7:30 am took a solid 7 hours to the pavement.

[trilobyte]

They did in fact get permission to again open the gates at 6pm on Sunday night. For those who come in on Sunday night/Monday morning doing the waiting dance in Reno, following the official twitter feed (along with maybe Danger Ranger, Actiongrl, and a couple others) will keep you in the know.

[Kimo]

[quote="trilobyte"]They did in fact get permission to again open the gates at 6pm on Sunday night. For those who come in on Sunday night/Monday morning doing the waiting dance in Reno, following the official twitter feed (along with maybe Danger Ranger, Actiongrl, and a couple others) will keep you in the know.[/quote]

so there is a use for twitter after all! thanks for the heads up Trilobyte

[Snow]

My secret to short wait times

Make HUGE art, get in early. my wait time about 30 seconds for someone to realize someone had pulled up.

Clean up and leave late, only saw one other car on way out on Wed.