anyone do this deal today? Would sincerely appreciate any info since I think it will be the same deal for the Maryland game
nittany mall bus shuttle
- Thread starter bkmtnittany1
- Start date
Just got back to the mall from the game. The line for the busses after the game was ridiculously long, but I think they added some busses to the route when they saw that because it did move pretty quick after awhile. Not sure it do it again though.
I took the shuttle. I have mixed feelings. I don't think they had a better option, but I would avoid it if I had another option.
It looks like they subcontracted a bunch of school bus companies from the region. Our driver obviously didn't know State College and wasn't clear on where to go. He missed his turn from College Ave to University Drive. As we got to town, he points to his right and asks,,,,,is that Penn State over there? We guided him through campus and eventually just told him to stop and let us out by the creamery.
The return trip was chaotic. I left my seat with 2 minutes left in the game and walked out of the stadium right at the final whistle. The line was 4-5 people wide and probably 50 yards long when I got there and within minutes grew to 300 + yards. Buses arrived and pulled up at random locations along the line and people were able to get on buses ahead of people that were in front of them in line. In addition, a lot of people jumping the line. There was one cop, a young woman, and she was completely overwhelmed. I thought it was going to get ugly, but people were generally well behaved. A lot of groaning and discussions about starting to walk. It had to take several hours for people at the end of the line.
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This is the problem. The “Keystone Cops” aspect of people jumping line and general lack of oversight/accountability involving a situation that required SPECIAL oversight. PSU Intercollegiate Athletic Administrators were more interested in their post-game tailgate appetizers than getting cash paying customers back to their cars after the normal parking lots were closed. This is not rocket science but our Athletic Department can’t execute it.
We walked down University on way to downtown and we counted 63 buses (including CATA buses). We walked back up to get our vehicle about 80 minutes later and all the people and buses were gone except 2 buses. Couldn’t have been that big of a cluster if all the people were already shuttled out.
yeah....they were well behaved....they didn't want the chopper called in!
Made a few hundred people miss a lot of the first quarter. Return was better but lacked adequate PSU staff to manage the process
Yea the shuttles were a mess yesterday.
I like the shuttles and they are normally much better run and more tightly controlled in front of BJC then they were on Sat. Not sure what the problem was.
In this case I'm not blaming the AD. I don't know how much if anything they have to do with CATA. And yesterday was an anomaly. I've taken the shuttle for the last 10+ years and they are fine. Yesterday was a complete FUBAR.
I don't know why but it wasn't just because of the weather. We've had lot closures before.
I did the Nittany Mall shuttle yesterday. I didn't especially like it but I understand the problem - I just can't think of a better solution.
After our 3 hour drive, we got to the Nittany Mall ~10:30. The extent of our tailgating experience was 1 beer before recognizing that we better get in line for the shuttle if we wanted to see the kickoff. It was maybe a half hour in line and another half hour bus ride to the BJC (ish). I got to my seats in the netherreaches of the north upper deck with 10 minutes to spare.
We left our seats with the final kneel-down and walked briskly to the line for the Nittany Mall shuttle. I was about 50 yards back and it was 40 minutes before we got on the bus. Note that all of this was compounded by the incredible cold (yes, I am apparently less cold-tolerant with my advancing age
). After a 20 minute ride back to our cars, we immediately departed for home - just too f'in' cold for post-game tailgating.
Overall, I was very disappointed with the entire experience (beyond the Lion win, of course) and I wonder if I will ever bother again. I accept that it's nobody's fault - I'm not blaming others for this - but I doubt that I will ever spend $100/ticket + $20 parking for that kind of torture again.
After our 3 hour drive, we got to the Nittany Mall ~10:30. The extent of our tailgating experience was 1 beer before recognizing that we better get in line for the shuttle if we wanted to see the kickoff. It was maybe a half hour in line and another half hour bus ride to the BJC (ish). I got to my seats in the netherreaches of the north upper deck with 10 minutes to spare.
We left our seats with the final kneel-down and walked briskly to the line for the Nittany Mall shuttle. I was about 50 yards back and it was 40 minutes before we got on the bus. Note that all of this was compounded by the incredible cold (yes, I am apparently less cold-tolerant with my advancing age
). After a 20 minute ride back to our cars, we immediately departed for home - just too f'in' cold for post-game tailgating.Overall, I was very disappointed with the entire experience (beyond the Lion win, of course) and I wonder if I will ever bother again. I accept that it's nobody's fault - I'm not blaming others for this - but I doubt that I will ever spend $100/ticket + $20 parking for that kind of torture again.
Woodpecker,
It would have been worse if you had gone to the Lehigh - Colgate game. Same frigid weather, but the good guys got pounded.
It would have been worse if you had gone to the Lehigh - Colgate game. Same frigid weather, but the good guys got pounded.
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