1 reply to this topic

[steevofromglasgow]

Hi

We've attended every CM Glasgow event and this years is already looking better than ever with 5 guests announced. We go to SM events all over the country and have been several times to London, Milton Keynes, Manchester, etc.

Collectormania Glasgow is always a great event and it would be brilliant if more could attend the event from other cities so I wanted to make a suggestion.

From speaking to other attendees in other cities, many have said they would like to come but the travel and arrangements put thems off.

Would it be possible for SM to try laying on their own coach from (say) Manchester to Glasgow. This would be a great way for fans to meet other fans travelling to the event but would also bring in more revenue to the event as the coach attendees would obviously spend a the event.

It could be a return journey on the days of the events from a set location and the cost of the coach could be divided by the number of travellers. We hired a coach recently for our wedding and paid for the cost but if the coach was full and split evenly among attendees then their travel costs could be fairly low.

What do folk think?

[dwarfbabe]

I could see several problems with this.

First, SM would have to decide which cities to run coaches from. Then there would be the inevitable "It's not fair. Why are they running coaches from there and not from near where I live?" questions. And of course you would get people asking why there are no coaches organised to transport people from their home towns to other events..

Second, SM would only be able to say how much it was going to cost each person using the coach if they knew how many people would be using it and they won't know that until the seats are all booked. This could be any time from several months in advance until five minutes before the coach is going to set off. That's assuming there are any bookings as people won't commit until they know what it's going to cost. An alternative would be to set the price when they hire the coach but what if they don't then get enough people to meet that cost?

Third, putting an event on involves a huge amount of work and there are only a small number of people to do that work. This would just add one more thing to an already heavy workload.

Fourth, not really a problem, more a comment. If people really want to go to an event, they will find a way to get there.

And finally, SM are event organisers not a coach company. Coach companies don't try to put on events and event organisers shouldn't be trying to organise transport along the lines of what you are suggesting.