Brewers Demand Fee for Bar Shuttles
"Brewers' spokesman Tyler Barnes said the $300 fee was imposed because of safety concerns related to the intersection of W. Blue Mound Road and N. Story Parkway and the drop-off point near the home plate area. Those concerns include pedestrian traffic and shuttle activity."
This reasoning doesn't add up to me. How is a Bus going through this intersection any more dangerous than a car? If the problem is pedestrians, then extra police staffing at the intersections would be needed regardless of how many buses are using it.
This looks like a way to make money off of the people who aren't paying for parking.
over 2 years ago
tcyoung
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Shuttles
The great thing about some of these shuttles is that they take drunk drivers off the road. The fact that MP is discouraging bars from running them is pretty discouraging in itself.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
300 dollars yearly though?
So they can make what, a penny off of each person who uses them? It’s a nominal fee, doesn’t really mean anything.
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
No.
That’s not the point. Some of those people that are riding the bus will be forced to pay to park in the lot.
Some bars stopped running shuttles last year because it wasn’t worth it for them. This is going to push quite a few of them over the top.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
I disagree. It's not that hard to pass on 300 dollars to your customers, especially over the course of a full season.
Hell, raising drink prices a nickel would probably get it done in a month
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
What kind of bar charges 3.05 for a drink?
It’s not profitable endeavor for many bars already. Adding the 300 dollars to it certainly isn’t going to help matters in that regard.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
It's profitable for bars that are on bluemound. A lot of people use those.
But the farther from the stadium the shuttle runs, the fewer people use it.
The East Side isn’t very far from the stadium, but they (hooligans, bbc, judges..)had to discontinue their shuttle last year because they weren’t sure if there would enough interest.
I would be totally fine with them selling the tickets for 2 bucks instead of a drink, but then they couldn’t advertise it as a “free shuttle” I also don’t see them raising the price of their drinks during that time because they will drive their regular happy hour patrons away.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
...if there would *be* enough interest
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
If they don’t gain enough business from offering a shuttle to cover to costs I think they should discontinue their shuttles.
Assuming the bars have a shuttle to every home games, this extra fee is costing them $3.70 per game.
I don’t see an issue with the fee if it actually goes to security around the stadium parking lot where they pull in(I’ve seen many close calls with buses almost hitting drunk people walking towards the Giants…err Molitor lot).
If its just a way for the Brewers to discourage shuttles and promote parking then I can see the problem, but since it is such a small fee I’m inclined to believe it is more of an issue with added security.
Get a ife broseph
Do you think that $300 fee will stay the same every year?
Buses are being singled out here. Those shuttles are actually making the streets around MP safer by taking drunks off the roads. If the Brewers org. was actually concerned about the safety of their fans, they would encourage these shuttles. Hell, pay a subsidy to bars who want to run a shuttle.
Whether it was the intention or not, this definitely discourages bars from running shuttles.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
There is nothing that says it will go up
If it does go up in the future, then I’ll agree with you.
I don’t think charging bars who bring buses to stadium $3.70 per game is a big deal and if a bar has so few people using their service that a $3.70/game fee makes it a losing proposition, why did they have a shuttle service to begin with?
I agree with the following quote – if the surcharge leads to more organization and less accidents around the Home Plate area of the stadium, I think its a good thing.
Jeff Dobbe, the co-owner of McGinn’s on W. Blue Mound Road, said he had no problem with the fee as long as extra staffing was provided to help the shuttles get in and out of the ballpark efficiently and quickly.
Get a ife broseph
There's nothing that says it won't go up.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
Very true
It also doesn’t guarantee that buses won’t be banned altogether next year, but I doubt that will happen.
We can save this fanshot so you can give me a “I told you so” a year from now if it turns out I’m way to naive about all of this.
Get a ife broseph
And if it's such a minimal fee, why charge the bars for it?
When people get a ride somewhere, they drink more. The Brewers make that money up by selling beer at the stadium to those people who ride the shuttles. The bars are doing MP a service, why charge them for it?
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
To stop people from buying an 82 dodge caravan, calling it a shuttle, then dropping people off at the front gate.
It’s a nominal fee that doesn’t harm the legitimate shuttles, but may be seen as punitive to the people who would otherwise take advantage of the system.
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
This would actually encourage bars to do that instead.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
really? you can get dropped off at the front in any vehicle?
Why haven’t I been doing that for years now?
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
I can't figure out in which way you're being sarcastic
So, yes. You can be dropped off in front. By the home plate ticket office with the 15 minute parking.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
I didn't know that.
Would have been helpful.
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
Yeah, buses are not the only vehicles using this area.
They’re actually a minority.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
I've only really noticed the buses & taxis.
huh. Learn something everyday.
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
Yeah, I'll go down there to buy tickets to future games, even if a game is going on.
Sorry my sarcasm-dar was going crazy for no reason. I’ll get it recalibrated.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
Also
As I noted above, the reasoning the Brewers gave doesn’t seem to make sense. Why are the bars being singled out here, when those buses are much more safe than the crazy taxi cab drivers coming through there, or the people dropping their kids off or buying tickets?
It’s a slippery slope as I bet that $300 fee will go up each year.
Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, "That’s all they need is another home run hitter".
I'll agree the reason doesn't make any sense.
Follow: @mykenk. Read thoughts: http://mhenk.blogspot.com.
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