Laurence Kenney, Transport Scotland Laurence.Kenney@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk 1. Introduction The paper title is a quote from the Glasgow Herald and marked the successful culmination of the intensive and comprehensive planning to deliver an integrated transport solution for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, 23rd to 28th September. The Ryder Cup is one of the most high profile sporting events in the world with a global television audience of around 500 million households. The Ryder Cup, last held in Scotland in 1973, presented the uniquely complex transport planning challenge of delivering 50,000 people a day to the PGA Centenary Course, a rural location in Perthshire. The challenge was heightened by the expectation of many of the spectators to be on course for the 1st tee coinciding with first light at 07:30. The challenge was met through a combination of park & ride bus (modal share 50%), coach (15%), rail (15%) and on-site parking for staff and VIPs (20%). The key partners with Ryder Cup Europe and Transport Scotland in the transport working group were Perth & Kinross Council and Police Scotland supported by Ryder Cup Travel Services, Stagecoach and First ScotRail. The paper will provide an overview of the event preparation and approach adopted for event delivery. Transport Scotland undertook a programme of data collection across all modes during the event which will be discussed, highlighting key points including trip patterns and volumes across the various modes, vehicle occupancy, impacts on business as usual journey times. The paper will then conclude with some key lessons learnt including: the importance of partnership working in the planning; the need for a central transport hub to ensure quick and joined up response to any incidents; the key role of community engagement in the development of plans; the use of trunk road CCTV and support vehicles in providing visibility to event controllers. 2. Event Preparation 2.1 Transport Planning Group The host for the 2014 Ryder Cup was announced in 2001. On behalf of the Scottish Government the transport preparations for the event were led by Event Scotland. In the summer of 2013 it became clear that as the event approached Transport Scotland was best placed to take over the delivery responsibilities. In preparation for a number of high profile events to be held in 2014, including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Transport Scotland established a dedicated 2014 Page 1
Team to assist with the delivery of transport. For the 2014 Ryder Cup, this allowed a dedicated resource to be put in place to co-chair the transport planning group with Ryder Cup Europe and to ensure delivery of all of the Scottish Government s commitments. With Ryder Cup Europe and Transport Scotland the core of the planning partnership were Perth & Kinross Council and Police Scotland. Other partners included Event Scotland, Ryder Cup Travel Services, Stirling Council, British Transport Police, Stagecoach East Scotland, CSP Ltd, the AA, First ScotRail, CH2M Hill and SIAS. 2.2 Transport Plan The principles underlying the development of the Transport Plan were to: Ensure safety of all spectators, staff and the travelling public; Create a working document for all parties to operate under; Ensure business as usual for travelling public; Minimise environmental impact; Minimise car movements at Gleneagles; and Leave legacy benefits where appropriate. This led to the a transport strategy focussing on travel by rail, shuttle bus from three park & ride sites and coach, as illustrated in Chart 2a. Chart 2a Transport Strategy Page 2
The partnership worked together to develop the strategy into a comprehensive plan. The full transport group met monthly to consider the overall planning. In addition, the core partnership met as a working group in between to allow strategic, local, event and policing elements of the plan to be discussed and agreed collaboratively and in the real time. Working with wider partners in Ryder Cup Travel Services, Stagecoach East Scotland, First ScotRail allowed the transport provision to closely aligned with the overall plan. The event planning was based on the daily number of spectators and staff of 52,000. To allow flexibility in transport provision, the transport plan provided for 56,000 across all modes and locations as show in Chart 2b. Chart 2b Approximate Passenger & Vehicle Numbers Method No Parking of spaces Maximum No. of Passengers Passenger Breakdown Rail n/a 7,250 Public, Hospitality North McDiarmid Park, Perth West Castleview, Stirling East Balado, Kinross 1500 3,400 Public, Disabled, VIP, staff 3,500 7,900 Public, Disabled, VIP, staff 7,500 17,000 Public, Disabled, VIP, staff Car Park 1 50 113 BMW Courtesy Cars Only Car Park 2 52 117 Wheelchair users and carers, pre-booked and pre-allocated. Car Park 3 100 225 BMW Courtesy cars staging area, Hotel Guests Valet Car Park 4 2,000 4,500 Event Contracted Partners and Key Event Officials Car Park 5 1,500 3,400 Event Staff & Volunteers Car Park 6 1,000 2,260 Local Residents Page 3
RCTS Coaches n/a 9,500 RCTS Packages 1,803 Blue Bus Terminal 2.3 Park & Ride RCTS Packages 3,994 Yellow Bus Terminal Premier Golf/RCTS Public from North/Blairgowrie/Perth RCTS Shuttles n/a 2150 Written Media, Courtesy Cars 100 200 56,000 Public from St Andrews Square, Edinburgh Players, Player Families and Partners, Boards and Officials Three park & ride sites were established at Balado by Kinross, McDiarmid Park in Perth and Castleview in Stirling. As shown in chart 2c, Balado was the largest site providing for 7,500 cars and also large areas for contingency parking. The site provided hard standing for security checks and bus loading and large areas of well drained grass areas for parking. McDiarmid Park was the smallest site providing for 1,500 cars. As an existing football stadium it provided hard standing for both bus loading and for car parking. Castleview was based around Stirling Council s existing Park & Ride site which was extended in partnership between the Scottish Government and the Council as a legacy benefit. The existing Park & Ride served as the bus loading area and privately owned adjoining grass fields were leased for parking cars. The characteristics including the journey times to and from the Gleneagles are shown in Chart 2c. Page 4
Chart 2c: Park & Ride Capacities & Journey Times P&R Site East Balado, Kinross North McDiarmid Park, Perth West Castleview, Stirling Maximum Car Capacity Maximum No of Visitors Total 12,500 28,300 Journey Time To Gleneagles Journey Time From Gleneagles 7,500 17,000 30 mins 50 mins 1,500 3,400 23 mins 23 mins 3,500 7,900 24 mins 24 mins Ticket holders could book a space at any of three park & ride sites. Booking patterns reflected the assumed patterns and minimised crossing manoeuvres, with ticket holders from the north and north east using McDiarmid Park and from the south east using Balado and from the west using Castleview. This is shown in Chart 2d. Chart 2d: Postcode Locations of Ticket Applications for Park & Ride sites Page 5
Each of the three park & ride sites required infrastructure works to enable them to work as efficiently and effectively as possible, such as new or upgraded accesses. They were delivered by Transport Scotland using existing partner supply chains. Ryder Cup Europe led on the delivery of the park & ride sites using contractors to provide, secure and operate the sites, including bus loading, lighting and trackway in parking areas. The Transport Planning Group determined appropriate routeing for vehicles approaching the respective park & ride sites. The routeing was supplied with car park tickets. A comprehensive on-road signage plan was also implemented to support this information. Traffic management was also implemented on the trunk and local roads surrounding all of the park & ride sites. This included measures such as reduced speed limits, traffic signals, parking restrictions, limited access restrictions. Ryder Cup Europe constructed two large bus terminals on site at Gleneagles to receive the Park & Ride shuttle bus and coaches travelling direct to the event. Some of the elements of the transport plan are shown in Chart 2e Chart 2e: Elements of the Transport Plan Park & Ride loading area at Stirling Aerial view of event site, showing the southern bus terminal and the upgraded access to Gleneagles station The upgraded Gleneagles Station Page 6
2.4 Rail The Gleneagles Railway Station is located close the Gleneagles resort, in fact the Gleneagles Hotel was built in 1925 by the Caledonian Railway Company, the then owner of the Station. The station formed in integral part of transport planning for the event. After years of constant service, the station was in need of upgrading. In addition, the refurbishment offered the opportunity to upgrade the station access. The hosting of the Ryder Cup provided the impetus to Perth & Kinross, Network Rail and ScotRail to deliver a new access road, an expanded car park, fully accessible lift access and a complete modernisation of station, see Chart 2e. During the event, British Transport Police and ScotRail managed spectators movement between the station and the event security check point. From there, a spectator route was provided along the closed road access to the A9 trunk road. Transport Scotland delivered a temporary footbridge over the A9 directly into the PGA Centenary Course. Train operator ScotRail operated dedicated services from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, Aberdeen and Dundee directly to Gleneagles Station. The approximate numbers that could be accommodated are shown in Chart 2f. Larger numbers were provided for on the return journeys to allow flexibility to cope with the departure profile. Chart 2f (i): Inbound rail passengers to Gleneagles Tuesday to Thursday Friday Saturday & Edinburgh Glasgow Dundee / Aberdeen Inverness Perth Total 2,850 2,000 600 330 1,720 7,500 3,250 2,130 780 330 1,680 8,350 Sunday 3,150 2,310 780 330 1780 8,350 Chart 2f (ii): Outbound rail passengers from Gleneagles Tuesday to Thursday Friday Saturday & Edinburgh Glasgow Dundee / Aberdeen Inverness Perth Total 3,116 2,593 600 380 1,800 8,489 3,620 2,759 950 400 1,800 9,529 Sunday 3,518 2,620 950 350 1,800 9,238 Page 7
2.5 Community Engagement Community engagement was vital to successful delivery of the 2014 Ryder Cup. The partnership approach delivered a number of innovations. Ryder Cup Europe partnered with Police Scotland to fund a dedicated Community Engagement Officer in the 24 months before the event. This officer was a trusted point of contact for the local communities and fed issues back to the transport partnership to allow them to be resolved. Community briefings were undertaken in Auchterarder and around the three Park & Ride sites. These were delivered collaboratively by Transport Scotland and Perth & Kinross Council and all partners being on a panel to explain to and advise community representatives. This approach reinforced that the plans had been developed and agreed across all agencies. The partnership was also able to take back issues to discuss and modify the planning as appropriate. As noted above ensuring business as usual for travelling public was part of the plan. It was recognised that in addition to immediate local communities there was a larger community of travellers around central Scotland that could be impacted by the event. A Travel Demand Management (TDM) programme was put in place. Traffic Scotland s existing permanent Variable Messaging Signs (VMS) and fixed plate signs were used to provide advanced notification of the event. This was supplemented by a number of radio and written press announcements in the run up to the event. 2.6 Contingency Planning In addition to having an agreed plan in place the partnership decided it was essential to ensure the plan was robustly tested to cope with incidents. As the event approached, the partnership ran a number of contingency exercises between November 2013 and August 2014. Different partners took turns to facilitate the exercises to ensure different perspectives and issues were tested. During the process, the partnership identified 15 potential incidents, listed here: Need for diversion route Use of contingency fields at Balado Bus Breakdown Coach Breakdown Train Breakdown Rail fatality Road vehicle breakdown or collision Blocked/Slow route around park & ride site North Park & Ride reaches capacity and diverting traffic to East Park & Ride Wet weather general approach Site evacuation Loss of A9 footbridge Major disruption to Strategic Road Network Loss of Bus Terminals Page 8
For each the partnership agreed how the incident would initially be notified, who would be responsible for monitoring the ongoing incident, what the response would be and what steps could be taken to mitigate the incident. The later exercises allowed each of the partners to test their awareness of these plans. 3. Event Delivery For the event, the same transport partners moved into operational delivery mode and formed a joint Transport Hub. The partners in the Transport Hub and their linkages to the wider transport system are shown in Chart 3a. The Hub allowed issues across partners separate responsibilities and transport modes to respond quickly and efficiently to incidents. Chart 3a Transport Hub linkages This innovation was further enhanced by co-locating the Hub within the overall event control, the JOCC (Joint Operations and Communications Centre). Being co-located with the event control helped with gathering intelligence on issues such as match timings and crowd movements around the course to allow the transport system to respond (Chart 3b). Page 9
Chart 3b Transport Hub in action 4. Performance Monitoring 4.1 Introduction As noted, part of Transport Scotland s role during the 2014 Ryder Cup involved collating various metrics across the different transport modes to understand how those attending the event travelled to and from the Gleneagles course, and how well the transport system performed. The process relied on working closely with our transport partners to bring together key outcomes in terms of: traffic flows on trunk road network journey time information Park & Ride car parks: o arrival and departure profiles o car park occupancy o vehicle occupancy o pick-up / drop-off o shuttle bus journeys rail travel modal split. Some of the performance metrics were derived from established processes already in place such as the collation of traffic count and journey time data. Other performance metrics were derived from bespoke traffic surveys conducted on behalf of Transport Scotland by Sky High Technology Ltd, procured via an existing multiple framework data collection commission. This paper will focus on park & ride arrival and departure profiles, background traffic, vehicle occupancy, volumes across the modes and impacts on business as usual journey times. 4.2 Park & Ride Arrival and Departure Profiles As part of the performance monitoring survey programme, real-time footprint analytics were employed to provide information to the Transport Hub at Gleneagles. Page 10
The surveys involved capturing the numbers of arriving and departing vehicles in five minute intervals at each gate at each Park & Ride car park. The information was collected manually, entered into a spreadsheet using a tablet and relayed real-time to the Transport Hub to allow staff to track the level of car park occupancy at each of the P&R car parks. The surveys were conducted on Wednesday 24 th to Sunday 28 th September between 0500 and 1100hrs only. The observed arrival profile for each event day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) are illustrated in Chart 4a (i),(ii) and (iii) for each site respectively. Chart 4a(i): East P&R Car Park (Balado) 120 2014 Ryder Cup Balado Park & Ride Site AM Arrival Profile 100 Number of Car Trips 80 60 40 20 0 05:00 05:10 05:20 05:30 05:40 05:50 06:00 06:10 06:20 06:30 06:40 06:50 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:30 07:40 07:50 08:00 08:10 08:20 08:30 08:40 08:50 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 09:50 10:00 10:10 10:20 10:30 10:40 10:50 Time (hh:mm) Friday Saturday Sunday Page 11
Chart 4a(ii): North P&R Car Park (McDiarmid Park) 120 2014 Ryder Cup McDiarmid Park & Ride Site AM Arrival Profile 100 Number of Car Trips 80 60 40 20 0 05:00 05:10 05:20 05:30 05:40 05:50 06:00 06:10 06:20 06:30 06:40 06:50 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:30 07:40 07:50 08:00 08:10 08:20 08:30 08:40 08:50 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 09:50 10:00 10:10 10:20 10:30 10:40 10:50 Time (hh:mm) Friday Saturday Sunday Chart 4a(iii): West P&R Car Park (Castleview) 120 2014 Ryder Cup Castleview Park & Ride Site AM Arrival Profile 100 Number of Car Trips 80 60 40 20 0 05:00 05:10 05:20 05:30 05:40 05:50 06:00 06:10 06:20 06:30 06:40 06:50 07:00 07:10 07:20 07:30 07:40 07:50 08:00 08:10 08:20 08:30 08:40 08:50 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 09:50 10:00 10:10 10:20 10:30 10:40 10:50 Time (hh:mm) Friday Saturday Sunday Notes: Source: Sky High Technology Ltd, Period: 0500-1100hrs The results of the arrival / departure surveys clearly illustrate the distinct profiles for each day of the event. The early start for spectators on the first event day (Friday) is evident at all three sites, with the second day (Saturday) slightly less pronounced. The final day (Sunday) profiles reflect the later tee-off time. Page 12
4.3 Background Traffic In addition to collating traffic data from the permanent ATC counters, video surveys were conducted at key locations on the network to capture changes in the daily traffic profile. This was achieved by installing temporary video survey equipment around the three P&R site locations: M9 Junction 10 (Craigforth) M90 Junction 6 (Kinross) A9(T) Junction with A85 Crieff Road (Perth). The surveys were conducted over 24hr periods on Friday 26-Sep-14 (the Friday of the event) and Friday 3-Oct-14 (the Friday after the event) only, and were aimed at capturing changes mainly in non-event traffic. Where possible, the cameras were located between the off and on ramp at the junctions the idea being that spectator traffic would have left or joined the network via the slip roads. As an example, the results of the survey between the junction 10 slip roads on the M9 at Stirling are illustrated graphically in Chart 4b for northbound (i) and southbound (ii). Chart 4b (i): Comparison of Daily Traffic Flow Profiles M9 Junction 10 (Craigforth) Northbound 600 2014 Ryder Cup Northbound Daily Traffic Profile - M9 Junction 10 (Craigforth) Friday 26-Sep-14 500 400 300 200 100 0 00:00 00:45 01:30 02:15 03:00 03:45 04:30 05:15 06:00 06:45 07:30 08:15 09:00 09:45 10:30 11:15 12:00 12:45 13:30 14:15 15:00 15:45 16:30 17:15 18:00 18:45 19:30 20:15 Traffic Flow (Vehs) 21:00 21:45 22:30 23:15 Time of Day Northbound Normal Friday Profile Page 13
Chart 4b (ii): Comparison of Daily Traffic Flow Profiles M9 Junction 10 (Craigforth) Southbound 600 2014 Ryder Cup Southbound Daily Traffic Profile - M9 Junction 10 (Craigforth) Friday 26-Sep-14 500 400 Traffic Flow (Vehs) 300 200 100 0 00:00 00:45 01:30 02:15 03:00 03:45 04:30 05:15 06:00 06:45 07:30 08:15 09:00 09:45 10:30 11:15 12:00 12:45 13:30 14:15 15:00 15:45 16:30 17:15 18:00 18:45 19:30 20:15 21:00 21:45 22:30 23:15 Time of Day Southbound Normal Friday Profile Notes: Source: Sky High Technology Ltd Traffic flows between the on and off ramps of Junction 10 Period: 0000-2359hrs The results of the surveys suggest that for M9 Junction 10: Very early morning, between 0430 and 0600hrs, traffic flows were higher reflecting staff and volunteer traffic heading north to Gleneagles. During the traditional AM (0700 to 0900hrs) and PM (1600 to 1900hrs) periods, traffic flows were slightly lower suggesting a reduction / rerouting / retiming of regular commuter traffic. In the evening, after 1900hrs, there was a slight increase compared with the normal profile reflecting southbound traffic returning from Gleneagles. The results suggest that, overall, the mainline traffic volumes on the M9 were, on average, broadly similar to 2013 levels. The flow profile data alludes to regular / commuter traffic taking heed of travel advice (see section 2.5 above) to avoid the route but being replaced by spectator traffic heading to Gleneagles and the West P&R car park at Castleview. 4.4 Vehicle Occupancy The traffic modelling underpinning the transport planning for the 2014 Ryder Cup was based on an observed vehicle occupancy of 2.26, derived from survey work at the previous UK event at Celtic Manor in 2010. To inform future events, as part of the performance monitoring survey programme, vehicle occupancy surveys were conducted at each of the Park & Ride car parks. Page 14
The surveys were conducted for 30 minutes or so at each gate on a rotational basis. The surveys were conducted on Friday 26 th September only. The observed vehicle occupancy for each site is summarised in Charts 4c. Chart 4c (i): - Observed Vehicle Occupancy - East P&R Car Park Site (Balado) Gate Access Route Vehicle Occupancy (persons per car) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Occupancy 1 A91 / North 17 56 18 9 1 1 2.25 4 B918 / A977 / West 0 0 0 0 0 0 Not Counted 5 B918 / A977 / East 82 283 56 34 11 14 2.27 6 A977 VIPs 20 39 21 10 3 8 2.61 Site 119 378 95 53 15 23 2.32 (ii): North P&R Car Park (McDiarmid Park) Vehicle Occupancy (persons per car) Gate Access Route Occupancy 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 A9 Slip Road 2 15 6 2 1 2 2.68 3 A85 Crieff Road West 122 269 86 51 10 10 2.25 4 A85 Crieff Road East 12 40 19 8 3 6 2.64 Site 136 324 111 61 14 18 2.32 (iii): West P&R Car Pak (Castleview) Notes: Gate Access Route Vehicle Occupancy (persons per car) 1 2 3 4 5 6 Occupancy 4 Millennium Way West 217 464 108 63 16 7 2.11 5 Millennium Way East 87 208 42 32 7 2 2.13 Site 304 672 150 95 23 9 2.11 Source: Sky High Technology Ltd Period: 0500-1100hrs Survey of vehicle occupancy on 26-Sep-14 only The results of the surveys suggest that the average vehicle occupancy for the event was around 2.22 persons per vehicle, which closely matches the value of 2.26 used during event planning. It should be noted that at both the North (McDiarmid Park) and East (Balado) car parks, the pick-up / drop-off area was located within the general car park. At the West (Castleview) car park, the pick-up / drop-off site was separate (external) to general parking. Consequently, the occupancy figures reflect this difference. As noted above, the surveys were conducted for one day only. It is assumed that the other event days followed a similar pattern. 4.5 Volumes Across the Modes In determining a feel for how spectators travelled to the 2014 Ryder Cup, it is difficult to derive a direct link between each of the metrics collected, particularly as they were Page 15
collected using different techniques by different organisations over different time periods. Instead, it is considered more robust to infer a modal split from ticket data collected by the ticketing agent SEE Tickets. Each member of staff, volunteer and spectator had their pass checked at point of entry / exit into / out of the transport system, effectively allowing some inferral of modal split to / from the event course. Therefore, Chart 4d uses the SEE Ticket data to infer an overall modal split for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, for road, rail, bus and coach modes. Chart 4d suggests that around 50% travelled to the event course using the Park and Ride facilities, with around 15% of each on rail and coach (direct to venue). The remaining 20% (mainly VIPs, officials, staff and volunteers) travelled directly to Gleneagles by car. Page 16
Chart 4d: Summary of Spectator Travel by Mode Practice Days Event Days Mode Modal Share 23-Sep-14 24-Sep-14 25-Sep-14 26-Sep-14 27-Sep-14 28-Sep-14 Park & Ride East - Balado 1,144 2,559 5,218 8,023 8,211 7,982 West - Castleview 1,749 3,709 6,445 8,296 8,672 8,557 North - McDiarmid 889 1,986 3,298 3,744 3,411 3,655 Total 3,782 8,254 14,961 20,063 20,294 20,194 49.2% Coach Yellow Bus Terminal 487 797 2,858 4,353 4,216 4,481 Blue Bus Terminal 560 483 1,517 2,129 2,198 2,161 Total 1,047 1,280 4,375 6,482 6,414 6,642 14.8% Car Media/VVIPs/ Courtesy Cars (CP1 & CP3) 464 695 1,523 2,320 2,452 2,576 Staff Car Park (CP2, CP4 & CP6) 1,761 2,791 4,264 4,953 4,930 5,110 Station (combination of CP5 and Rail from below) 1,142 2,423 5,005 6,279 7,568 7,832 Total 3,367 5,909 10,792 13,552 14,950 15,518 21.2% Rail ex Euston 0 0 9 23 28 0 ex Edinburgh 361 666 1,148 3,228 2,480 3,193 ex Glasgow Queen St 156 359 848 1,196 625 1,245 ex Glasgow Central 66 119 414 1,092 1,165 1,511 ex Aberdeen 31 182 406 977 688 453 ex inverness 38 110 161 229 274 77 ex Perth / Dundee 75 205 585 425 895 709 Total 727 1,641 3,571 7,170 6,155 7,188 14.9% 8,196 15,443 30,128 40,097 41,658 42,354 100.0% Note: Source: SEE Ticket Data The above table reflects spectator ticket numbers Page 17
4.6 Journey Times Traffic Scotland s journey time service was used to monitor journey times on eight selected routes on the A9(T), M9 and M90. The routes were selected where information was already collected as part of the existing journey time service: A9(T) M90 Broxden - M9 J10 Craigforth A9(T) M90 Broxden - A9(T) A823 Gleneagles M9 J10 Craigforth - A9(T) A823 Gleneagles M9 J10 Craigforth - A9(T) M90 Broxden M9 J10 Craigforth - M9 J9 Bannockburn M9 J9 Bannockburn - M9 J10 Craigforth A9(T) A912 Inveralmond - A9(T) M90 Broxden A9(T) M90 Broxden - A9(T) A912 Inveralmond. A summary of the average change in journey time for the eight trunk road routes is tabulated in Chart 4e below. The information collected from the Traffic Scotland journey time service indicates that, overall, journey times on these sections of the trunk road network were, on average, just over 5% longer than normal. Chart 4e: Change in Journey Times on A9(T), M9 and M90 Date Event Time Period 00:00-07:00 07:00-10:00 10:00-16:00 16:00-19:00 19:00-24:00 07:00-19:00 00:00-24:00 23-Sep-14 2.9% 3.5% 4.3% 3.8% -0.3% 4.0% 2.8% 24-Sep-14 Practice Days 2.2% 3.3% 4.3% 7.7% -2.7% 4.9% 2.5% 25-Sep-14 1.3% 3.6% 7.6% 5.6% 1.0% 6.1% 3.6% 26-Sep-14 5.0% 7.4% 0.7% 3.0% 6.6% 2.9% 4.2% 27-Sep-14 Event Days 4.8% 7.4% 6.5% 9.0% 5.7% 7.3% 6.2% 28-Sep-14 7.3% 8.5% 7.2% 7.4% 5.5% 7.6% 7.1% Average 4.9% 5.7% 4.0% 4.7% 4.9% 5.4% 5.6% Notes: Source: Traffic Scotland Journey Time Service 5. Lessons Learned 5.1 Introduction Following the event a number of debrief activities were undertaken to fully capture the lessons from the event planning and delivery. Some key lessons are described here. 5.2 Partnership Partnership working was essential to the successful delivery of transport for the event across all levels and areas of responsibility. Some particular points highlighted in the debrief included the need to form the partnership early and in particular the Page 18
establishment of the focussed working group was very helpful in moving the planning forward. All partners need high level commitment, ideally to allow the deployment of dedicated staff and associated resources to the planning. The transport plan needs to signed off by the planning group well in advance of the event to allow for briefing and training of those involved in operational delivery. Planning assumptions need to be agree by all partners and sensitivity testing around key assumptions should be used to make the planning more robust. 5.3 Transport Hub The Transport Hub, discussed in section 3, worked extremely well. Having all partners together in one place allowed joined up and quick response to incidents. Also being co-located in the JOCC with the event control staff, CCTV camera feeds covering the whole site, and Police Scotland allowed the smooth flow of information. A key example of working with non-transport staff was at the end of each day approaching the end of play. Event staff were able to follow the movement of people around the site and to see when spectators were beginning to head to the bus terminals. This allowed the transport planning partners to get resources in place to deal with the crowds before the queuing at the terminals started. The lesson for future major events is to establish a transport hub with all partners and ideally to locate this within the overall event control. 5.4 Community Engagement As discussed in section 2.5, community engagement was a vital part of the planning and delivery of the event. The key lesson is to recognise the importance of this and ensure that resources are devoted to communicating with the community. While funding a fulltime member of staff may be harder for some events, the provision of a central point of contact is invaluable in building up trust with the community. Communicating and being willing to adapt plans based on community feedback is also important. 5.5 CCTV / TRISS Transport Scotland through Traffic Scotland have CCTV cameras located across the trunk road network [https://trafficscotland.org/livetrafficcameras/]. In preparation for the 2014 Ryder Cup, additional cameras were installed providing fuller coverage of the key junction along the A9 corridor. The cameras provided a live feed back to the Transport Hub and to the Traffic Scotland control room at South Queensferry. Transport Scotland s trunk road operating companies provide Trunk Road Incident Support Service (TRISS) vehicles to the busiest sections of the network to deal with incidents and support the emergency services in clearing incidents [www.transportscotland.gov.uk/road/trunk-road-incident-support-service-triss]. During the 2014 Ryder Cup patrol routes were adjusted to allow comprehensive coverage of the trunk roads around and approaching the venue. This allowed a quick response to incidents in support of Police Scotland, which helped to keep the routes to and from the event flowing freely. The TRISS vehicles are also equipped with CCTV cameras which into the same trunk road CCTV system mentioned above. Page 19
In addition, the performance monitoring staff at all three park & ride sites were able to provide transport network focussed feedback directly into the Transport Hub. The lesson for future major events to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to allow central staff to have visibility across the transport network. 6. Conclusion A comprehensive victory of the European Team over the USA 16 ½ to 11 ½! The Transport Plan can t take any credit for that but it did provide a very significant contribution to what the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon called a hugely successful event. In exit questionnaires 92 per cent of attendees reported being satisfied or very satisfied with transport provision, see Chart 6a. And according to Scottish motor racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart, in fact, it was the best spectator experience for the paying customer. Chart 6a: Overall how satisfied were you with the transport provision for The 2014 Ryder Cup? Reflecting back on the underlying principles, listed in section 2.2, helps demonstrate the success of the transport planning partnership: Safety and security on the transport network was enhanced throughout the event. Business as usual was maintained. Even with extensive traffic management on strategic road routes journey times were no more than 5 per cent longer than usual. All existing rail services were maintained and Gleneagles Station remained open for commuters. Environmental impact of car movements was minimised with a public transport mode share of 80 per cent. Legacy benefits included the upgraded Gleneagles Station (including an access road and local bus hub), an expanded park & ride site in Stirling, Page 20
enhanced CCTV coverage on the A9 corridor, and a prioritised road maintenance programme across the area. In additional to the physical legacy benefits, the wider benefit to the reputation of Scotland s transport community s ability to work in partnership is just as important as are the lessons learned for the planning and delivery of future events. Acknowledgements Thanks to: Ryder Cup Europe, Perth & Kinross Council and Police Scotland as core partners in the transport planning and delivery. Ryder Cup Travel Services, Stagecoach East Scotland, First ScotRail and other partners in the transport group. Iain Clement of SIAS for co-ordinating the performance monitoring for Transport Scotland. Paul Macfarlane for facilitating the debrief process. Page 21