Public Transport Victoria Slam Soundwave's "Haphazard" Planning

Public Transport Victoria have announced they will be providing free shuttle busses for Soundwave Festival punters in Melbourne this weekend and have slammed the festival’s organisers for their “haphazard” planning.

In a statement PVT have confirmed Soundwave attendees will no longer have to purchase shuttle bus tickets for Soundwave with the service now being provided for free. The shuttle busses will operate from North Melbourne and Footscray stations “to at least 5 minute frequencies”.

PVT reiterated their previous claims that Soundwave organisers didn’t notify them in time about the event in order to provide additional services, on a weekend that is already packed with other major events.

In a statement PTV chief executive Mark Wild criticised Soundwave’s “haphazard approach to planning” claiming that it didn’t just impact public transport services but “almost resulted in the event being cancelled.”

“Soundwave was told months ago that due to the lack of notice about their event and other events that had already been planned, no trains would operate to the venue, but decided to continue selling tickets knowing that options for patrons would be limited,” reads the statement.

PVT dispute claims made by festival chief AJ Maddah that they were informed about the event in April 2014 and say that Soundwave has not applied for additional public transport.

“Soundwave has known for a long time that they would need to organise shuttle bus services, yet they did not take the necessary steps to provide them or include the price of these buses in the

admission price,” continues the statement.

“It is entirely inappropriate that Soundwave organisers did not let their patrons know of this arrangement well in advance, with organisers only deciding they would provide the shuttle services in the last week. PTV believes the shuttle services should be free, and that is why we are taking this step to provide them at no cost for attendees.”

The statement also urges Melboune punters to plan ahead, given all the events taking place in the city this weekend. Despite their earlier comments that they were willing to work with Soundwave organisers on this issue, Maddah claimed on Twitter that the statement was released before PVT spoke to Soundwave about their plans.

For more details on public transport to Melbourne Soundwave, head to our Soundwave Melbourne Transport Guide here.

Photos: Soundwave 2014 – Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne 28/02/2014. Photographed by Nikki Williams

Victoria, you have to love a Gov that makes announcement to media before notifying participants! Still grateful they decided to do their job

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) February 16, 2015