Event mobility plan checklist

Before designing anything, you need to know how many people are coming, from where, how and under what administrative framework.

• Define the simultaneous capacity at the peak and the expected arrival and departure curve.Do not use total tickets sold: what sizes access roads and parking is the number of people on site at the same time.
• Get the ticket purchase postcodes and work out where your audience comes from.Ask your ticketing provider. With them you can estimate distances and decide in which areas there is enough demand for a coach or shuttle.
• Estimate the current modal split: car, public transport, bike, on foot and coach.If you have no data, measure it with last edition's survey or with volunteer counts at the entrances.
• Collect what happened in previous editions: queues, traffic incidents, clearance times and complaints.Production, security and local police notes can have more detail than a survey.
• List the public transport around the venue: lines, frequencies, time of the last service and capacity for extra services.Check whether the last service leaves before the event ends.
• List the parking available: inside the venue, in the surroundings and in areas at risk of residential use.Note spaces, ownership, access and who authorises the use of each plot.
• Find out whether your event occupies the public road and, if so, notify the traffic authority in advance.Under article 12.8 of Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, as worded by Law 9/2025, recreational, tourist or traditional events without sporting competition that occupy the road wholly or partly must be notified at least ten working days in advance to the Jefatura Central de Tráfico or to the regional or local road safety authority. If there is a sporting event or a march on public roads, the General Traffic Regulations (art. 55 and annex II) require prior authorisation. Confirm with your council what applies to you.
• Assess whether your event could generate abnormally high travel even if it does not occupy the road, and check with the authority.The same article requires notifying the DGT, or the regional or local authority, before the start, of events that without occupying the road could generate an abnormally high number of journeys affecting the fluidity and safety of roads. The rule does not define «abnormally high» or set a deadline in that paragraph: ask the authority whether your event falls within it.
• Ask the competent authority, starting with your council, whether Law 9/2025 on Sustainable Mobility affects you as a large activity centre.The law defines the large activity centre (it includes leisure and sport) and refers to criteria the ministries will set jointly. It does not name festivals or concerts. Do not assume it applies, and do not rule it out without asking.
• Check with your security team whether you need a self-protection plan and coordinate it with the mobility plan.Royal Decree 393/2007 requires it, among others, for open-air shows with a capacity of 20,000 people or more and for closed demountable or seasonal installations with 2,500 or more. It deals with emergencies, not mobility: make sure the two documents do not contradict each other on emergency access.

The aim is for each person to arrive by an assigned route without crowding into a single point.

• Set the target modal split by mode and by area of origin.A concrete target (for example, more people by coach from a large city) guides everything else.
• Assign each area of origin a recommended route and an alternative.Avoid the whole audience using the same access road.
• Zone the parking and entry points by type of user: audience, staff, artists, suppliers, accessible and carpooling.Giving each type of user its own access stops staff from blocking the public and the other way round.
• Stagger arrival slots with door openings, sessions or earlier activities.The more the arrival is spread out, the lower the peak at the entrance.
• Reserve drop-off and pick-up points for taxis, ride-hailing and companions away from the main road.Close to the gates but clear of the car flow and of the emergency route.
• Design walking and cycling routes from public transport stops and parking, with secure bike parking.The onboard:earth guide lists secure cycle storage as a measure.
• Define plan B for when the car park fills up: diversion, alternative parking and message.Decide who triggers the plan and at what threshold before event day.

Departure concentrates a lot of people in a short time. Design it with the same care as arrival.

• Set a target clearance time for the venue and the car park, and what queue you consider acceptable.Without a target you cannot tell whether the plan worked.
• Define the car park exit order by zone and the one-way roads.Make sure the farthest zones do not block the nearest ones, or the other way round.
• Coordinate with operators the last service, extra services and last-hour pick-up points.Check that the last service leaves after the venue has really emptied.
• Design a staggered end to the programme to spread the exit.A gradual finish stretches the flow instead of concentrating it into a few minutes.
• Set up taxi and ride-hailing pick-up points with safe, lit waiting areas.Keep them apart from the private car flow to avoid dangerous crossings.
• Plan what to do for people left without a way home: no driver, broken-down car or no transport.Coordinate with security and operators, and define a help point and an alternative.

Offer alternatives to the single-occupancy car where it makes sense and fill the cars that will come anyway.

• Define the collective transport offer by area of origin: extra regular services, shuttles or dedicated coaches.With postcodes you see where there is enough demand for a coach. With scattered demand, collective transport is harder to fill.
• If you hire coaches or shuttles, agree in writing with the operator the real capacity, frequencies, timetables and stops.Capacity depends on the vehicle. As an example, one operator's data sheet lists 55 seats plus guide and driver for a specific 12.20 m coach, and warns that the data may vary by vehicle.
• Offer entry-plus-transport packages by setting aside a share of tickets.The onboard:earth guide describes it as an easy and decisive way to cut cars, and two operators state that take-up rises if the option is sold in ticketing.
• Enable carpooling on your website and ticketing and explain how it works.The guide recommends promoting car-sharing services on the event website and in emails.
• Create incentives for cars with several people: priority parking or early entry and, where appropriate, a surcharge for cars that are not full.The guide notes that priority parking and early entry have proved successful.
• Review whether you charge for parking and at what price.According to the guide, if ticket sales are robust, raising the price of the car pass encourages people to share or leave the car.

The best plan does not work if the audience does not know it in time.

• Publish a «how to get there» page with every option, in the languages your audience needs.Include a map, transport timetables, parking conditions and recommendations by area of origin.
• Communicate transport options at the point of ticket purchase and in the confirmation email.The onboard:earth guide states that the best results in encouraging more sustainable travel come at the ticketing stage.
• Send a reminder in the week before with the route, parking and last service.A short message with a single link gets read more.
• Publish door opening times, the time of the last transport and the pick-up points.Repeat the information on social media, on the website and on signage.
• Warn neighbours, shops and emergency services about closures, diversions and peak times.Good relations with the surroundings reduce complaints and ease future permits.
• Prepare messages for incidents: full car park, delays and route changes.Define who sends them and through which channels: social media, public address, website and access staff.

This is where the plan is put to the test. You need owners, live information and clear rules for deciding.

• Appoint a mobility lead with authority and a direct line to local police, transport and security.A single person must be able to decide on a change of plan.
• Prepare an operations map with signage, control points, parking zones and emergency routes.Share it with production, security, police and volunteers.
• Train and assign the staff and volunteers for parking and access, with a briefing and a map.They must know what to tell the public and whom to alert when there is a problem.
• Check the setup the day before: signage, closures, lighting and communications.Walk the route as an attendee would, including at night.
• Define the thresholds that trigger plan B, for example car park x% full or a queue longer than x minutes.You decide the x values with your team and the authorities.
• Count live: vehicles entering, people at the gates and the state of transport, and log incidents with time and place.This data helps you decide in the moment and analyse afterwards.

What is not measured cannot be improved at the next edition.

• Define the indicators before the event: modal split, average occupancy per car, average kilometres, share on collective transport and clearance time.The onboard:earth guide lists higher car occupancy, provision of dedicated coaches and shuttle buses, and a higher share of the audience on shared transport as indicators.
• Send the mobility survey after the event.You can copy the questions from the mobility survey template and adapt them to your tool.
• Calculate the emissions of audience transport and document the assumptions.The emissions calculator uses IDAE factors; note which data are measured and which estimated.
• Hold a debrief with operators, local police, security and the council.With the incident logs in front of you, the debrief is more useful.
• Document the lessons and set mobility targets for the next edition.Keep data, maps and decisions in one document that the next team inherits.