Given everything that’s been going down at Splendour In The Grass 2022 — from a new campsite and a cancelled first day due to weather conditions – it’s unsurprising that transport options like the festival’s bus lines were chaotic AF last night.
At Byron Events Farm — where some of roughly 16,000 camping pass holders were diverted to after the North Byron Parklands campsite stopped accepting cars on Friday – those looking to travel to the festival waited up to three hours to get on the bus.
It’s approximately a 10-minute drive from Byron Events Farm to North Byron Parklands. Once you get to the festival there’s another line to get into the event itself.
As for leaving Splendour on Saturday night, the queues were even longer.
One punter posted a video on TikTok complaining they had been waiting in line for over four and a half hours for a bus out of the festival.
@tilly.gov.au What the actual f* splendour 🥲 #splendour #splendourinthegrass #splendourinthemud #help #rescue #needed #splendourinthegrass2022
In an update, they wrote: “Just got home. It’s 6am. The sun is UP.”
Others shared videos of huge crowds of people attempting to leave the venue.
https://www.tiktok.com/@m.ichail/video/7123635124868009218?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=6963406901934949893
“Some people have been waiting for hours with barely any movement,” one TikToker claimed.
TikTok user @nixandnate said they waited four hours in line for the bus before deciding to walk the hour back to their campsite.
@nixandnate we ended up just walking to our campsite that was an hour walk away #splendourinthegrass #splendourinthemud #legshurt
“We left [Chillinit‘s set] at 10:30pm and got home [at] 4am,” they wrote.
@tootyfruity000 This was the bus lines #fyp #foryoupage #tylerthecreator #sitg2022 #splendourinthegrass #jackharlow #byronbay #junglegiants #fypage
It’s worth noting not everyone was trapped in line for hours — the person who posted the above video only waited 30 minutes, but they admitted their friends waited up to “three hours”.
Splendour In The Grass has since released a statement apologising for the bus delays.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgYJlxSJGgX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The official statement claimed “90 per cent” of festival goers were offsite by 3.30am but buses along the Tweed routes were delayed because of staff shortages, leading to 1000 passengers being affected by wait times.
It’s unsurprising then that many turned to Uber during the weekend to sort their travel to and from festival grounds — but the prices were through the damn roof because of high demand.
News.com.au reported yesterday that Uber costs to the festival were as high as $250 for Friday night, presumably for those returning from the last-minute pub gigs happening in Byron (as a result of the festival cancellation).
One Uber ride from First Sun Holiday Park to the festival cost $120 on Saturday morning — for a trip that should take 20 minutes. It was $196 for an UberXL. From Mullumbimby Leagues Club (15-minute drive), costs were $125 for an UberX and $206 for an UberXL.
And this is what punters were looking at if they could get a car at all. Availability was also proven to be an issue given the unexpected demand.
To get home from the festival was also costly. On Saturday night a trip from Splendour to Byron Events Farm was just shy of $100. And that was before people were lined at up 1am.
Obviously Splendour In The Grass has faced a lot of unexpected events this year. If you’re at the festival — be kind, be patient and help others get to and from the festival safely if you can.
