MBTA for Revs games?

[Revs Fan Forever]

I was wondering would any of you by chance know how early the train leaves before a game from south station to go to Gillette? And if the MBTA will actually have one this year?

[melmax]

They usually only run the trains for big national team games or Cup finals. If you ask me, it is a mistake as I think they would get a lot more fans if there was reliable public transportation.

[gotyourback]

Originally posted by melmax
They usually only run the trains for big national team games or Cup finals. If you ask me, it is a mistake as I think they would get a lot more fans if there was reliable public transportation.
T'would be even wiser to run cooperative campaigns...

Sometimes I wonder if management is 'on-the-ball' in regard to marketing.

[rev_fan2001]

Originally posted by gotyourback
T'would be even wiser to run cooperative campaigns...

Sometimes I wonder if management is 'on-the-ball' in regard to marketing.

You have to take in the fact that yes the Revs are missing out on not having a train to every game, but also take into account that line is a freight line, not a regular MBTA line and I am sure it takes the bigger games to fill the train with enough people to make it worth the expense.

[gotyourback]

Originally posted by rev_fan2001
You have to take in the fact that yes the Revs are missing out on not having a train to every game, but also take into account that line is a freight line, not a regular MBTA line and I am sure it takes the bigger games to fill the train with enough people to make it worth the expense.
What about other sport venues?.. Could the rail be utilized for more than just Rev games?.. Could that justify putting more passenger cars on this line?.. Surely freight could operate 'around' limited time frames such as once-per-week events...

I think with the proper cooping, the insurance and maintenance issues could be addressed... then again, it's been years since I've been privy to MBTA and Massport figures.

[cpwilson80]

Speaking as a fan pre and post car, the three years I went to school in Boston without access to a car, I made it to a grand total of zero Revs games. When I went back home for the summer, I was attending 6-8 San Jose games. Finally, the summer before senior year when I stuck around Boston, my buddies brought their cars out, and I was able to head down for some matches, as well as the US games.

There is an untapped market of all the college kids in town with no means of transportation. Soccer is by far my favorite sport, but I've been to more Sox, Bruins and Celtics game because of the ease of transportation.

[ToMhIlL]

It seems that once again the issue of cost (are there enough fans to make it worthwhile) is raising its ugly head. So, it would seem that a more flexible approach would be in order.

Why not run buses from Alewife, Riverside and Braintree stations to Foxboro for a whole season, every single game? If they are skeert that not enough people will be interested, start out with one bus, and add more if demand warrants it. And of course, every ticket mailer or brochure should mention this, and once the word gets out, more people will surely take them up on the option.

Once people realize that there will always be a bus leaving at X hour, they will show up. And more people dependent on public trasport will buy season tickets or advance purchase tickets, since they know they'll actually be able to get there.

Simple enough, isn't it?

Tom

[rkupp]

Originally posted by ToMhIlL
Why not run buses from Alewife, Riverside and Braintree stations to Foxboro for a whole season, every single game? If they are skeert that not enough people will be interested, start out with one bus, and add more if demand warrants it.
Yeah, that is the way to go. If the program works, you can add buses from places like Providence, New Bedford, Fall River, Worcestor, Lowell, Lawrence, Springfield, etc.

If you tie a bus ticket in with an advanced ticket purchase, that can help plan the number of seats necessary.

Even better, go a step further and work out a joint promotion with Greyhound or Trailways, and partner with them on the ticket/transport deal.

I think that kind of thing wouldn't cost much to develop and could be started as a small pilot project and scaled up.

[gotyourback]

Originally posted by rkupp
Yeah, that is the way to go. If the program works, you can add buses from places like Providence, New Bedford, Fall River, Worcestor, Lowell, Lawrence, Springfield, etc.

If you tie a bus ticket in with an advanced ticket purchase, that can help plan the number of seats necessary.

Even better, go a step further and work out a joint promotion with Greyhound or Trailways, and partner with them on the ticket/transport deal.

I think that kind of thing wouldn't cost much to develop and could be started as a small pilot project and scaled up.
I think a good shot of TT and a huge Revs logo on a bunch of buses would work quite nicely.

[Bman]

Originally posted by ToMhIlL

Why not run buses from Alewife, Riverside and Braintree stations to Foxboro for a whole season, every single game? If they are skeert that not enough people will be interested, start out with one bus, and add more if demand warrants it. And of course, every ticket mailer or brochure should mention this, and once the word gets out, more people will surely take them up on the option.
Tom

I remember taking a bus from Alewife more than a few years ago. I'm not sure if it was for a regular season match or a WCQ. I just remember thinking it was pretty darn convienent and cheap and they showed soccer videos on the tv! But the bus was 3/4 empty. There had been virtually no advertising of it.

[ToMhIlL]

Originally posted by Bman
I remember taking a bus from Alewife more than a few years ago. I'm not sure if it was for a regular season match or a WCQ. I just remember thinking it was pretty darn convienent and cheap and they showed soccer videos on the tv! But the bus was 3/4 empty. There had been virtually no advertising of it. Yeah, they used to do this a few years ago. But the problem then was that it wasn't every game, guaranteed. People couldn't count on it. If they just bit the bullet and decided that to start up a program like this would cost some money up front (andertising, empty seats on the buses they DO run, etc.), but committed to doing this every game without fail, and promoted it, they would make their money back by later in the season when the word got out. Accounting tricks aside, the Revs would probably make money overall, given the extra fans, ticket and concession money.

It may be anecdotal, but there have been a lot of people posting here who don't have access to a car, but are more than willing to attend games on a regular basis. I was carless in college back in the Tea Men days, and it was the same deal. Fortunately one of the guys on my team had a car and was able to be talked into driving, if the rest of us chipped in for gas and beer.

Tom

[honkifulovemls]

just wanted to voice my support for this [having a train to revs games and/or a bus]. i live on the north shore and it take me about 45 minutes each way to get to foxboro. i know some people make even longerr drives to see the rev's play, but i can GUARANTEE you that i'll be at more games if public transportation is available on a CONSISTENT LEVEL.

cpwilsonl i agree with you that there is an untapped market with the college kids in boston. BU, BC, Northeastern, Tufts, Harvard, MIT... there are so many colleges here but so few options for getting all these students to games.


THINK

[Allez_Zizou]

I too used to take the Bus from Alewife to Rev games back in 96' - 97 while I was at Northeastern and carless.

Once when my friends and I missed the bus at Alewife, we rented a van from U-Haul on Mass. Ave and drove that to the game with like 8 people sitting in the back of the cargo hold. Its like $19.99 to rent for 24 hours, you have to pay for gas--but thats only like 3-4 gallons, and some credit cards have auto rental insurance--which means you don't have to pay U-Haul any other fees. Between these costs and parking for one vehicle, it cost like $6-8 per person if I remember it correctly.

P.S. I have no affiliation with U-haul--you can rent a van from a number of different of places. Look for a place that will rent to those over 21 without additional fees.

[MrSangster]

1) NFL press releases
2) Talk to Patriot season ticket holders
3) Pick up milk on the way home from work tonight
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15) Shovel the stadium parking lot
16) NFL draft preparations
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29) Finish 1040 form and mail away
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54) Organize Rev telecast from Costa Rica ( when I get around to it, maybe next week)
55) Mail out parking pass solicitations for the Rev's
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78) Mail out Rev season tickets
79) Return Mel Kiper's phone call about draft prospects
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103) Pick up milk on the way home from work tonight
104) Issue Rev press releases (maybe next week)
105) Organize bus and train service for Rev fans

[gotyourback]

106) Start a marketing Revolution.

[soccertim]

Originally posted by ToMhIlL
It seems that once again the issue of cost (are there enough fans to make it worthwhile) is raising its ugly head. So, it would seem that a more flexible approach would be in order.

Why not run buses from Alewife, Riverside and Braintree stations to Foxboro for a whole season, every single game? If they are skeert that not enough people will be interested, start out with one bus, and add more if demand warrants it. And of course, every ticket mailer or brochure should mention this, and once the word gets out, more people will surely take them up on the option.


If only they'd thought of this last month, they could have tried to negotiate it's cost into the sale of the CCC game. As it now stands, this idea will have to wait until another such opportunity arises.

Other than that, it's a good idea. I live about 15-20 minutes from the stadium, and I'd be bumming if they were in Boston or Lowell or some farther destination...

[athens77]

Do a search. This thread has happened several times. Far more than a month ago. It seems that they really don't care about all the college kids and internationals who want to see soccer but have no car.

[Revs Fan Forever]

I tried the MBTA's website and got nothing. I tried yahoo and got nothing. Any ideas????

[melmax]

http://www.mbta.com/insidethet/press_releases_details.asp?ID=799

search for Foxboro and then click on old links for special events and you can get an idea of how they handle the events.

Note they still have info on old National Team games on there...

Melmax

[Revs Fan Forever]

This says for the NE Patriots for the 2002 season. Do you think that this also includes the Revs??