ZombiePlatypus
Member
Bit of a long story I guess. Have a seat.
I went to my first EDC this year. It was great, and everyone (from my perspective) seemed to have a blast.
My friends and I didn't wanna deal with driving and parking, so we Ubered. We knew we'd pay a lot as it was gonna be a crowded area. Way there wasn't too horrific. $60. Nice driver. After the event ended though, the way back was kinda insane. You were shuffled into one of two huge groups: Driving yourself home, or Ubering. There were attendees dressed in Uber shirts funneling you to designated Uber-pick-up zones. We were gonna be in the latter. So we pull up the app: $165 for 15 miles. Pretty insane. We ponder whether to wait the surge out or not. Then we see on maps that there's an iHop about 3 miles away. We figure we'll walk to that. And by the time we reach it, we'll be physically out of the surge zone and just uber from there.
None of the attendants though, (be it Uber or the venu's security) knew where to direct anyone who wanted to exit the premises on foot. There's a basic, worn out sidewalk along the road outside the venue, but it's like nobody accounted for anyone without a car to leave the place via walking only to be picked up elsewhere. After asking around and walking further some more, the "I dunnos" flat out turned to "You can't be here on foot. Go back." There was even a cop threatening to ticket people choosing to walk out. Merely walking out apparently = trespassing? They were collectively doing everything short of flat out saying that without your own vehicle, you were not allowed to leave without paying the $160. How is this legal?
We roamed around some more and found another couple who apparently had the same plan as ours' but were roaming around for 2 hours trying to find a way to leave and get out on foot. Eventually, all of us together found one cop on the premises who finally allowed us to walk out, while expressing concern about the heat and making sure we all had water.
I totally get and understand these safety concerns given that the temperature was already in the triple digits at 7am. But the way this was handled just doesn't seem kosher to me. I singled out Uber in my thread title, but as stated, the venue's security and some of the cops seemed to all be a part of the issue. Cherry on top was when we got outta the surge zone after walking 3 miles and called an Uber, they kept canceling on us. One of them flat out "offering" to pick us up if we walk back to EDC as that's the "designated Uber pickup zone." Finally called Lyft and got a ride on the first try for $30.
Sidenote:
I never thought the whole "PLUR" thing was real, but when we were walking on the sidewalk, the road was jammed with bumper to bumper traffic filled with other ravers going home. People were consistently hopping outta their stopped cars to offer us (and others on foot) extra bottles of water, hand fans, etc. It was a really sweet aspect of EDC or rave culture.
I went to my first EDC this year. It was great, and everyone (from my perspective) seemed to have a blast.
My friends and I didn't wanna deal with driving and parking, so we Ubered. We knew we'd pay a lot as it was gonna be a crowded area. Way there wasn't too horrific. $60. Nice driver. After the event ended though, the way back was kinda insane. You were shuffled into one of two huge groups: Driving yourself home, or Ubering. There were attendees dressed in Uber shirts funneling you to designated Uber-pick-up zones. We were gonna be in the latter. So we pull up the app: $165 for 15 miles. Pretty insane. We ponder whether to wait the surge out or not. Then we see on maps that there's an iHop about 3 miles away. We figure we'll walk to that. And by the time we reach it, we'll be physically out of the surge zone and just uber from there.
None of the attendants though, (be it Uber or the venu's security) knew where to direct anyone who wanted to exit the premises on foot. There's a basic, worn out sidewalk along the road outside the venue, but it's like nobody accounted for anyone without a car to leave the place via walking only to be picked up elsewhere. After asking around and walking further some more, the "I dunnos" flat out turned to "You can't be here on foot. Go back." There was even a cop threatening to ticket people choosing to walk out. Merely walking out apparently = trespassing? They were collectively doing everything short of flat out saying that without your own vehicle, you were not allowed to leave without paying the $160. How is this legal?
We roamed around some more and found another couple who apparently had the same plan as ours' but were roaming around for 2 hours trying to find a way to leave and get out on foot. Eventually, all of us together found one cop on the premises who finally allowed us to walk out, while expressing concern about the heat and making sure we all had water.
I totally get and understand these safety concerns given that the temperature was already in the triple digits at 7am. But the way this was handled just doesn't seem kosher to me. I singled out Uber in my thread title, but as stated, the venue's security and some of the cops seemed to all be a part of the issue. Cherry on top was when we got outta the surge zone after walking 3 miles and called an Uber, they kept canceling on us. One of them flat out "offering" to pick us up if we walk back to EDC as that's the "designated Uber pickup zone." Finally called Lyft and got a ride on the first try for $30.
Sidenote:
I never thought the whole "PLUR" thing was real, but when we were walking on the sidewalk, the road was jammed with bumper to bumper traffic filled with other ravers going home. People were consistently hopping outta their stopped cars to offer us (and others on foot) extra bottles of water, hand fans, etc. It was a really sweet aspect of EDC or rave culture.
