Carpooling website continues to match drivers with passengers as concert date draws nearer

A6

By Cole Hobson
Times & Transcript Staff

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It appears Moncton is up for going green for the Aug. 2 Magnetic Hill Music Festival featuring the Eagles.

As of yesterday afternoon, carpool-finding website PickupPal reported that as a result of registered concertgoers sharing drives, 2,579 pounds (1,170 kilograms) of unnecessary carbon dioxide will be avoided on concert day and 2,162 miles (3,479 kilometres) of travel will be saved.

"We don't expect that we're going to see 2,500 participants taking advantage of it this year, but I think the more we get the message out the more opportunity there is," said Ian Fowler, City of Moncton's general manager of Recreation, Parks, Tourism and Culture. "We certainly encourage people that are planning to drive to go in and register to see if they may be able to pick somebody else up along the way or make a connection."

PickupPal is a free website that encourages carpooling by helping to match drivers with passengers wherever they live. Those who carpool and can present a parking pass printed from the PickupPal website will be able to park at the concert site for a fee of $10, with those who travel with full cars being rewarded with closer parking spots.

Aside from tour buses which can pay a fee to park close and disability parking, using PickupPal is the only way to get an on-site parking spot.

The number of people who have registered and made successful connections with the utility has shot up from last week and should continue to grow. Fowler said there are still unmatched registrants with the website, both offering drives and looking for drives. The total number will equal approximately 3,000 kilometres of saved travel if matches are found.

"They're going to be parking very close. They're going to be within the confines of the Magnetic Hill Park on asphalt in a regular parking lot," he said. "They're going to be assured of quality parking, assured of secured parking and on the site closer than anyone else can get."

Off-site parking will be offered by private entrepreneurs.

Although interest in the PickupPal program continues to mount, there is still plenty of opportunity to park on-site for those who are still interested in finding a match on the website.

"We don't have any specific goals for it but we're encouraged to see day-by-day that it's growing," Fowler said. "I wouldn't say (capacity) is unlimited, but I think we're going to be able to more than handle the demand."

The PickupPal service can be accessed via the official concert website, www.magnetichillmusicfestival.ca, which also has information on the rules, bands, area attractions as well as ticket purchasing information.

Thus far, more than 40,000 tickets have already been sold for the Aug. 2 Magnetic Hill Music Festival. Joining the Eagles will be John Fogerty, K.T. Tunstall and the Sam Roberts Band. Tickets are $124.50 for general admission and $249 for VIP. Corporate tables are available for a table of eight. Tickets are available through the Coliseum box office, Sobeys stores and online at tickets.moncton.ca or by calling 1-888-720-5600.