Smooth sailing for the Venloop

On 20 March, the city of Venlo hosted its annual Venloop, a running event known for its friendly atmosphere both on and off the track. Thousands of runners and visitors flocked to the city centre to watch or participate in this event. This year's edition was a great success for both the participants and the professionals working behind the scenes. Munckhof participated with its very own running team and provided a shuttle service that transported 15,000 people between the car parks and the start/finish line.

Event transport experience

Having been the transport partner for the Venloop for years now, we worked out a detailed shuttle service schedule. We updated this year's schedule based on last year's evaluations and the organization's wishes. We also took traffic conditions into account in an attempt to further optimize our transport. All in all, we managed to transport all visitors to and from the start/finish line using twelve coaches.

Defining the route

Communicating with the travellers and all involved parties is an important component in transport organization. This starts at an early stage and includes determining the type of vehicles we need and the exact route the coach will take. A coach has to be big enough to be able to quickly transport a lot of people along an unobstructed route. Traffic jams are a real nightmare and can lead to delays. In consultation with the Venloop organizers, we decided to install large signs in the coaches this year with a map of the car park where the coach was headed. This helped visitors to quickly find the right coach.

Anticipating crowds

Planning the transport is one thing, but carrying it out in practice is something else entirely. It's therefore important to anticipate any potential problems. We discovered that the gates were blocking the route, making it difficult for a coach to turn around, so we resolved this issue with the Venloop volunteers. At a certain point it became very busy at Stadion de Koel. We had extra coaches on standby but managed to bring everyone to the centre reasonably quickly in the original coaches.

An event like the Venloop is fantastic. Our colleagues in the running team did a great job during the event and our management department and drivers did an equally good job in terms of transport. I'm already looking forward to the next edition!