Frustration while commuting is especially high when a large crowd descends on the same focal point and all at once and then leaves at the same time. Sporting events and concerts are the best examples of this phenomenon and a crowdsourced bus company aims to alleviate the headache.
Rally (rally.co) pairs fans, concertgoers, or commuters with buses arranged for specific events. Similar to how UberX picks up multiple passengers at different times, Rally arranges buses with multiple stops and adds people along the way.
“I started this because I wanted to help a bunch of people get to an event. And it originally was a political rally, but since then I’ve applied this to concerts, football games and NASCAR races,” Rally founder Numaan Akram told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 95.5 WSB.
Akram noted that 120 million fans attend the top four sports leagues in person in the U.S. and another 100 million go to the most popular concerts and festivals.
“What I found was that people were sick and tired of the way they were getting to these events,” Akram said. “Traffic, parking, gas. It was all annoying. And ruined our experience. So what I did was let individuals come together.”
Akram really honed in on the sports fan buses, some of which Rally has arranged for Packers games in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He pointed to the tailgating experience and how fans can begin that on buses en route to these events. And they will have safe rides back to their stops from the games.
People that want to attend a show or a match need to download the Rally app ahead of time and book a bus seat. Rally, founded in 2015, basically subcontracts with numerous private bus companies to arrange these rides.
A fan would not typically dial up a Rally bus on the day of, say, a Braves, United, Hawks or Falcons game and up and decide to take one. Rally’s bus pricing is typically better ahead of time. Rally’s service would be especially helpful for Atlanta Motor Speedway NASCAR races, which are roughly 40 minutes south of Downtown Atlanta.
Buses do not go from home to home, Akram said. They generally find pick-up points near freeways or even at watering holes where like-minded fans hang out. “You’re meeting fellow fans there and you’re having a drink now you’re not worried about the DWIs, right?” Akram said. That is, as long as bus riders safely make it home from the stops.
Rally allows fans to store coolers down below and party and drink on board, although the company will provide more family-friendly buses, if there is a demand for them. Buses have Wi-Fi and bathrooms, along with screens and music. Akram said he wants the amenities on Rally buses to attract riders who may not normally consider busing as an option.
Akram believes Rally’s edge on Uber and Lyft is when big events end. Rideshare rates spike and wait times are long and unpredictable. His buses lower the cost and allow more relaxation in that bad post-event traffic.
The more people that choose to bus, the better the traffic is, too.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Akram says Rally has a partnership with the NFL’s LA Rams and is soon going online with several MLB teams. Rally also has expanded to Canada, parts of Europe and South America, and even India. Akram also wants to grow this program in Atlanta, as he has with 2,000 fans per game in Green Bay.
I told Akram about Atlantans’ general resistance to expanding transit and busing over the decades. Akram thinks luxury and convenience can tackle that resistance. And as to why Georgians should choose a Rally bus over ridesharing? “We didn’t all think much of taxis a minute ago either,” Akram said of the advent of Uber and Lyft. “It’s when you put a little bit of technology and business innovation behind this industry and you can change the experience.”
Rally’s sister company, OurBus, has this same model. But OurBus is for people commuting between cities for various reasons. These riders seek destinations and not events. A four-hour drive from New York City to Washington, D.C., for example, is only $47.
Whether Rally and OurBus are the answers to the single-vehicle-trip conundrums remains to be seen. But Akram and his company are no doubt addressing an untapped problem: shuttling people to and from events in a relaxing, money saving, luxurious way.
Doug Turnbull, the PM drive Skycopter anchor for Triple Team Traffic on 95.5 WSB, is the Gridlock Guy. Download the Triple Team Traffic Alerts App to hear reports from the WSB Traffic Team automatically when you drive near trouble spots. Contact him at Doug.Turnbull@cmg.com.
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