TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

THE PROJECT

Every other year, the University of Washington hosts the Apple Cup, the annual rival football game between the U.W. Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars. The contest is traditionally played on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

To help alleviate traffic to and from the stadium, when public transportation is committed to running on a regular schedule, the U.W. wanted a partner to design and implement a complex shuttle to serve up to 10,000 fans from all over the county.

THE APPROACH

As the project manager, SHW spent a full 10 months planning the move. It required coordination with police, security, and traffic agencies from the university, the city of Seattle, and the county; route design for seven different pickup lots; more than 150 buses from nine separate transportation companies; and hundreds of staff to make it happen.

In addition, SHW built a custom website to sell tickets to fans, and managed customer service via email and telephone.

THE IMPACT

The operation, which ran from early morning into the night, ran smoothly and on time. In all, SHW orchestrated the move with a total of 8,000 passengers without complaints.  SHW events agency manages complex transportation.

U.W. continues to engage SHW for athletics shuttle services on particular game days.

SHW had a massive logistical operation to plan which involved coordinating buses from across the state and Oregon, scouting bus routes, registering 8,000 fans via an online website they created, and coordinating with various agencies such as UWPD, SPD, SDOT, and King County Metro. We worked with them for nearly 10 months to plan this operation. It was executed perfectly.

Dan Erickson, Director of Events & Guests ServicesUW Intercollegiate Athletics