ACL 2022: Transportation

How in the world do 80,000 people all get to Zilker Park, a landlocked zone bordered by a river, a highway, a creek, and a road that is closed down for the Festival?  I've tried all sorts of ways to get in and out over the years, so I'm back to provide a report.  

I will also readily admit that this article from the Chronicle is solid, except that it really doesn't give real life experiences about each method.  How To Get To and From ACL Music Festival: Shuttles, bikes, rideshares, scooters, and sometimes just your feet - Music - The Austin Chronicle

For many years, I had the smug superiority of being able to park at my Mom's house, which was right up above the Park, and then walk down without any hassle or trouble.  It was amazing.  Although, if I'm honest, walking back up that hill at the end of the night could sometimes be a major bitch.  But mom sold her house, and I now lost my free parking space, and have to join the unwashed masses in a hunt for transportation.

The ACL Website provides several options.  If you have other ideas, please hit me up - comment here, DM me on Twitter, whatever - I want this to be as easy as humanly possible for me (and everyone else).

1. Uber/Lyft.  The best option, IMO.  The website says that pickup locations are either Lamar/Barton Springs or under the Mopac bridge by Austin High.  The first of those is a long ass walk, and then you'll be mired in the McDonald's parking lot waiting with a million high school kids for their moms to roll up in the minivan. 
• The negative here is just that a ton of other people are vying for the same cars.  So the waits and surge pricing can be painful.
• Recently, we have walked from the Fest to a local bar, had a beer or three while we waited for surge pricing to go down, and then scored a reasonably priced Lyft to get us home.  Worked pretty well.  Not cheap, but better than being unsafe, right?
2. Free Shuttle from Downtown.  My second-favorite way.  I tried it, and it works really well.  You board the bus at Republic Square Park (about 5th and Guad), and then it takes you directly to the Barton Springs West entrance.  When I did it last time, they had loads of buses queued up and ready to go, and we didn't have to wait very long at all on either end.  Was clean, easy, and best of all FREE.  So if you can score downtown parking, this is a good option.
3. Drive your own car.  There are places you can park (even though there is zero official parking by the Park).  On Azle Morton Road (formerly Robert E. Lee, which runs between Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Zilker) there are a few houses with big yards or driveways that will have cardboard signs up offering parking for $40 per day.  Just know that you should not randomly park on the streets in Zilker/Barton Hills/Tarrytown/Bouldin, etc.  They definitely tow.  
• City Hall, Palmer Events Center, and One Texas Center have allowed for Fest parking in the past, at more like $15 a day, but that is a much longer walk (and getting out of parking garages after an event sucks).  
• I have also parked in the garages near MoPac off of Bee Caves Road, and those work pretty well.  Can't recall the cost.  
• Also, usually, the Austin High Band does a fundraiser on Saturdays to park.  That is convenient.
• This website lists expensive paid parking locations with their distance from the Park: https://www.premiumparking.com/city/austin/acl-music-festival
4. Get dropped off by your 16 year old son.  WHHAAATT!?!  Heck yeah, sorry boy, but this year you are going to be paying old dad back from a lot of rides.
5. Electric Scooters (Bird, Lime, etc.).  This seems like a good option, but I am here to tell you that it is not.  The two times I have tried it, I expected to find a scooter by Austin High.  That was not in the cards, and I ended up walking all the way back downtown by myself, which was not optimal.  Again, there are 80,000 people who also want that scooter.
6. CapMetro.  No thanks.  Rode this in February for the first time ever.  I suspect that the ride, and stops, and bus switches, required for me to get home would take so long that I might as well just sleep in the Park.
7. Just sleep in the Port-o-Potty and never leave.  YES.  This is the best plan.
8. Biking.  Hahahahahaha!  My old lazy ass is never going to bike to the Festival.  I know some young, hip dudes who ride all the time can probably crush this, but come on.  For those of you considering it, they have a ton of bike racks where you can lock it up, but know that if you get wasted on Sunday night and leave your bike behind, ACL threatens the bike could be impounded.  The racks are at Stratford Dr. or Azie Morton Road.
9. Walking.  I mean, this might be the right call.  The problem is that parking in the surrounding neighborhoods is very much verboten, and they will tow your car if you aren't in the right spots, so where are you actually going to park that you can reasonably walk plus not get towed?  I need more friends.
10. Other weird options: There are pedi-cabs, but I have a feeling those will be pricey.  And I always feel guilt for those dudes carrying my fat ass around.  Motorcycles/scooters (like, gas ones) - parking for those is available at the corner of Sterzing Drive and Toomey Road (Toomey is that road behind Chuy's).  Uh, like roller blades?  They don't have a dock, so you can't canoe...

I think Uber is the best option.  If you are looking to save money, then the downtown shuttle is good.  If things go to plan this year, then I'll probably make the kid drop me off, and then do the plan of walking to a bar for some post-Fest beers and waiting for a later night Uber/Lyft.