Chart showing entrance/exit waiting times by day?

patbarb · Post by **patbarb** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:03 pm

Hi, just wondering if someone's come up w/ some kind of graphic (or just has the raw #'s) that show how long the waits typically are to enter and exit BM by day of week and time of day? Thanks!

DoriumLux · Post by **DoriumLux** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:30 pm

Now THAT'S funny....

Thanks for making my day.

bdeywoo · Post by **bdeywoo** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:35 pm

Sunday Fucking long time
Monday See Above
Tuesday See Above
Wednesday See Above
Thursday See Above
Friday See above
Exidus: Always a freaking long time

Plan for 4 hours no matter when you get there and be happy if its shorter and prepared for it to be longer.

dragonpilot · Post by **dragonpilot** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:41 pm

What we do is on Saturday morning, one of our newbies draws the short straw and goes out to the Exodus gate and sits with a walkie talkie...when the coast looks clear he/she calls us and we head out.

Works like a charm except that the newbie by this time is totally fried...but we travel with a doc...so a coupla shots with our portable defibs and they're good to go...altho a bit messed up...but hey that's Burning Man!

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:02 pm

Hi, just wondering if someone's come up w/ some kind of graphic (or just has the raw #'s) that show how long the waits typically are to enter and exit BM by day of week and time of day? Thanks!

Sounds like a project to start doing.

H.G.Crosby · Post by **H.G.Crosby** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:08 pm

longer than you can possibly imagine, and shorter than you shall ever know.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:03 pm

Wednesday at noon after the burn, no line leaving.

Craftsmn · Post by **Craftsmn** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:04 pm

There is a guy on the Boston email list serve that does a survey each year and produces a wonderfully helpful graph of Exodus wait times................

I can concur with gyre that wednesday after the burn at 12 noon there is no wait time.......

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:25 pm

How would anyone collect the data? Think about it. To do even a very broad survey you would have to say, have someone get in the entry line every hour for 6 days. So what sort of group of people is so into this sort of research to spend their burn week doing this all day?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:48 pm

All you have to do is ask people at the exit how long it took.

We have people crazy enough to do this, believe me.
I went by math camp and you know what?
Math camp.
And they were having a great time.
Mathing it up!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:58 pm

I come from a family of mathematicians, and yes, mathing it up can be fun. I'm just not sure that you'll get an honest answer by asking people. Maybe you'll get a good enough one. I don't know.

Absolut Jeenyus · Post by **Absolut Jeenyus** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:30 pm

Don't go. You cant get in. I heard they are already at capacity.

cutmeoffandcallmeshorty · Post by **cutmeoffandcallmeshorty** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:07 pm

Exodus at 3.00PM Sunday after the Man burns. 35 Minutes tops !!!!!
Ask me how !

DrPeffer · Post by **DrPeffer** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:52 pm

wha? why are you leaving?

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 10:34 pm

Seriously, I love you for asking but... buahahhahahahahha

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:22 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:I come from a family of mathematicians, and yes, mathing it up can be fun. I'm just not sure that you'll get an honest answer by asking people. Maybe you'll get a good enough one. I don't know.

If you ask them how long they've been in line and they start crying, that's an indicator.

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:41 am

if you get there early on Sunday...does the time in d-lot count as waiting...or does the waiting start once the line next to you starts to move?

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:46 am

Change happens, so if you collect data one year, it will be invalid the next. and the moment one published the charts, the slow and low times would become the peak times.

Exodus happens. Just go with it. Stay hydrated and bring along something to pee in.

Boijoy · Post by **Boijoy** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:57 am

oh oh !!! Start with ME !! leaving Saturday am before the man burns.
NO lines.. NO waiting !!

you can even catch a nice indian taco on the way home & NOT have to worry about someone taking mercy on you & letting you back onto the road.

Post by **mdmf007** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:55 am

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:03 am

Holy fuck, 007. Either you're a genius forger or a genius googlist. Kudus!

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:27 am

I thought I was seeing triple there.

patbarb · Post by **patbarb** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 2:10 pm

Kudos for graph! (Real??). Having Monday's #s is a terrific start. Are any other days avaiable? I'm coming up blank on the Nevada BLM website.

I started this thread because I was wondering about official stats, since I had heard directly from one of the BM officials about how crappy the Sunday, midnite time was and how bad afternoons early in the week tend to be (because reachable by a S.F. morning departure?). I also knew that there was only a 10 minute entrance line at 7AM Tues. (I arrived late Mon. nite and camped out in the mts. nearby last year).

Realistically, this is an issue that is very important to the BM organization, so they of course have numbers. For starters, somebody's got to make gate staffing decisions each shift. The interesting question for me is why the numbers are not made available by the BM organization so that folks can plan more smartly.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 2:43 pm

Last year was earlier than this year.

somekind · Post by **somekind** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:35 pm

The lane on the left merges fewer times than the lane on the right. That should put you ahead of about 150 of your peers' cars.

Post by **mdmf007** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:39 pm

patbarb wrote:Kudos for graph! (Real??)..........

Nope - I had a few minutes,

lol

Playa Tom · Post by **Playa Tom** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 2:50 pm

007's chart is as accurate as anything you will find. I have flagged for Exodus at the end of the gravel. I would ask three cars how long the line was and they would reply, "A couple hours, I guess," I think it was about six hours," and "An hour and a half." We would report a wait time of an hour and a half. The first year I flagged the time was really excessive, the last two the wait has been much less.

brcprincess · Post by **brcprincess** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:35 am

How long is a piece of string?

It all depends on your frame of mind and perception of time. The former tends to define the latter.

We normally leave around 11am on Sunday and it tends to take 2-3 hours.

Igneouss · Post by **Igneouss** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 9:00 am

Playa Tom wrote:007's chart is as accurate as anything you will find. I have flagged for Exodus at the end of the gravel. I would ask three cars how long the line was and they would reply, "A couple hours, I guess," I think it was about six hours," and "An hour and a half." We would report a wait time of an hour and a half. The first year I flagged the time was really excessive, the last two the wait has been much less.

"A couple hours, I guess," = Experienced Burner
"I think it was about six hours," = Someone who attended with their default world S.O. And is now stuck in car with them...
"An hour and a half." = Burners who are still partying on the way out.