C'mon ride the train, the Coachella train

Festival-goers hop free ride -- and stay car-free, too

Posted by Sarah van Schagen at 10:46 AM on 06 May 2008

Read more about: music | green living | public transportation | placemaking

As we've reported in the past, music festivals across the country are making moves to be more sustainable -- mostly involving recycling efforts, compostable utensils, and biodiesel generators. But this year's Coachella music festival, held in Indio, Calif., April 25-27, took an interesting track, chartering an Amtrak train to transport festival folk to and from L.A.

The Coachella Express was set up by the creative minds behind Global Inheritance, a group focusing its attentions on a young, hip, festival-going audience, and involved creating a new train platform in Indio to accommodate the arriving campers. For the 300+ riders who took advantage of it, the round-trip journey was free -- and well worth it ...

As train rides go, it was definitely a trip. Fashionably scruffy L.A. music fans, many scanning their text messages more than the view out their windows, chugged Coronas, ate free ice cream and bobbed to the thumping beats of four disc jockeys set up in corners of the six-car express train. It was a decidedly 21st century remix of the classic concert road trip and, more than that, a symbol of the gathering new momentum of the festival as a pop-culture force.

Bonus: Passengers were also given free VIP passes for the festival. Talk about an engine of change ...

Oh, and for those of you keeping tabs on it, the pig on wings has landed.

For story: C'mon ride the train, the Coachella train
4 Comments | Post a Comment

Glad to see the biodiesel bus cliche

has been replaced by a train! Now to make sure the generator us using waste grease for its fuel stock.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 11:05 AM on 06 May 2008

"hip"

Do young people use the word "hip" unironically, fully understanding what an antique expression it is?

And another generational thing: Do young people, whether fashionably scruffy, or simply scruffy, understand that one of the things they do that drives some of us old-timers nuts, especially us teacherly types, with a fondness for Herodotus and Nature, is to refuse to look out the window of the train, to enjoy the possible sighting of a mama duck with ducklings, or a mama goose with goslings, or a mama moose with a mosling (?), or a mama T-rex with a T-rexling, but instead to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the teensy screen of some hand-held device?

It's all about sex, isn't it -- "negotiating one's sexual whereabouts," as was said earlier in another thread.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:08 PM on 06 May 2008

Playing With Electronic Devices

As described in the article, the reason young or otherwise-aged people don't look out windows is because they've devolved even further toward the robot beings predicted by Devo in the '70s. Anyone who constantly uses a cell phone perfectly fits this description.

Doesn't bode well for the younger generation fixing the natural environment, does it?

And BTW, most of my friends are 10-20 years younger than I am, so this is not a slam on young people per se, but on humans as a whole.

by Wolverine at 5:26 PM on 06 May 2008

Thanks Canis!

I had to clean my screen when the water I was drinking shot out my nose when I stumbled on your abrupt segue to "It's all about sex isn't it ..."
Best laugh I've had today.

The 5% Project

by JMG at 10:25 PM on 06 May 2008

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