Big Green Coach has worked closely with the organisers of Boardmasters for the last 11 years to continuously improve sustainable events travel and reduce the number of cars travelling to the remote, rural site. This partnership has been hugely successful and has ensured the festival has become more accessible and more sustainable every year.

Boardmasters is located in beautiful Cornwall, overlooking the magnificent Watergate Bay. The award-winning event gives festival-goers from all over the UK one of the best festival experiences in the country. The festival caters for over 50,000 people and tickets sell out every year. The diverse audience has different transport needs and with limited public transport options, long and expensive train or car journeys were the only option. Our partnership means this is no longer the case.

Boardmasters partnered with Big Green Coach to find a customised, affordable, sustainable, hassle-free alternative. In 2013 we started with five departure locations offered to festival goers. In 2024 there will be coaches departing from 84 locations around the UK. This progressive partnership between two innovative and forward-thinking brands has seen the festival become more affordable and more accessible for people living all around the country. All coaches travel directly to the festival site and make life easy for those needing to transport all their camping gear.

Big Green Coach offers services to customers with all ticket types, including multiple arrival days for weekend ticket holders with a Monday departure. 

In 2024 there will be further additions to the day return service network for the increased numbers attending with day tickets. A choice of 14 local pick-up points ensures Cornwall is well served – it’s always been important for the festival to reward its loyal local following with the same public transport accessibility as those travelling from further afield. In 2024, the longest-distance service will travel from Newcastle. The festival asked Big Green Coach to ensure these fans could access the event easily and affordably. This new dedicated service covers Newcastle, Dalton Park and Middlesbrough.

Boardmasters and Big Green Coach share common aims to reduce traffic and give customers the best service possible. Big Green Coach created a dedicated coach park within the site, which meant customers were dropped off and picked up safely, only a short walk from their campsite at the temporary station, with loading gates, a customer service office and a state-of-the-art PA system. This was staffed by experienced operations managers, alongside fabulous volunteers, to make an enjoyable, hassle-free experience for everyone. These staff were available on all days of operation at many of the key departure points around the UK to ensure a first-class customer-focused operation.

Big Green Coach has been the only carbon-neutral travel company in the events industry for several years and hope that 2024 will be their biggest year to date. Over 5,000 Boardmasters festival goers travelled by coach in 2023, with over 200 vehicles operating over the week of the festival. Big Green Coach removed over 50 miles of traffic congestion off the roads of Cornwall, hugely reducing carbon emissions. A fleet of modern coaches using technology minimised emissions, coupled with clever scheduling from the operations team. 

On top of this, all coach services to and from Boardmasters will continue to be carbon-neutral. Big Green Coach works closely with charities and organisations, such as UK charity ecolibrium, a charity tackling event travel emissions, to measure and balance all emissions. The company has balanced 674.5 tonnes of carbon for 2023 via a five-figure donation to ecolibrium’s Trees+ programme.  Since joining forces with ecolibrium in 2021 Big Green Coach has balanced over 1,500 tonnes of carbon.

Big Green Coach provides a full logistics service to take the hassle of transport provision away from event owners, allowing them to focus on delivering all the other aspects of producing their event.  The operations team has vast experience in operating large-scale transport operations, such as the services linking the whole of the UK with Boardmasters. Big Green Coach supports the event in their transport planning. Site visits, local authority and SAG meetings are paramount, as are developing a Health and Safety plan and completing risk assessments. Over the last 15 years, the Big Green Coach team has become established as trusted experts in delivering transport solutions for the events industry and it is partnerships, such as this with Boardmasters, continue to innovate.  

Paul Johnson, Business Development Lead at Big Green Coach explained:

“Planning is a key ingredient to a successful transport operation. By working closely with the event in the early planning stages, Big Green Coach provides a smooth, hassle-free service to both the organisers and the customers.

“We listen and respond to our clients’ requirements. Should there be fresh feedback on new pickup locations, as we have demonstrated with Boardmasters, we react fast and offer new routes. Demographics from previous years enable Big Green Coach to select the most appropriate cities and towns while our customer service team speaks with festival goers daily.”

Big Green Coach Ltd, a pioneer in sustainable transport with 15 years of industry expertise, specialises in providing official transport services for large-scale partners such as East West Rail (EWR) with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, as well as for major UK tours and festivals. Big Green Coach vehicles range from 8 to 100 seats. The Company prides itself on affordable, personalised services, with professional drivers, delivering reliable, sustainable staff and consumer transportation solutions. 

Please follow the link to view our Super Green Supplier Listing

For further information on Big Green Coach transport solutions, please contact paul.johnson@biggreencoach.co.uk or visit www.biggreencoach.co.uk