Indio had no role in new Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival parking policy

As criticism from festivalgoers continues over the new Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival parking policy, the city of Indio said it had no role in creating the rule of vehicles requiring four or more passengers to enter the day parking lots.

Indio Police spokesperson Ben Guitron said the city was only made aware of Los Angeles promoter Goldenvoice’s intent, that the policy is still a work in progress and nothing was put in front of the department as of Monday during the usual preliminary planning ahead of the April festival.

“Anything Goldenvoice does, we’re in a partnership and want to know if there’s a significant impact ... and make sure there are no traffic delays unless there are unforeseen things that sometimes happen,” Guitron said.

Historically, day parking was always first-come, first-served, and anyone with a festival wristband could hop in your car.

This year, Los Angeles promoter Goldenvoice, the owner and operator of the festival, is instituting a new parking policy admitting only vehicles with four or more passengers into day parking lots — with no exceptions. Everyone in the vehicle must show a valid wristband and have a corresponding decal (which will be given to pass holders when they obtain their wristband) on the windshield. Cars with less than four decals will be directed to park at a nearby off-site location yet to be announced.

Goldenvoice did not respond to an inquiry from the Desert Sun asking for an explanation for the policy and details of the off-site location.

Parking issues often occur during the first day of the festival

When asked about traffic conditions during the festivals in recent years, Guitron said some issues often arise during the first day of the three festival weekends, but are always resolved.

In October, during the first day of the one-off metal festival Power Trip, parking for those who tried to get into the day lots found it difficult due to the traffic (our own photographer nearly ran out of gas in the middle of Miles Avenue because traffic controllers forced him to circle the venue so many times).

“(The first day) is something we look at closely because that’s going to set the tone on how the rest of the concert traffic will be,” Guitron said. “We had two years where we didn’t have the festivals because of COVID, but there were a lot of street improvements, so the flow of traffic is better. We don’t see a strain unless people don’t follow the directions they’ve been given to get to the concert.”

Other situations appear such as vehicle stalls, rideshare drivers dropping off and picking up passengers outside of designated areas and shuttle buses diverting from designated routes.

But festivalgoers have long endured parking and traffic issues before, during and after Coachella and the Stagecoach country music festivals. It can take an hour or more to exit the lot off Monroe Street and Avenue 49 (yellow lot).

With some 100,000 in attendance at the music festival during both weekends, the east valley roads and Interstate 10 are choked with vehicles starting trips back west the following Monday morning. Goldenvoice has long promoted carpooling to the festival and encourages attendees to decorate their vehicles with the tag "Carpoolchella" for a chance to win VIP upgrades.

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella 2024: Indio had no role in new festival parking policy