IRM needs to get organized. I arrived for the Anzio Express event and stood in line for 30 minutes with barely any movement.
On calling the office I was told "yes, we have another person on the way to open the second booth".
11:30am and then "someone is on the way"? The paying public deserves better, as do the rail-enthusiasts who help to run IRM.
I believe (based on the sentiments I heard from many while we were all baking in the sun) that this might be a PR disaster rather than a very successful event; the line next year may be a lot shorter unless there's a concerted PR effort and an apology on the website for that poor performance.
I saw and heard several father/mother disagreements on whether to stay in the unreasonably slow, long line with small children growing increasingly restless and heat-exhausted.
With 3 college-students and myself as a motivated organizer I could have moved people through that line at a rate of 1 family every 30 seconds.
Before I gave up hope and left (with my money) I estimated that people were being admitted at the rate of one every 3 minutes. On my way out I warned several families with small children about the wait, and I was not the only person to leave, disappointed.
Contact me at
p a u l a n d e r s o n u s a
a t y a h o o . c o m
if you'd like next year's booth-operations to be fast, efficient and pleasant, and avoid a very disgruntled crowd. My services will be free, though the college-students will probably need to be paid.
This year's event was most certainly not operated like a railyard. Certainly not as a military operation.
Paul, Thank you for the comments.
Not my job, but I have to agree with many of your observations. At 10:15 AM I noticed the line, and felt this event was going to have a larger public turnout that we imagined. That is both good news and bad news. It is difficult to add personnel and staffing on short notice, but I notified the office and a second lane was opened.
Thanks for your support and I hope the next two days will run more smoothly at the gate. But the event was well done and appreciated by those with the patience to put up with growing pains.
Bob Kutella
Here's a couple of suggestions that can speed up the ticket line. Don't ask for the ZIP code as this takes additional time. Have a bar code on member's passes in the future so the number can be quickly scanned.