NEW ORLEANS -- With so many different ways to get to Jazz Fest, how do you decide what's the best way to get there?
Well, to start, ask some veteran festival attendees.
"Pretty much everything short of a hover craft I think I've pretty much taken," said festival goer Caleb DuBerry.
You could grab a taxi, but expect to pay $5 per person or the meter rate, whichever is higher. So going from Downtown is usually at least $10 to $15. Cabbies will be staged at two stands, one at Stallings Playground on Gentilly Boulevard and the other on Esplanade Avenue. Cabs cannot pick up passengers anywhere else, so expect lines.
You could drive your own car. Bobby Bell has be going to Jazz Fest for the past 22 years.
"Normally I'll rent a car," Bell said. "Often times it will be a stow-and-go minivan because the seats fold down in the middle and you can get 20, 25 people in there."
"We had cars before, which was a nightmare, because parking's crazy," said Erin Meek.
Parking will cost you between $20 and $30, so maybe you're thinking public transportation. RTA will have regular bus and streetcar routes along Canal Street. Rates will be normal at $1.25.
"My favorite way is the good-old, reliable bicycle. Can't go wrong with that. Park anywhere you want to," DuBerry said.
If you don't have two wheels of your own, you can rent bikes locally for around $30, but if you want someone else to do the pedaling, pedicabs will be stationed on the corner of Esplanade near the taxi stands.
"Take bikes, it's the easiest way. Beat the traffic, a little bit of heat, but no problem though," said Justin DuBerry.
There's also the festival express shuttle bus that will cost you $15 per person round trip from City Park and $19 from downtown. the shuttle will have three pickup locations -- City Park on Zachary Taylor Drive, which has free parking, the Sheraton on Canal Street and the steam boat Natchez Dock on Toulouse.
