On “normal” match days, around 30,000 of the more than 80,000 spectators travel by public transport. However, the Dortmunder Stadtwerke DSW 21 had announced that due to the strike on Friday, all buses and light rail vehicles would be at a standstill until Saturday morning.
Many stadium visitors walk
BVB had asked its fans to travel to the stadium as early as possible – preferably on foot or by bike. Already on Friday afternoon at around 3.30 p.m. people started walking, the game started at 8.30 p.m.
“We are very satisfied”police spokesman Joshua Pollmeier told WDR. “There was no chaos. The people behave very calmly, many of them set off on foot early.”.
The police also assumed that the situation was “normal” when they left. Borussia Dortmund asked the fans to take their time and keep calm. You should therefore allow for longer waiting and dwell times and also think about the safety of children and young people.
Small traffic jams in the early evening
Traffic jams only formed on the motorways towards Dortmund in the early evening, and many of those who had traveled by car were already looking for a parking space around the stadium at this point. Residents reported that cars had also been parked in the surrounding residential areas.
DSW 21 allowed the bus bays around the stadium to be used as parking spaces during the day of the strike. This has also been agreed with the city so that nobody has to fear a ticket. At the same time, however, only a few additional parking spaces were created.
In addition to football, there is also a trade fair and comedy event
In addition to the BVB home game, a motorcycle fair with around 20,000 visitors also took place on Friday. There was also an appearance by a comedian with around 4,000 spectators in the neighboring Westfalenhallen.
According to Frank Fligge from DSW 21, the travel to the stadium cannot be compensated for with buses from third-party companies.a drop in the bucket”, says Fligge. They also want to respect the employees’ right to strike.
Park and ride offers are also no longer available
The large park-and-ride car parks at the university and at Gottesacker were also affected by the outages. Fans could park their cars there, but there were no shuttle buses to the stadium. It takes about 30 to 40 minutes to walk from the university car park.