IT WAS hailed as the busiest weekend in Glasgow's history, but transport chiefs insist the city's infrastructure stood up under the pressure despite some long queues.
An additional 390,000 passengers were expected as the Commonwealth Games weekend brought the marathon, the rugby sevens, and athletics. The city centre was inundated with spectators, placing a massive strain on its rail, bus and subway links.
Officials said the majority of travel was well organised, despite some reports of long delays at Hampden Stadium and the many Park & Ride stops around the city, some up for up to two hours.
They said that queuing was to be expected and that staff had worked hard to deliver a smooth transport service.
An SPT spokeswoman said: "With Glasgow dealing with what's probably the busiest weekend in the city's history, we've been anticipating the big crowds that Super Saturday and Sunday have brought.
"There have been queues but with major events like rugby sevens at Ibrox, stations in close proximity to venues were expected to be extremely busy.
"City centre stations and Partick have experienced queuing too but we've been working hard to keep things moving and ask that everyone allows more time for their journey and keeps up to date with the latest travel info available on @GamesTravel2014."
But many spectators took to social media to vent frustration as the volume of people overwhelmed transport links at park and ride facilities. Bike mechanic Gareth Allen tweeted: "Been standing in a stationary queue at Silverburn park and ride for over an hour. Very poor organisation and communication."
Catherine McLaughlin tweeted: "We are missing the start of athletics event due to massive P&R fail at Silverburn."
Rob Vernon said: "Shambles at park and ride for Hampden. Been waiting 50 minutes at Freescale, no buses, queueing all round the car park."
Julian Howell added: "Huge park and ride queue for rugby and no buses," while Kirsty MacDonald said: "They clearly can't cope with the sheer numbers of people and it's just chaos."
A tweet from Angela White read: "Disgraceful situation at Eurocentral park & ride Glasgow 2014. Going to miss the start of rugby 7's."
In reply, Michael Renshaw, director of transport and logistics for the Games, said yesterday was "the busiest day of the Games with more than 180,000 attending ticketed sports events".
He added: "We're aware some spectators experienced queues at the Silverburn Park & Ride facility and thank them for their patience. We are working hard to ensure this service gets people to and from venues as smoothly as possible."
Dozens of rugby fans were spotted outside the Buchanan Street subway stop next to Queen Street station while athletics fans lined up outside Glasgow Central, waiting for their train to Hampden.
ScotRail said an additional 400 staff a day are assisting with customer service at key locations during this "extraordinarily busy time".
A spokesman for ScotRail added: "We are using every available train and carriage. And, when an extra 390,000 people go to Glasgow to play their part in one of the world's biggest events, there's no doubt that queuing and standing is to be expected.
"Their travel will take longer, look different, and plenty of time should be allowed for journeys because of the sheer numbers involved in celebrating the 11 days of sport.
"They may not be able to board the first train they go for but the vast majority of people are successfully using our trains to enjoy the Games."
Spectators can enjoy a brief respite from rainfall over the next few days as the Commonwealth Games continues into its second week.
The record-breaking sunshine will return today but some light showers could arrive tomorrow and on Wednesday.
However, athletics fans will be somewhat disappointed as rain is expected to sweep in by Thursday — just in time for the 200m final.
There is also a slight chance of thunderstorms with temperatures set to remain around the 19C mark.
Early indications are that the weather front will stay in place until the conclusion of the Games on Sunday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article