A spacious venue, a long and varied list of performers: the stage seems set for the annual Frostbite Music Festival, Feb. 13-15.

Except the audience has to get to the festival, which has organizers seeking the help of city council and the transit department.

At Monday night's council meeting, Frostbite's Brian Eaton asked the city to run a shuttle service from downtown to the festival at the Yukon Arts Centre and Yukon College over the course of the event.

It's expected more than 1,000 people will pass through the doors of the four festival venues at the arts centre and college for performances, he said.

"We are blessed with a wonderful and a spacious venue, but it's not the most centrally accessible," he said.

The arts centre and college sit at the end of the college access road off of Range Road near Mountainview Drive.

"With the oncoming cuts in Friday evening transit service (proposed in the 2009 operating budget) and the traditional absence of Sunday transit service, the college and the arts centre location does present problems for some people who would dearly love to make a weekend of it, but find that their transportation choices are severely limited," Eaton told council just before making the request.

He suggested there could be a central location downtown, such as the Elijah Smith Building, where a bus could pick up passengers to take them to the festival at $2 for a round trip.

Buses would return from the college and arts centre on an hourly basis, bringing festival-goers back downtown to the downtown drop-off and pick-up, Eaton said.

The service would not only be beneficial to those without a vehicle, but also those who want the convenience of a park and ride service and visitors to Whitehorse for the start of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race who want to take in some of the festival.

"The benefits of such a proposed shuttle service are many," Eaton said.

"Not only will it increase attendance at an event that benefits our city's economy, it may well help our tourism situation, giving visitors the convenience of easy access to a popular city attraction without parking worries or hassles.

"It would also keep possibly inebriated people out of their cars."

If the city isn't able to provide that "maximum" level of service, Eaton noted, buses going up to the festival at its opening and returning downtown at the end of the festival's evening or day would be helpful.

Frostbite could sell the bus tickets for the service at its venues and ticket agents, he said.

Council members wouldn't commit to the service one way or another.

Instead, they asked city staff to come back to them with the costs of providing the service along with the availability of city buses.

"Another big one here is, would we be competing with the private sector on that?" Mayor Bev Buckway asked.

Earlier in the meeting, Coun. Dave Austin questioned whether Frostbite had approached officials with the airport shuttle service that brings travelers from the airport to hotels.

While Eaton said they hadn't, he noted it's something the organization will keep in mind as well.

With the festival sooner than two weeks away, administration will have to bring back the information council requested for a decision quickly.

Whitehorse Transit manager Dave Muir could not be reached for comment this morning.