Amex Travel info (vouchers, parking etc) *finally* announced

[Lord Bracknell]

Inevitably, the release of the Club's travel information has created almost as many questions as answers.

The question I have is why didn't they ask Lord Bracknell to assist in the creation of the travel plan? There can be few people in Sussex with a more detailed grasp of public transport and planning.

Of course, they may have done this (I have no idea) and LB may have declined.

Back in February, BODS asked me to produce a report on issues relating to access to the stadium for people with disabilities. I sent this to BODS in March, in time for a meeting that BODS and the National Association of Disabled Supporters were having with representatives of the Club. The report included an outline proposal to overcome some of the problems that had been identified - including the possible use of the accessible minibuses that are operated by the company I manage.

Having produced the report - which I assume has been seen by the Club - in March, I have heard absolutely NOTHING from the Club since.

Incidentally, this report wasn't a commercial "pitch" on behalf of my company. It covered a range of issues and, as Bry Nylon suggests, was informed by my thirty five years experience as a professional transport planner, including years of experience as an advisor to the government and local authority associations on transport issues relating to people with disabilities and the implementation of the transport provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act. I also have a lot of experience (achieved during the many years I was Passenger Transport Manager for East Sussex County Council) of designing, implementing and managing public transport ticketing schemes and park and ride schemes (both for shoppers and major sporting events).

But that's enough about me.

 

[HK SEAGULL]

Has anybody got any idea how many trains there will be? If it is just the normal service on that line there is not much point trying to be sustainable!

 

[poidy]

I dont see why everyone is getting a hard on over this.

1.You couldnt park at Withdean
2.We had a park and ride system in place at Withdean
3.We had travel vouches at Withdean.

To summarize:

1.You can now park at Falmer providing you pre book
2.Travel Vouchers will be used. The principle is EXACTLY the same as at Withdean except its not included in the price if the ticket.

END OF THREAD

 

[Rich Suvner]

I dont see why everyone is getting a hard on over this.

1.You couldnt park at Withdean
2.We had a park and ride system in place at Withdean
3.We had travel vouches at Withdean.

To summarize:

1.You can now park at Falmer providing you pre book
2.Travel Vouchers will be used. The principle is EXACTLY the same as at Withdean except its not included in the price if the ticket.

END OF THREAD

Why?
a) Because Falmer isn't Withdean - either in terms of location or capacity
b) Because without a functioning transport plan, our ground will get no bigger

 

[Notters' Dad]

Not quite the end!
It was possible to park legitimately within 10 mins of Withdean (and of the Goldstone & Gillingham before that). The new park and rides require (from the East) going first to the stadium then away to park before coming back; reversing this process after the game! Somewhat chaotic trafficwise.
If the park and ride vouchers can be used at any site, it's presumably also possible to arrive at the preferred site and find it already full of cars that could have used another. What then??

 

[Jam The Man]

Clever bit of work by the club... This was always going to upset some fans, so they soften the blow in a few days by announcing the marquee signing.
Maybe!

 

[Bry Nylon]

I dont see why everyone is getting a hard on over this.

1.You couldnt park at Withdean
2.We had a park and ride system in place at Withdean
3.We had travel vouches at Withdean.

To summarize:

1.You can now park at Falmer providing you pre book
2.Travel Vouchers will be used. The principle is EXACTLY the same as at Withdean except its not included in the price if the ticket.

END OF THREAD

Withdean was a temporary solution that attracted crowds in the region of 5k - 6k.

The AMEX is our permanent home and will regularly host crowds in excess of 22'000.

If the Club wish to expand the stadium the primary consideration will be the transport infrastructure.

If you are unable to grasp these very basic points then frankly your contribution to the debate is worthless.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I dont see why everyone is getting a hard on over this.

1.You couldnt park at Withdean
2.We had a park and ride system in place at Withdean
3.We had travel vouches at Withdean.

To summarize:

1.You can now park at Falmer providing you pre book
2.Travel Vouchers will be used. The principle is EXACTLY the same as at Withdean except its not included in the price if the ticket.

END OF THREAD

1.You couldnt park at Withdean - Most people can't park at Falmer
2.We had a park and ride system in place at Withdean - The evidence is that there won't be enough parking spaces at the Falmer Park & Ride sites
3.We had travel vouchers at Withdean - But, at Falmer, there won't be enough room on the trains for everyone who says they want to use trains

To summarize:

1.You can now park at Falmer providing you pre book - But you can't do this on a match by match basis, nor if you are an away supporter
2.Travel Vouchers will be used. The principle is EXACTLY the same as at Withdean except its not included in the price if the ticket - at Withdean, the Travel Vouchers gave a genuine choice of how to travel; at Falmer you might have a Travel Voucher, but you might equally discover that you can't use it for your preferred mode of travel

 

[clippedgull]

Here in Borneo they do block parking, but ask you to leave your handbrake off, and then there is a team of people pushing cars around to get people in and out. Works a treat

Nice!

Flaw: What about cars with electronically controlled handbrakes?!?! I turn my engine off and the handbrake is engaged automatically!

 

[trueblue]

It's starting to appear to me that Lord Bracknell's nose could be out of joint over the lack of response from the club. While his expertise is interesting, after reading all these threads he seems to be on a mission to find as many flaws as possible in the transport plans. We all know how bloody difficult it was to find a stadium, that it was never the perfect solution (because there was no such thing in B&H) and I think we can trust that the club are doing their best to try to make the process work. No offence meant Lord B - your posts have often been very informative, but I just feel in this case it's beginning to look as if you have an axe to grind with someone.

Anyway, just a view... Not in any way meant a personal attack and I respect you're entitled to air your opinions, of course.

For me, I'm just delighted I can get travel to and from the ground for a quid. Never really thought about it at Withdean as I have a relative close by so could park there. For everything else I do, paying to travel/park just goes with the territory so if the club provided no subsidies at all it wouldn't have surprised me - seems very generous.

As for all the transport 'chaos', surely people can park anywhere within the massive region covered by the subsidies and finish the journey on public transport.

I lived in Southampton when St Mary's opened and there were all the same questions/fears. It turned out that if you don't give people the easy option of getting to the ground by car, they just find a different way. The lack of accessibility forces the use of buses/trains/bikes/drop-offs/feet and so actually works remarkably well.

 

[Pat McCrotch]

Once a discussion becomes a dragged out rant by a few obsessive individuals, it's just embarassing.

Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HK SEAGULL]

It's starting to appear to me that Lord Bracknell's nose could be out of joint over the lack of response from the club. While his expertise is interesting, after reading all these threads he seems to be on a mission to find as many flaws as possible in the transport plans. We all know how bloody difficult it was to find a stadium, that it was never the perfect solution (because there was no such thing in B&H) and I think we can trust that the club are doing their best to try to make the process work. No offence meant Lord B - your posts have often been very informative, but I just feel in this case it's beginning to look as if you have an axe to grind with someone.

Anyway, just a view... Not in any way meant a personal attack and I respect you're entitled to air your opinions, of course.

For me, I'm just delighted I can get travel to and from the ground for a quid. Never really thought about it at Withdean as I have a relative close by so could park there. For everything else I do, paying to travel/park just goes with the territory so if the club provided no subsidies at all it wouldn't have surprised me - seems very generous.

As for all the transport 'chaos', surely people can park anywhere within the massive region covered by the subsidies and finish the journey on public transport.

I lived in Southampton when St Mary's opened and there were all the same questions/fears. It turned out that if you don't give people the easy option of getting to the ground by car, they just find a different way. The lack of accessibility forces the use of buses/trains/bikes/drop-offs/feet and so actually works remarkably well.

Well let's hope that you're right, but I am not optimistic. I don't have an axe to grind, but it seems to me that due to the huge increase in interest there is now clearly insufficient park and ride and we have no information as to how many extra trains there will be (if any).

 

[Arkwright]

Well I'm happy, travel from Petersfield, Hampshire is £19.10 standard off peak return. From Worthing £13.40. So with my £1.00 travel voucher I'm saving £4.70 x say 20 games (I might miss a couple) I have a total saving of £94.00 which in reality gives me two games free of charge.

I think it's a fantastic scheme / offer.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I certainly don't have an axe to grind and my nose isn't out of joint. I've been involved in planning and providing transport for long enough to know that ALL transport schemes have their flaws and that the best way to deal with problems is to anticipate them and provide as much information as possible to people who will be using the transport.

My motivation is to support the Club. The campaign to get the stadium approved at Falmer took years to achieve success. Two public inquiries dissected the inadequacies of the transport arrangements that would have been required at any of the other sites that were being proposed. I sat through every session of the second inquiry and wrote up a daily account of the proceedings for the Club's website and the matchday programme. This involved listening to the Club's representatives forensically examining and tearing apart the evidence that opponents of Falmer were trying to present that transport to other sites wouldn't be a problem. The opponents were wrong and the case for Falmer won through - mainly (but not entirely) because the transport case for Falmer was better.

It was important to get this message across during the public inquiry and during all the years of campaigning that led up to the decision that Falmer could go ahead. I was part of that campaign and we succeeded in persuading not just thousands of Albion fans, but thousands of other people, that the Club had cracked all the problems, including transport.

One of the spinoffs of the successful campaign is that a very large number of fans seem to have convinced themselves that transport to Falmer would be easy. The truth is that it won’t be. It will be easier than it would have been to get to Toads Hole Valley or Sheepcote, but it will still be quite a challenge.

All I’m trying to do with my recent plethora of posts is highlight some of the issues, and some of the questions that still need an answer, in the hope that, by the time the stadium opens for business, more people can be better prepared.

 

[Superseagull]

The key thing is that everyone has to be a bit patient and flexible with getting too and from the AMEX for the first few games at least. Things will improve as people work out how best to get there, how long it will take, and how long they should expect to wait post match. It will be messy to start with, but it will get better as the club, police, travel companies and fans work out the best way to do things.

My plan is to get the the area early pre match, and post match stay for a beer or two, then walk down through Moulescoomb and pick up a bus further down Lewes road that has not come from the ground. Bit of a hassle, but i'd rather walk it than stand waiting for a bus for an hour at the AMEX.

 

[trueblue]

I certainly don't have an axe to grind and my nose isn't out of joint. I've been involved in planning and providing transport for long enough to know that ALL transport schemes have their flaws and that the best way to deal with problems is to anticipate them and provide as much information as possible to people who will be using the transport.

My motivation is to support the Club. The campaign to get the stadium approved at Falmer took years to achieve success. Two public inquiries dissected the inadequacies of the transport arrangements that would have been required at any of the other sites that were being proposed. I sat through every session of the second inquiry and wrote up a daily account of the proceedings for the Club's website and the matchday programme. This involved listening to the Club's representatives forensically examining and tearing apart the evidence that opponents of Falmer were trying to present that transport to other sites wouldn't be a problem. The opponents were wrong and the case for Falmer won through - mainly (but not entirely) because the transport case for Falmer was better.

It was important to get this message across during the public inquiry and during all the years of campaigning that led up to the decision that Falmer could go ahead. I was part of that campaign and we succeeded in persuading not just thousands of Albion fans, but thousands of other people, that the Club had cracked all the problems, including transport.

One of the spinoffs of the successful campaign is that a very large number of fans seem to have convinced themselves that transport to Falmer would be easy. The truth is that it won’t be. It will be easier than it would have been to get to Toads Hole Valley or Sheepcote, but it will still be quite a challenge.

All I’m trying to do with my recent plethora of posts is highlight some of the issues, and some of the questions that still need an answer, in the hope that, by the time the stadium opens for business, more people can be better prepared.

Fair enough. All very valid points and I appreciate the efforts you've put in through the years.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

The university parking spaces could come with quite a delay getting away built-in...

"On Saturdays only, the use of space will be maximized with the use of block parking - i.e. bumper to bumper and not in parking bays. "

Where is this quote from please? I've tried to find it on the club website but can't.

Thanks

 

[Fef]

Where is this quote from please? I've tried to find it on the club website but can't.

Thanks

University posts info about Amex car parking..

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Thanks Fef.

That sounds a nightmare. If cars are bumper to bumper then as people have already commented, drivers will be hanging around needlessly waiting for people who are having a drink etc. What happens if in that situation one cannot actually get into one's car and it piddles down? No fun there.

 

[Bozza]

Thanks Fef.

That sounds a nightmare. If cars are bumper to bumper then as people have already commented, drivers will be hanging around needlessly waiting for people who are having a drink etc. What happens if in that situation one cannot actually get into one's car and it piddles down? No fun there.

You'll be able to get into your car (unless you've lost your keys), you just might not be able to drive it anywhere.