Day 9 - Wed 16th Feb - THE WHEELS ON THE BUS...

[Superseagull]

I hope they fix the heating over the weekend cos the weather forcast is not looking great for early nxt week!

 

[perseus]

I hope they fix the heating over the weekend cos the weather forcast is not looking great for early nxt week!

It has got a roof though.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I'd think Rottingdean PC are not too concerned about traffic arising from Sheepcote - they'll fight that when it happens. Now it is all about stringing it out as long as possible.

 

[perseus]

Re: Re: Re: Public Inquiry - Day Nine Report

I'm yet to see the issue with 17,600 people trying to get on buses per se. At Reading the club has said that for sell-out games where around 17,000-odd travel on buses to games, everyone is shipped away from the stadium within an hour. There is not one bus queue with 17,000 people, there are several queues, and many people are shipped straight onto buses in an orderly manner. The longest I've ever waited is 50 minutes.

I don't see what difference standing around for an hour for a bus makes when it takes an hour to drive out of a busy stadium car park, or walk miles to a car parked far away (as with many grounds). So to say that it can't be done is farcicle as they would only take a look at Reading to see how it works. What the pro-Falmer contigent should be doing is saying how the infrastructure is not feasible despite it succeeding at other locations around the UK.

Unfortunately with the road system that you have in Brighton, it appears (from previous discussions) that the infrastructure could not handle the sheer amount of people on buses, as the inner roads are narrow and small, rather than able to cope with a large increment in traffic.

For you sake I hope that the argument followed is not "17,600 people on buses, what a joke", and instead is "it may work elsewhere but in Brighton with the road system it is completely unfeasible". You don't need 110 buses in the slightest. You need 37 doing 3 trips. Or 55 doing 2 trips.

Reading transport arrangements are a joke. Sheepcote would take me about one and a half hours to get to. The traffic is impossible in an ordinary day. To suggest Sheepcote is like suggesting Priestfield for the 25% of supporters that live west of the Goldstone. Travelling by bike seem to be the only option.

Beeding Cement Works would be convenient for me, but it is no fun going to an empty stadium. Boat, paraglider or bike would be best, or by helicopter if the budget allows. The journey time for buses from Shoreham railway station would be 40 minutes each way. There would be parking for ten buses.

 

[Wilts]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Public Inquiry - Day Nine Report

Reading transport arrangements are a joke.

A joke? Surely a masterpiece rather...

On a sell-out day where there are 24,200 fans, there are around 7,000 fans in parking spaces around the stadium, greyhound/speedway track, and industrial estates nearby. The combined rest get the trains from all around the country to Reading station and then bus it to the ground, and matchday buses run from many suburbs and out into nearby towns such as Wokingham, Woodley, Newbury, Tadley, and hopefully Basingstoke soon.

And after the match, we all get onto our buses to either the suburbs or the station. The car drivers get the M4 to deal with, and all the shoppers coming out of town, and have to suffer the congestion that everyone else does in Berkshire/West London on a Saturday afternoon.

The only problem I see is when Thames Valley Police close off a couple of roads and don't redirect anyone apart from at the junction to the closed road itself. Better notice would be much appreciated!!

If you see the Madejski Stadium an hour after the game is over, you'll see that it is nearly dead. Cue jokes about it being dead even at the best of times!

 

[perseus]

Reading has not got the sea and the downs in the way.

 

[DTES]

I got a bus away from Reading back in August this season. I was on a train at Reading station by twenty to six. No complaints at all. But, as you say, it wouldn't work in Brighton.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Reading has not got the sea and the downs in the way.

Or people suggesting unworkable alternative sites.

 

[somerset]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Public Inquiry - Day Nine Report

A joke? Surely a masterpiece rather...

On a sell-out day where there are 24,200 fans, there are around 7,000 fans in parking spaces around the stadium, greyhound/speedway track, and industrial estates nearby. The combined rest get the trains from all around the country to Reading station and then bus it to the ground, and matchday buses run from many suburbs and out into nearby towns such as Wokingham, Woodley, Newbury, Tadley, and hopefully Basingstoke soon.

And after the match, we all get onto our buses to either the suburbs or the station. The car drivers get the M4 to deal with, and all the shoppers coming out of town, and have to suffer the congestion that everyone else does in Berkshire/West London on a Saturday afternoon.

The only problem I see is when Thames Valley Police close off a couple of roads and don't redirect anyone apart from at the junction to the closed road itself. Better notice would be much appreciated!!

If you see the Madejski Stadium an hour after the game is over, you'll see that it is nearly dead. Cue jokes about it being dead even at the best of times!

Have to agree, went up for the 0-0 'nearly OGH goal' game, and got out of the ground on the bus and back to the station for 17:30..... dont think 40mins is too much for that journey after a full house.

 

[perseus]

Soon get fed up on a forty minute bus journey if the team cannot even score a goal !

PS: I don't go by bus. I like trains. Buses are uncomfortable and horrid.

 

[Wilts]

Reading has not got the sea

Neither has Falmer

Granted, the downs are there, but I can't see there being any problems with the location of Falmer for this.

If you can't take 40 minutes on a bus after a match, you are either (a) a pussy, or (b) a man who has never been to an away game in your life!

You wait til you try and get 17,500 people onto a train instead of a bus, on a station that has only one line going in each direction! At least buses have got many directions to go in and a choice of destinations to avoid congestion. Trains would go in and out of Brighton station and hold around 300-400 on each (max). On matchday if trains were used even that is 45-50 trains! I can't see the Rail Authorities allowing that in the slightest to happen within around an hour of final whistle. There's just not enough lines for them to go in and the track would be congested even more than buses on the roads!

 

[Caveman]

Cheers for that LB!

One thing springs to mind reading what went on ...


WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY!

 

[um bongo molongo]

I've been to Reading twice - once by bus from the train station and once by car and you can't compare it with Sheepcote - it is incredibly easy to get to - right by a major motorway - when I drove I was back on the motorway 15 mins after the final whistle (you have to try to avoid getting knocked down on some pretty busy roads but other than that very easy).

The reason it works is that the surrounding roads are wide and out of the town centre, there is a big choice of places to park (I used the travelodge, 5mins walk away), it is near the motorway and there is a variety of transport to choose from - car, buses and train (albeit via a bus). Any stadium that relies on a single method of transport (i.e. buses, as there would be little parking at Sheepcote), is going to be a transport nightmare.

 

[perseus]

Getting to Sheepcote would be like getting to White Hart Lane without the railway stations.

At least at WHL you can park and get the train in.

For transporting large number of people from one place to another, trains are the best way. 8 coach trains can take 75 people per carriage, 100 with standing. It is only seven minutes or less to Brighton instead of 40 minutes by bus from Sheepcote.

At Falmer, with 20% of 20,000 = 4,000, Five trains at five minute intervals, probably every ten minutes.

At Withdean and the Goldstone, it has proved to be easy. Special trains for London supporters from Falmer. Can the train go on the other side via Lewes?

 

[Uncle Buck]

Getting to Sheepcote would be like getting to White Hart Lane without the railway stations.

At least at WHL you can park and get the train in.

For transporting large number of people from one place to another, trains are the best way. 8 coach trains can take 75 people per carriage, 100 with standing. It is only seven minutes or less to Brighton instead of 40 minutes by bus from Sheepcote.

At Falmer, with 20% of 20,000 = 4,000, Five trains at five minute intervals, probably every ten minutes.

At Withdean and the Goldstone, it has proved to be easy. Special trains for London supporters from Falmer. Can the train go on the other side via Lewes?

So how would we get people to your fantasy stadium, there will be no rail link there.

 

[Gritt23]

Wilts, has it always been as it is now? It's just I seem to remember when it was first built the football phone-ins seemed to be absolutely blitzed with callers complaining about how long it took to get away from. And sure enough, the first time I went there I was sat for ages in my car, unable to even get out of the car park.

Last couple of visits have been much better though. How long did it take for them to get it right - although I do still think it's one of the slower grounds to get away from!

 

[perseus]

So how would we get people to your fantasy stadium, there will be no rail link there.

This is ultra vires at present. Railway stations cost £5 million to build.

 

[Uncle Buck]

This is ultra vires at present. Railway stations cost £5 million to build.

That and the fact there is no designated land for it to be put on?

 

[ripper]

Re: Public Inquiry - Day Nine Report

What he’d really like is some government funding for an electric light rapid transport system from Shoreham railway station.

That is totally laughable It seems he just wants to shift the problem to another town (Shoreham) in true NIMBY style.

 

[Rangdo]

Tom Carr is just one desparate pathetic lonely man. Hopefully, the Inspector won't have any time for his stupidity.

Perhaps we could all chip in and get him a prostitute. Then he might piss off and leave us alone.