for once I feel sorry for SASTA

[The Albion Roar]

Yes, sorry to offend. I'll pop in for a bowl of organic shreddies (made with fair trade soya milk obviously) to make it up to you.

Who's offended? Just wondering what the bloody hell you're on about.

A crowd has built up meaning people can't get home, you're feeling sorry for those who are to blame, and you're banging on about cereal cafe owners, 'organic shreddies' (whatever they are), soya milk and creative media types, as though there is some hidden meaning.

Or something.

 

[The Albion Roar]

Agreed, but it does illustrate how important the private car is (especially for inter-city travel if not for in-town use) and what a vital role road transport has to play. I know quite a few of you hate to hear that and won't accept it, but there you have the proof. Can you imagine the chaos if every visitor at the weekend had come by train? And DON'T tell me they could all have easily come by bike!

Brighton would be at a total standstill if more came in by car.

The reason that there are so many people there is because SASTA are so utterly hopeless. If they ran a normal service, this wouldn't be an issue; the trains would be able to cope admirably.

So no, it's not proof at all. In fact, it's the opposite.

 

[Easy 10]

I got SASTA'd at Brighton station on Saturday when the 11.22 to Falmer was cancelled, so I had to hang around a bit for a later train, which was irritating.

But then I didn't bother buying a ticket. So I won in the end.

 

[Ernest]

I got SASTA'd at Brighton station on Saturday when the 11.22 to Falmer was cancelled, so I had to hang around a bit for a later train, which was irritating.

But then I didn't bother buying a ticket. So I won in the end.

You DEVIL

 

[Easy 10]

You DEVIL

I know. The sheer THRILL of it will live with me forever.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

when you see that angle, its not that large a crowd. two 12 car London bound trains would clear that?

And that's exactly what happened. I was passing through Brighton station at 8pm yesterday on my way from Lewes to Chichester and on arrival greeted by this exact scene, apparently caused by a Victoria train being late and staff / BTP not allowing anyone through the barriers onto the platforms. To be fair, I was trying to make a non-connection with a West Coastway train, encouraged by my timepiece being slow.

Once let out of platform 7, I went straight to the Cyclist, bought a beer, sat out front (loads of space) and waited for the crowd to clear. This happened about 15 mins later when a Victoria and a Thameslink train both turned up. After the barriers opened, the assembled throng all moved through on the platforms and trains and were off to London in a few mins. No visible stampedes. By 20 past, i was able to finish my West Pier Pale and stroll over a half deserted concourse in the general direction of the 20:30 to Havant on platform 2, which was busy but seats for all who wanted them.

Realtime trains tells me that the 19:59 Victoria left at 20:16 and the 20:14 Bedford at 20:19. A case of twitterers blindly reported by media turning a few minutes delay and some busy trains into some sort of major crisis.

when you see that angle, its not that large a crowd. two 12 car London bound trains would clear that? but there also a complete lack of any staff or BTP to in some way organise or simply inform the crowd, so worry, panic and fear ensues.

There may not have been many staff, but there was a BTP person preventing people from going from the East Coastway platforms behind the barriers to their connecting trains and telling them they'd have to go out to the concourse and join the throng. There was also another BTP letting people out of the platforms on the eastern side.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Who's offended? Just wondering what the bloody hell you're on about.

A crowd has built up meaning people can't get home, you're feeling sorry for those who are to blame, and you're banging on about cereal cafe owners, 'organic shreddies' (whatever they are), soya milk and creative media types, as though there is some hidden meaning.

Or something.

Many of the people who composed this crowd, did align with the visual stereotype of Shoreditch/Hackney dwelling fashion conscious, Guardian readers though, so just a bit of gentle satire on the concerned delayed London dwelling people based on their dress sense etc. I say this as a middle aged Guardian reader myself.

 

[Brovion]

You could just as easily say "imagine the chaos if every visitor at the weekend had come by car?". A couple of thousand extra motors would have reduced London Road to a standstill ... and people would moan about being able to get around town

Well obviously. But the prevailing orthodoxy is that people should stop driving and use public transport and that public transport will somehow be able to cope with it all. That view is plainly complete bollocks (especially for a city like Brighton that's active 24/7) and needs challenging at evey opportunity. We need private cars to take the pressure off public transport, and given the increasing population of south east England this need is going to grow. We also need a 24 hour rail network and BML2 - it's not an 'either or' situation with one mode of transport supplanting another. I personally would like to see Brighton follow other towns and cities and be completely car-free in the centre with out-of-town park 'n' ride sites to deal with the visitors. However I accept that's never going to happen and we're just have our usual Brighton "cars are bad n'k?" muddle.