How did TRANSPORT go today?

[Beach Hut]

British rail truly at their best.

Clearly you missed the rail privatisation then

 

[BUTTERBALL]

10/10 again from my perspective.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Coming home, got the train to lewes, no problem. Then the connection to wivelsefield 5.50pm. Except the bloody thing didnt stop at wivelsefield! Sailed straight through to HH. Conductor came on muttering something about scheduling issues and it's not the drivers fault. Then to top it all, as we pulled in, the stopping service to Brighton was on the platform and they let it go before any of us had the chance to get round to the platform. British rail truly at their best.

Clearly you missed the rail privatisation then

Indeed. From the train company's point of view, they'll be thinking in "business" mode, not "public service" mode, when they decide whether or not to miss a stop at Wivelsfield.

If a train is running late, it can disrupt every train that's running on the Brighton main line. Or it can avoid the disruption by missing out one stop. The sensible business decision is to miss out the stop and get the schedules closer back to normal - allowing all (but a few) rail passengers to make the connections that they want.

And who are the important customers? The ones who have paid for their journeys? Or the ones that are probably travelling free of charge, because they are coming home from a football match and have been let on to the train without paying even the price of a £1 travel voucher?

 

[lindfield seagull]

Your were very lucky to get out in 20 minutes... we sat waiting for over an hour to get out of Bennet's Field! We explained to the stewards that we had a disabled gentleman (with a tumour on his spine) who was in much discomfort from sitting so long but they wouldn't let us cut through a space where cars had already left (which we did anyway in the end otherwise we could have been there for much longer). Absolutely amazing day, but not looking forward to being stuck in there for hours after every match!

 

[am the one]

OK for me got home at 18.15. When you have 20,000 going home from a football game on a saturday evening i think thats good. The big test for the railway service will be the evening of the leeds utd game.

 

[Brovion]

That's a good point. An email to Roger French wouldn't go amiss I reckon.

Thought you were going to try parking in Coldean. Plenty of other people had that idea, it's noticeable that the streets around me were full of cars by 2.00

Yeah, I will drop them a line, if enough of us do it they might change the schedule.

Re the parking it was definitely an idea, I know when we discussed it no one was sure what was happening with the travel vouchers. Certainly driving, parking and walking for twenty or thirty minutes (which is what it used to take us to walk from home to Withdean) would have been our favoured method of transport given the extortionate price (and coming from Fiveways, the inconvenience) of bus travel. However the vouchers, even the one-off ones, are priced acceptably, so we'll be using the buses. Now they've just got to make sure they run at better than three or four an hour ...

 

[Robot Chicken]

Yep - Mill Road P&R is by far the slowest to get away from the ground. Getting to the ground is fine as long as you get to Mill Road early enough. After the game though, as per Swindon Seagull wasn't exactly sluggish getting back to the bus park but the queues are very long. Got on a bus around 5:45 but the queue was still all the way across the bus park and round the road towards the car park. Problem is that because only single deckers can go through the tunnel there is limited capacity on the buses. Some fans were getting frustrated as there were empty double deckers hanging around as there was nobody left wanting to go the Mithras House.

Why can't the club use double decker buses to take people to the bottom of Mill Road, then use single deckers to actually drive people up the hill to their cars?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Why can't the club use double decker buses to take people to the bottom of Mill Road, then use single deckers to actually drive people up the hill to their cars?

Is there an issue with buses accessing Mill Road from the top instead of the bottom?

 

[Robot Chicken]

Is there an issue with buses accessing Mill Road from the top instead of the bottom?

There's still the issue of the bridge at the bottom! Where are the double deckers going to turn round?

 

[Paddy B]

Although the queues for Mill Road were indeed of epic proportions. I don't think we waited more than 20 mins.

 

[fleet]

Your were very lucky to get out in 20 minutes... we sat waiting for over an hour to get out of Bennet's Field! We explained to the stewards that we had a disabled gentleman (with a tumour on his spine) who was in much discomfort from sitting so long but they wouldn't let us cut through a space where cars had already left (which we did anyway in the end otherwise we could have been there for much longer). Absolutely amazing day, but not looking forward to being stuck in there for hours after every match!

In much the same position. My Dad will not be able to come unless this is sorted - really hope it is put right now, the only negative on a great day

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

Out: No 23 Bus from Marina to Sussex Uni - 35 mins.
Return: No 23 Bus (at 18.30) from Amex exit stop to Marina - 30 mins.

Wonderful. I might even come again.

 

[les dynam]

trains worked well again for me. on at london road at around 1.20, back to london road around 6ish after a couple of pints.

 

[MORTY]

Indeed. From the train company's point of view, they'll be thinking in "business" mode, not "public service" mode, when they decide whether or not to miss a stop at Wivelsfield.

If a train is running late, it can disrupt every train that's running on the Brighton main line. Or it can avoid the disruption by missing out one stop. The sensible business decision is to miss out the stop and get the schedules closer back to normal - allowing all (but a few) rail passengers to make the connections that they want.

And who are the important customers? The ones who have paid for their journeys? Or the ones that are probably travelling free of charge, because they are coming home from a football match and have been let on to the train without paying even the price of a £1 travel voucher?

What a ridiculous argument. You get on a train and are told that it going to stop at a particular station. Then it doesn't. How is that ok??

 

[Lord Bracknell]

What a ridiculous argument. You get on a train and are told that it going to stop at a particular station. Then it doesn't. How is that ok??

I never said it was a sensible argument. I said it was the way the privatised railways run.

 

[Grassman]

So what we can learn from all these responses is that the 'nightmare' of getting away from the stadium that many predicted, is simply not materialising. That is brilliant. Personally I'd like to see more buses/coaches leaving from different points other than the Amex car park. In reality this is only going to mean Sussex Uni - a load of buses leaving from there going to the park and rides/local destinations will ease the congestion at Village Way. Universities are desperate for cash at the mo so I'm sure they would be willing to offer their land for a price. As for Bennetts Way, come on, who would really believe that you would get out of there that easily? One road in, one road out. It ain't rocket science.