The Albion Roar - 9 Apr (Ken Brown / Martin Perry)

[clippedgull]

I reckon you'd be surprised how many you'd get on an 8 car, as long as it is loaded sensibly and people go right inside the coaches and towards the back you'd get at least 500/600 on board probably a lot more.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Beach Hut]

On iTunes now as well

 

[Uter]

I reckon you'd be surprised how many you'd get on an 8 car, as long as it is loaded sensibly and people go right inside the coaches and towards the back you'd get at least 500/600 on board probably a lot more.

I think an 8 car train has a seated capacity of approx 500. Not sure how many can be crammed in standing, but I'd guess a similar number again making around 1000 in total. So this train will add around 2000 extra spaces minus the normal usage (assuming it makes the return journey).

 

[Whitterz]

Will there be SPORKS in the catering sections??

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I would find it hard to believe that the coach from Brighton to The Valley is not heavily subsidised by Charlton Athletic. Paying for one coach.

If driving to Mill Road P&R is cheaper, why not just do that?

I haven't listened to the show as yet.
1) The Charlton coach was just one example of how much a group of four might pay now for coach travel to a FL1 game (ie 4x£7), I never intended to imply that it wasn't subsidised. For our group to travel by coach to the Amex from Billingshurst will cost about £50 per game including the cost of driving to and parking in Billi. If the club are serious about encouraging fans not to drive to the city/game then this offer doesn't stack up with this objective imo, I just hope that whatever transport "plan" is eventually submitted to B&HCC is viable for all and that fans take the opportunity to read and make comment on the proposals before they are considered by the Council.
2) Mill Road P&R will still be our preferred choice but it is full even now with gates of 7-8,000 including away support of 800 (occasionally); the overflow arrangements amount to "sorry you'll have to go somewhere else". This is, and will be, the only readily accessible P&R for anyone driving from the north or west and will have to potentially cope with x3 the number of home and away fans. Unless parking is actually prohibited on the adjacent roads (eg Bramble Rise, Mill Rise etc), that is where supporters will park if the P&R is full and then walk through to the buses in Mill Road, we certainly will - I wonder if the local residents have realised this yet?

 

[Ned]

One question was settled for me which shows that I was misinformed at the presentation. The travel vouchers worth £1 WILL be valid for 'free' travel within the existing area. They would appear to be a £3 discount for coaches that are operating outside the travel zone. That's where the misunderstanding arose before so thanks for clarifying.

 

[Hotchilidog]

I haven't listened to the show as yet.
1) The Charlton coach was just one example of how much a group of four might pay now for coach travel to a FL1 game (ie 4x£7), I never intended to imply that it wasn't subsidised. For our group to travel by coach to the Amex from Billingshurst will cost about £50 per game including the cost of driving to and parking in Billi. If the club are serious about encouraging fans not to drive to the city/game then this offer doesn't stack up with this objective imo, I just hope that whatever transport "plan" is eventually submitted to B&HCC is viable for all and that fans take the opportunity to read and make comment on the proposals before they are considered by the Council.
2) Mill Road P&R will still be our preferred choice but it is full even now with gates of 7-8,000 including away support of 800 (occasionally); the overflow arrangements amount to "sorry you'll have to go somewhere else". This is, and will be, the only readily accessible P&R for anyone driving from the north or west and will have to potentially cope with x3 the number of home and away fans. Unless parking is actually prohibited on the adjacent roads (eg Bramble Rise, Mill Rise etc), that is where supporters will park if the P&R is full and then walk through to the buses in Mill Road, we certainly will - I wonder if the local residents have realised this yet?

Talk about the voice of doom. Do you really think the club have jotted their plans on the back of a fag packet and hoped that the planning authorities haven't noticed. The stadium is being built and will open on time, do you seriously think we'd have got this far without any consideration being given to the travel arrangements. What are they going to do when a few people moan about it taking a hour to leave the stadium, we'll tear it down and start again!

Talks are on going about additional train services. (subsidised travel for those who need it)
There will be additional parking spaces made available in due course.
There will also be additional park and ride sites (subsidised for all who use it)
There are also a number of supporters groups/pubs and coach companies providing services from all over Sussex
There are also a number of local bus services
Some fans will be able to walk or cycle to the game.
Works have been undertaken to improve the access and capacity at Falmer Station
Information boards will be provided inside the stadium for those who aren't in a rush to leave
Improvements have been made to the local road infrastructure to cope with increased demand.

Yes I think they have thought about this. I can't think of any other club that has put as much thought in how to get people to and from the stadium (and make a contribution to the cost!) when really people should be smart enough to figure this crap out for themselves.

It will be busier than withdean, whichever mode of transport you use there will almost certainly be some delays involved just have a little patience, see what works for you and adapt accordingly.

 

[The Large One]

One question was settled for me which shows that I was misinformed at the presentation. The travel vouchers worth £1 WILL be valid for 'free' travel within the existing area. They would appear to be a £3 discount for coaches that are operating outside the travel zone. That's where the misunderstanding arose before so thanks for clarifying.

Both of them looked a little incredulous and exasperated that I asked that; facial expressions along the lines of 'what ARE you on about?'

Seems it's a flat quid in the same travel zone as currently operating - and that quid is for to AND from the match - for trains and buses.

 

[clippedgull]

Just for reference the online streaming version at Radio Reverb abruptly cuts off around the 50 minute plus mark!

It seems that us in the 1901 club are going to be polled by the club over the 'home shirts' issue.

 

[Superphil]

Just listened, a good show, and some good information given. There really can't be many clubs where the directors provide so much information to the fans, and I don't think I heard a negative point at all (they probably spin a few things but not overly so IMO). They answered all the questions they could, naturally they have to keep some of it to themselves, but what they did tell us settles a lot of concerns that have been raised on here. Still interested to see how the train issue will pan out, but whilst they sounded a little anxious over that point, it seems clear that they have got it in hand.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Talk about the voice of doom. Do you really think the club have jotted their plans on the back of a fag packet and hoped that the planning authorities haven't noticed.

Seems a reasonable description of some of the travel assumptions in the original planning application upon which consents were granted by the gov't and B&HCC. There's bit on future train capacity (Connex) that's particularly hilarious.

The stadium is being built and will open on time, do you seriously think we'd have got this far without any consideration being given to the travel arrangements.

If you live in Brighton & Hove then you might ask your local councillor for information on this. The council requested the club's proposed transport management plan to be submitted in plenty of time to enable it to be considered and approved (a planning condition) well before the stadium ramp up events. There's no sign of it yet; have a look on the council's website under PA No.2008/02732.
Does carrying out a survey of fans' travel intentions, presumably on which the transport plan will be largely based, starting in January 2011 not strike you as just a bit late in the day? And why is "travel by car" omitted from the survey?

What are they going to do when a few people moan about it taking a hour to leave the stadium, we'll tear it down and start again!

Talks are on going about additional train services. (subsidised travel for those who need it).

Extra carriages on one train per hour, that's already full, and will now stop at Falmer

There will be additional parking spaces made available in due course.

The number of parking spaces is limited by the planning consent (2,350 max I think), what's going on at the moment is that the club is trying to get planning permission from Lewes DC to us a field adjacent to the stadium on a temporary basis. This is because parking at Falmer High School/Academy is no longer available (and might never be), something that what first mentioned on here last summer.

There will also be additional park and ride sites (subsidised for all who use it).

Really? So the club's going to submit it's TMP nearly four years after Hazel Blears granted the initial consent and say that additional P&R cpacity will be provided in due course. There is a capacity problem now at Mill Road and it eeds to be sorted, if fans do not see the coach/public transport arrangements as a viable option then they'll park on the street if Mill Road is full .

There are also a number of supporters groups/pubs and coach companies providing services from all over Sussex.

Good.

There are also a number of local bus services. Some fans will be able to walk or cycle to the game.

Both would be very useful options if I lived in Brighton & Hove but I don't

Works have been undertaken to improve the access and capacity at Falmer Station.

This was a condition of the planning consent

Information boards will be provided inside the stadium for those who aren't in a rush to leave
Improvements have been made to the local road infrastructure to cope with increased demand.

The latter was a condition of the planning consent to facilitate access to the 2,200 car parking spaces at Sussex University and Falmer High School/Academy whistle

Yes I think they have thought about this. I can't think of any other club that has put as much thought in how to get people to and from the stadium (and make a contribution to the cost!) when really people should be smart enough to figure this crap out for themselves.

Oh please, there's nothing philanthropic in the club's motives, they had to do this because it's the only way they'd get approval to build the Amex at Falmer. We have figured it out; it's Mill Road P&R or on-street parking in Withdean when the P&R's full.

 

[Superphil]

Is Mithras House still used for P&R? Does that get full up? Perhaps the way forward is to designate which P&R should be used by whom, rather then everyone piling into Mill Road, leaving Mithras underused, plus of course the new P&R as well.

 

[rool]

It's rather good of them to make Falmer a stop on the Ashford train just for me

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Is Mithras House still used for P&R? Does that get full up? Perhaps the way forward is to designate which P&R should be used by whom, rather then everyone piling into Mill Road, leaving Mithras underused, plus of course the new P&R as well.

I might use Mithras instead of Mill Road for the Scummers game, just to see. I don't see using the Race Hill P&R next season as being very convenient or sensible if you're driving in from the North or West.

 

[Uter]

Extra carriages on one train per hour, that's already full, and will now stop at Falmer

I think you are being very dismissive of one measure that has the potential to transport approaching 2000 fans (around 9% of a capacity crowd) away from the ground. Maybe its busy already, but I doubt it's full to capacity.

And how do you know other trains won't be lengthened either? Only one of the services that passes through Falmer every hour originates/terminates at Lewes (which I understand cannot be lengthened beyond 3 or 4 cars). Two come from Seaford I think. I can't see why these couldn't be lengthened too. 5-6pm on a Saturday isn't peak time so I'd be surprised if rolling stock isn't available.


You seem very determined to view the fact the final transport plans have not been made public negatively and I'm sure nothing I can say will change your mind given that I am no more in the know than most people here, but don't you think maybe you might be being a tad over-pessimistic?

 

[Hotchilidog]

You seem very determined to view the fact the final transport plans have not been made public negatively and I'm sure nothing I can say will change your mind given that I am no more in the know than most people here, but don't you think maybe you might be being a tad over-pessimistic?

This!

 

[Bozza]

I've got absolutely no knowledge of that side of Brighton at all - how much on street parking in the streets around the Hikers Rest pub (just grabbed that from Google maps) and how far would the walk to the Amex be from there?

Just looking at the map, it strikes me that a lot of people would be aiming to do something like this.

 

[Easy 10]

I've got absolutely no knowledge of that side of Brighton at all - how much on street parking in the streets around the Hikers Rest pub (just grabbed that from Google maps) and how far would the walk to the Amex be from there?

Just looking at the map, it strikes me that a lot of people would be aiming to do something like this.

Evening games this could be my preferred option, parking somewhere in Coldean.

A walk from around the Hikers Rest would probably take around 15 minutes I reckons.

 

[Superphil]

1.5 miles from the Hikers Rest/Coldean Lane, according to google maps

 

[Bozza]

Evening games this could be my preferred option, parking somewhere in Coldean.

A walk from around the Hikers Rest would probably take around 15 minutes I reckons.

Depending on number of entrances/exits from that neighbourhood - they could become a gridlocked nightmare if people, with the same (lack of) knowledge as me, pick that area as seemingly offering the closest residential roads to the Stadium.