Transport an' tings, am I correct in thinking it's turning out very well?

[Herr Tubthumper]

[TEMPLATE][/TEMPLATE]

One failure is undoubtedly the Travel Voucher scheme. No-one seems to be moaning about it, because no-one is being penalised for not buying a voucher. But it's certainly not working as it was intended to work.

Enforcing the scheme isn't the answer, either - because the reason it's not working is that it's impossible to enforce. It is a fundamentally bad idea to expect some people to pay for a whole year's worth of travel in one go and then let other people travel for nothing, because the transport staff don't have the resources (time or incentive) to intervene and stop free travel happening. It is impossible to check every passenger's ticket on a train journey that takes as little as 6 - 9 minutes when there are 400+ people travelling.

Good point. And rather sheepishly I retract some statements I made on here a few weeks back when I claimed Falmer was not too dissimilar to Preston Park and all that was needed were some bods to collect vouchers. Having travelled from Hove to Falmer the sheer number of passengers and the desire to get the train loaded/unloaded in a reasonable time and fashion renders it impossible to check or collect vouchers and either Brighton or Falmer.

The club will have to rethink this. I'm sure they pay a fixed fee regardless of who or how many travel. Stick with "free" travel and somehow recoup the money via a different means I guess.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I went from Falmer to Brighton last night and then wanted to change to go back to Preston Park. I had to go out the barriers and back in again and yes, they did check I had a travel voucher. Though that is the first time I have ever been checked.

Would be interested to know what it is exactly that they do to make you go out the barriers and back in again, as opposed to just hopping across a couple of platforms. Presumably barriers of some sort?

 

[The Oldman]

One failure is undoubtedly the Travel Voucher scheme. No-one seems to be moaning about it, because no-one is being penalised for not buying a voucher. But it's certainly not working as it was intended to work.

Enforcing the scheme isn't the answer, either - because the reason it's not working is that it's impossible to enforce. It is a fundamentally bad idea to expect some people to pay for a whole year's worth of travel in one go and then let other people travel for nothing, because the transport staff don't have the resources (time or incentive) to intervene and stop free travel happening. It is impossible to check every passenger's ticket on a train journey that takes as little as 6 - 9 minutes when there are 400+ people travelling.

And it really makes no sense to allow people with senior citizens' bus passes to travel free on Park & Ride buses and football specials, apart from removing a group of passengers from an enforcement regime that isn't working anyway. Their travel isn't being paid for by anyone, apart from - presumably - the Club, who I guess are paying the transport operators a fixed sum, irrespective of who is travelling and what sort of ticket they have.

Ed. My experience at Mithras House is that they have tightened up things. You have to have a travel voucher or Concessionary pass to get on the bus.
Although a holder of a concessionary pass I agree with you that this tax payer funded scheme seems not right for a football P & R. I purchased travel vouchers anyway and use them. It would be fascinating to know how the club is reimbursing the travel organisations but given they are now all PLC's I will not lose too much sleep if they are losing income. As with other matters I suspect the club is on a learning curve and the travel scheme may see changes next season.

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

Work in progress-come mid season things should be working well enough for the club to feel confident about applying for an increase in capacity.

Still big tests to come though-

Leaves on the line-the wrong type of snow-god forbid a rail strike!!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Would be interested to know what it is exactly that they do to make you go out the barriers and back in again, as opposed to just hopping across a couple of platforms. Presumably barriers of some sort?

The far platforms used for Falmer are sectioned off with crash barriers. You exit through a gate away from the ticket barriers. To get to the other platforms you then need to go through the ticket barriers.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Bus driver on the 25 after Sunderland was refusing people with out vouchers got swore at a couple of times but stood his ground fair play to him

The driver is right , people can't travel for nothing , no travel voucher or smartcard or concessionary pass or saver ticket = paying a fare.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Ed. My experience at Mithras House is that they have tightened up things. You have to have a travel voucher or Concessionary pass to get on the bus.
Although a holder of a concessionary pass I agree with you that this tax payer funded scheme seems not right for a football P & R. I purchased travel vouchers anyway and use them. It would be fascinating to know how the club is reimbursing the travel organisations but given they are now all PLC's I will not lose too much sleep if they are losing income. As with other matters I suspect the club is on a learning curve and the travel scheme may see changes next season.

I can say with absolute CERTAINTY that the tax payer isn't paying anything when concessionary bus passes are being used for free travel on P&R buses or football special buses. Every month, on behalf of the company I work for, I provide information to B&H City Council to claim reimbursement for concessionary travel that we provide on the local bus services that we run. B&H Buses, Stagecoach, Compass Travel and any other bus company that runs in the city use the same procedures. The system that is used simply doesn't have a mechanism in place for that reimbursement to be claimed in connection with P&R buses or football specials.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Are the bus operators being reimbursed by the club for the number of concessionary passes used on P&R and shuttle buses ?

 

[Art Vs Science]

Ha ha. I think it might be the can of Red Stripe I had last night ;-) I'm easily led

A WHOLE can?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Are the bus operators being reimbursed by the club for the number of concessionary passes used on P&R and shuttle buses ?

I doubt it - since the use of a concessionary pass isn't being recorded. They are presumably being reimbursed by the Club just for providing the service and the Club has decided - late in the day - that bus pass holders needn't bother buying a Travel Voucher.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The far platforms used for Falmer are sectioned off with crash barriers. You exit through a gate away from the ticket barriers. To get to the other platforms you then need to go through the ticket barriers.

Ah, right. Cheers. Thought it must be something like that.

 

[Braders]

well the trip to the ground is as good as it has always been

the trips away from the ground via bus is getting slightly slower (think we were lucky first few times) , but with so many fans it was always going to take time.

still interested to see what the club have up there sleeves to shift the other 8,000 fans next season - but it's about patience at the moment

 

[Uwinsc]

Ed. My experience at Mithras House is that they have tightened up things. You have to have a travel voucher or Concessionary pass to get on the bus.
Although a holder of a concessionary pass I agree with you that this tax payer funded scheme seems not right for a football P & R. I purchased travel vouchers anyway and use them. It would be fascinating to know how the club is reimbursing the travel organisations but given they are now all PLC's I will not lose too much sleep if they are losing income. As with other matters I suspect the club is on a learning curve and the travel scheme may see changes next season.

This is good, they always managed to check them going to the ground at withdean although admitedly not on the way back but I guess there wouldn't be much point for most people to just get on the bus on the way back as their car would not be there.
For the trains it is more difficult but I guess a possible solution is to have the stewards going up the lines as people are queing checking them then?

 

[Mackenzie]

This is good, they always managed to check them going to the ground at withdean although admitedly not on the way back but I guess there wouldn't be much point for most people to just get on the bus on the way back as their car would not be there.
For the trains it is more difficult but I guess a possible solution is to have the stewards going up the lines as people are queing checking them then?

Is that your sister on the Liverpool forum?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

For the trains it is more difficult but I guess a possible solution is to have the stewards going up the lines as people are queing checking them then?

And, if you haven't got one, will they let you on to the platform to .. ahem .. "get to the ticket machine"?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

For the trains it is more difficult but I guess a possible solution is to have the stewards going up the lines as people are queing checking them then?

Brighton station was rammed at 2pm on Saturday. The queue threatened to overwhelm the concourse and they had to move it down the back of WH Smiths and out into the taxi area. The sheer numbers make any form of ticket collection unworkable in my opinion.


The rail staff did a good job in loading the trains by the way.


Hertha Berlin match day tickets also double up as a free city wide multiple-transport mode travel card valid until 1am the next day....which basically means they just move fans on and off trains efficiently without the need to check. This works very well and everyone seems to like it. Maybe we follow their model?

 

[Stuart Munday]

Ive had no problems using the train and yesterday was the easiest so far, the only thing was at Brighton station a couple in front of me waved their Season Ticket to get through without any problems so it does question the need for having a travel voucher. Having said that last week we went via Lewes and the inspector on the train checked our travel vouchers and that they were for the correct game, havnt seen any inspectors on the London, Brighton line so far maybe because the trains have always been full with tourists etc.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The driver is right , people can't travel for nothing , no travel voucher or smartcard or concessionary pass or saver ticket = paying a fare.

For sure, but the guy you quoted was suggesting it was the voucher or nothing.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

For sure, but the guy you quoted was suggesting it was the voucher or nothing.

I read greenjam's post as people trying to get on the bus without paying if they didn't have a travel voucher (or valid alternative) as he ends the post with "but stood his ground , fair play to him"

 

[Hunting 784561]

Isn't the long term plan to use your smart card on trains and buses?

Nice idea for the home fans, but how will that work for away fans arriving in town with just a paper ticket ?