Travel to the Stadium - Council Committee Report

[Lord Bracknell]

What I find slightly curious is the Club's assumption that MOST 1901 Club members will actually take up the promotional offer of priority for a parking space very near the stadium. The Council committee report says that they expect 750 spaces to be used by 1901 Club members @ 2.5 people per car. That's 1,875 folk comfortably accommodated, just a short walk away from hospitality facilities that will be AWASH with alcohol.

Surely there must be more than just a few 1901ers who will be leaving the car at home because they want to get PISSED?

 

[Notters]

What I find slightly curious is the Club's assumption that MOST 1901 Club members will actually take up the promotional offer of priority for a parking space very near the stadium. The Council committee report says that they expect 750 spaces to be used by 1901 Club members @ 2.5 people per car. That's 1,875 folk comfortably accommodated, just a short walk away from hospitality facilities that will be AWASH with alcohol.

Surely there must be more than just a few 1901ers who will be leaving the car at home because they want to get PISSED?

If they are actually private spaces then they'll probably be empty half the time, won't they?

 

[fosters headband]

I live in Woodingdean and wished they could put a proper pedestrian pathway in Falmer Road from Bexhill Road through to the stadium.
I would then walk it.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Am I going completely mad here or is nobody considering the possibility of walking, whether from where they live, or by parking in (say) Moulsecoomb or Coldean? It's not THAT far. If it takes you ten or fifteen minutes to walk there, so what?

I can think of plenty of football grounds where I've had to park bloody miles away over the years. Even in the Goldstone days, on really busy nights we'd end up parked way up Shirley Drive. People used to walk from all over the city. Has anything changed?

*I accept that's no good for the disabled or infirm, but I am thinking of the masses here.

 

[attila]

I cycled to the stadium today and the cycle path is nearly finished......

 

[Bozza]

Am I going completely mad here or is nobody considering the possibility of walking, whether from where they live, or by parking in (say) Moulsecoomb or Coldean? It's not THAT far. If it takes you ten or fifteen minutes to walk there, so what?

I can think of plenty of football grounds where I've had to park bloody miles away over the years. Even in the Goldstone days, on really busy nights we'd end up parked way up Shirley Drive. People used to walk from all over the city. Has anything changed?

*I accept that's no good for the disabled or infirm, but I am thinking of the masses here.

The belief is there may be very strict parking restrictions in both Coldean and Moulescoomb.

 

[Garage_Doors]

I live in Woodingdean and wished they could put a proper pedestrian pathway in Falmer Road from Bexhill Road through to the stadium.
I would then walk it.

I will be walking from Woodingdean, there is a path down the side of the fields.
They cant put one in as its now designated as national park.

 

[Norman Potting]

Am I going completely mad here or is nobody considering the possibility of walking, whether from where they live, or by parking in (say) Moulsecoomb or Coldean? It's not THAT far. If it takes you ten or fifteen minutes to walk there, so what?

I can think of plenty of football grounds where I've had to park bloody miles away over the years. Even in the Goldstone days, on really busy nights we'd end up parked way up Shirley Drive. People used to walk from all over the city. Has anything changed?

Blimey that was a long way off. We used to gauge the likely size of crowd by how close we could park. Usually got into Neville Avenue and if very busy sometimes had to turn down Holmes Avenue by the Church. Latterly toward the end I used to park in a cul de sac over the back of Hove Park (Chartfield, thank you Google Earth) and stroll through the park.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I will be walking from Woodingdean, there is a path down the side of the fields.
They cant put one in as its now designated as national park.

That's not the reason at all. There are plenty of examples of improved pedestrian and cycling facilities being provided in National Parks. The main reason is that the two highway authorities responsible for the route between Woodingdean and Falmer (Brighton & Hove City Council and East Sussex County Council) have higher priorities for spending than this. As does the Football Club.

 

[Rich Suvner]

totally agree that there needs to be dedicated bus services shuttling people directly to nearby train stations (lewes, brighton, preston park). although on a much smaller scale, i thought the arrangements at colchester were very good in this regard.

with lots of south east/london teams in our league season, the trains need to be beefed up in these arrangments. also, despite falmer station platform being short, what's the problem in running a longer train (with people having to move through the carriages on/off)?

longer term (and i know somebody previously explained why this was not currently possible) but there is an urgent need to think of a way of running a Brighton - Falmer - Brighton shuttle service, as currently happens between Brighton and Hove (very effectively linking centre with coastline services).

 

[Lord Bracknell]

totally agree that there needs to be dedicated bus services shuttling people directly to nearby train stations (lewes, brighton, preston park). although on a much smaller scale, i thought the arrangements at colchester were very good in this regard.

with lots of south east/london teams in our league season, the trains need to be beefed up in these arrangments. also, despite falmer station platform being short, what's the problem in running a longer train (with people having to move through the carriages on/off)?

Some trains will be lengthened. But expecting large numbers of passengers to exit from trains by walking through several crowded carriages to get to a door will always cause delays to trains. There is also a limit to the capacity of both Brighton Station and Lewes Station to cope with high frequency long trains - and all trains that serve Falmer have to serve Brighton and Lewes.

 

[bobby smith]

Oh Dear this doesnt all sound to good 2 me :-(

 

[Rich Suvner]

expecting large numbers of passengers to exit from trains by walking through several crowded carriages to get to a door will always cause delays to trains.

agreed it doesn't sound ideal

and whilst i hope things pan out, i simply can't see how the stadium expansion will be viable (both in terms of capacity and convenience) without sorting out significantly higher capacity between Brighton and Falmer stations.

 

[Grassman]

The belief is there may be very strict parking restrictions in both Coldean and Moulescoomb.

No one's mentioned this before have they?

This has always been one of my favoured options, parking in Coldean or Moulescoomb and walking the 15/25mins it will take you to get to the ground. Surely they'll be room for hundreds to park in these areas?

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Unless you manage to build an extra platform at Falmer where trains can start / terminate in either direction like at Hove or Preston Park the railway line won't be used to maximum capacity, there's nowhere for trains to ' lay by ' whle they wait for the stadium to empty and passengers to board, and allow through services to proceed uninterrupted and I can see early trains that will be virtually empty whilst trains close to kick-off / full time are rammed. Without a 3rd platform there's no way train departures can be flexible to match demand. Relying on people to start out from home early requires a change in peoples behaviour that just isn't likely to happen - they're bound to find something 'en-route' to distract them.

Ideally you would lay a 3rd track between Brighton and Falmer and dedicate this for match day purposes only but the civil engineering involved won't come cheap.

The current railway set up is a bit like trying to squeeze that extra capacity on a motorway , not by building a 4th carriageway and widening it, but by asking drivers to travel in the middle of the night when it's empty. Well unfortunately a lot of people won't do this ( which is why motorways are unsurprisingly empty at night ).

Could this be the opportunity for Brighton's first undergound ?

 

[adrian29uk]

What I am hearing here is giving me more reason to think, should I cycle to the stadium again. Drive to Lewes and then cycle from there. Anyone here cycling from Lewes on matchdays?