[Travel] Train disruption Tonight (Cup versus Liverpool)

Milano · Oct 31, 2024

el punal said:
I don’t how much the club pay the train and bus companies for subsidising the fans travel costs but I decided to do a rough, very rough!, calculation on how much train travel would cost to/from Brighton to Falmer. Here goes :

Adult Return Fare - £4.30

Anticipated number of fans using trains - 20,000

Revenue based on the above per match - £86,000

Annual Revenue (for 19 fixtures) - £1,634,000

Food for thought and all that. Can we set up a GoFund Me page for a monorail?

The club should just stop paying Govia. Pass the problem on to them. Let's see ticket checks for 20k people at Falmer, Brighton & Lewes, let them handle that shit show.

Last night should see the club, the FA, the police, MPs and council at least start talking. The railways are the problem. End of. I agree with Jack A though that this is a country wide issue. That doesn't and shouldn't stop some focus on Govia.

Hastings gull · Oct 31, 2024

Zeberdi said:
I agree.

Last week as mentioned above when travelling to Brighton from Cambridge, the first cancellation was with 2 hours notice because of a shortage of crew. Another train was cancelled because of a body on the line causing wide spread back up then the next trains finally all cancelled that afternoon because of a fire by the tracks at a station en route.

Shlt happens but this route ran hourly trains - are they telling us they couldn’t pull a driver off later train to do an earlier shift so the original train I had booked at midday could still run?

After the fire event, we waited 2 hours on the platform for information there was still no replacement buses and there never were.

Train fare hike has been announced recently - 4.6% and railcards by £5 ( that’s a 25% increase in a disabled railcard)

I wonder if the train companies will have the same problem as water companies being fined then claiming they don’t have enough profits to maintain the industry?

My entire journey was refunded last week including taxi fares I forked out because of the diversion to another station. How many millions of pounds are the rail companies losing each year from compensation paid out for delays and cancellations?

Thanks for the agreement! And just to add -I am trying to get the train from Crowhurst to Battle and the next 3 are all delayed - I was reluctant to put a figure on how many delays there are that I spot by Crowhurst Station, but it really is NO exaggeration to say that of those I see, 50% are either delayed or cancelled, every day. We can talk all day about rolling stock, government weaknesses etc etc but it is just so easy to put up a cancellation or train delayed notice and be happy with that.

beorhthelm · Oct 31, 2024

Milano said:
The club should just stop paying Govia. Pass the problem on to them. Let's see ticket checks for 20k people at Falmer, Brighton & Lewes, let them handle that shit show.

Last night should see the club, the FA, the police, MPs and council at least start talking. The railways are the problem. End of. I agree with Jack A though that this is a country wide issue. That doesn't and shouldn't stop some focus on Govia.

doesnt really move the problem to the rail company, it moves the problem to the fans who'll have to endure massive long queues to buy their ticket, then check their ticket, then checked again on the return. the fall back position if crowds are too much for safety is to cancel stops at Falmer, as happens with other extremely busy events.

Richy_Seagull · Oct 31, 2024

Been commuting from various parts of London since stadium opened, but on the verge of packing in evening games now.

Just getting back to Clapham is an absolute mission in itself. Missed the 21:19 train last night, (was right at the front when they stopped people’s getting through) and there was a f***ing half hour wait for the next Brighton train. Absolute joke. With work and a family it’s just not worth the monumental faff that inevitably rolls around every time there is a late kick off.

Paulie Gualtieri · Oct 31, 2024

Bozza said:
Not only where do people get more time from - as you suggest 7:30 kick-offs are a push for many, but what the hell does "please seek alternative travel arrangements" mean?

Just what are the alternatives if the trains are known to be f***ed and car parks are sold out?

There’s always this I suppose

https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/court-results/driver-sentenced-for-a27-passenger-drop-off-on-the-a27/

JJ McClure · Oct 31, 2024

jackalbion said:
The 7:30 KO doesn't help, it squeezes the number of trains available to get to the stadium on time. Palace have it mandated that their games kick off at 8, why can't we have the same?

All that does is mean there are less trains to get people home at the end of the game and makes it worse post match, which is bad enough already.

jackalbion · Oct 31, 2024

Milano said:
The club should just stop paying Govia. Pass the problem on to them. Let's see ticket checks for 20k people at Falmer, Brighton & Lewes, let them handle that shit show.

Last night should see the club, the FA, the police, MPs and council at least start talking. The railways are the problem. End of. I agree with Jack A though that this is a country wide issue. That doesn't and shouldn't stop some focus on Govia.

I think it's in the interest of all to keep the levy, I don't think Saturdays and Sundays are bad at all (shoot me!) but the midweeks are crazy. I stayed for almost an hour to have a pint yesterday and there was still a queue, there was a points failure at Brighton which didn't help, and a lack of train crew because of the Ore blockade (which is why the Lewes shuttles didn't run).

Lyndhurst 14 · Oct 31, 2024

Having a few pints after the game and missing the worst of the crush is fine if you can do that but it's not solving the problem and a lot of folk cannot do that due to family and work commitments

Gazwag · Oct 31, 2024

studio150 said:
23 home games in Championship
19 home games in Premier League + in new European format 4 home games in league format = 23 home games.

Obviously more when we play in the knockout rounds.

Sorry I mean midweek games, look at the championship fixtures this season there are 9 midweek fixtures plus Boxing Day and New Year's Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday games, all of which would be a mess on the trains, plus early rounds of CCup and 3rd round onwards of FACup. We have only had 1 year in Europe out of the 7 premier league seasons so have had far less midweek games since promotion.

Gazwag · Oct 31, 2024

jackalbion said:
I think it's in the interest of all to keep the levy, I don't think Saturdays and Sundays are bad at all (shoot me!) but the midweeks are crazy. I stayed for almost an hour to have a pint yesterday and there was still a queue, there was a points failure at Brighton which didn't help, and a lack of train crew because of the Ore blockade (which is why the Lewes shuttles didn't run).

The Lewes shuttle ran before the game ( well the 1830 was sitting at Lewes so there was one)

Gazwag · Oct 31, 2024

Hometownglory said:
Over the years, I've heard countless away fans saying 'I'm glad I don't have to do this every week'. Is it really that bad compared to other grounds...? Or are us BHA fans far to accepting of PBOBEs line of 'nothing we can do, stay behind for a drink' answer. Who knows.

Its all bollocks TBF, there are many grounds in the country which are far far worse that the Amex and plenty are a good 30 minutes walk from a station to start with. Grounds like Spurs, Brentford, West Ham, Arsenal, Chelsea who are very close to a station are rammed if you chose the closest one so most sensible fans walk to the next closest which is a good walk away. We have no other choice at the Amex as walking to Lewes or Brighton is a long way, although probably similar to Preston from memory.

Hastings gull · Oct 31, 2024

Gazwag said:
Its all bollocks TBF, there are many grounds in the country which are far far worse that the Amex and plenty are a good 30 minutes walk from a station to start with. Grounds like Spurs, Brentford, West Ham, Arsenal, Chelsea who are very close to a station are rammed if you chose the closest one so most sensible fans walk to the next closest which is a good walk away. We have no other choice at the Amex as walking to Lewes or Brighton is a long way, although probably similar to Preston from memory.

I see what you are saying with regard to distance and I am sure that you are right, but the issue here surely is the lack of trains causing the delays. Most fans know the score, accept that moving thousands of fans straight way is difficult, and are prepared to wait, but when even a basic service is denied them, then they have every reason to be angry.

Hotchilidog · Oct 31, 2024

Hastings gull said:
I see what you are saying with regard to distance and I am sure that you are right, but the issue here surely is the lack of trains causing the delays. Most fans know the score, accept that moving thousands of fans straight way is difficult, and are prepared to wait, but when even a basic service is denied them, then they have every reason to be angry.

It's pretty much this. The lack of trains/carriages is problematic for midweek games. I have no problem with weekend games, in fact this season I think the weekend service has been pretty good. Midweek games I head out early and then head to Dicks after until closing time to leave the trains to those with more of an urgent need than I.

rippleman · Oct 31, 2024

Is it time for radical thinking and to abandon the "travel tax"?

The club pays the train companies and, presumably as a result of the lack of a Service Level Agreement between club and train companies, there is no penalty for the train companies providing a totally shit service. Ergo no incentive whatsoever for train companies to improve.

If those who travel by train buy their own tickets compensation can be claimed for "delays to your journey". Having to pay out thousands in compo may focus the train companies on improving the service. Even if the services don't improve, at least with the refund policy we won't be paying (following refunds) for the horrendous service.

The club's dismissive attitude of the travel issues is very disappointing. This is EXACTLY the issue that the FAB should be focussing on and (as I've read on these forums) Barber gets upset when the club is criticised over travel all I can say is "aww diddums". Sort it out!

Gazwag · Oct 31, 2024

Hastings gull said:
I see what you are saying with regard to distance and I am sure that you are right, but the issue here surely is the lack of trains causing the delays. Most fans know the score, accept that moving thousands of fans straight way is difficult, and are prepared to wait, but when even a basic service is denied them, then they have every reason to be angry.

Its the lack of carriages, last night was all 3/4 cars when we need 8 cars, you can only fit so many trains on the line between Brighton and Lewes and generally they are pretty frequent and also times when the Lewes shuttle doesn't run. I fed up of moaning about the stupid fans who have to wait for the train they want going Eastwards rather than get on the first train and change at Lewes so clogging up the platform.

Madafwo · Oct 31, 2024

Milano said:
The club should just stop paying Govia. Pass the problem on to them. Let's see ticket checks for 20k people at Falmer, Brighton & Lewes, let them handle that shit show.

Last night should see the club, the FA, the police, MPs and council at least start talking. The railways are the problem. End of. I agree with Jack A though that this is a country wide issue. That doesn't and shouldn't stop some focus on Govia.

They'd more than likely just stop serving Falmer on match days.

Seat Stealer · Oct 31, 2024

Left at full-time. Went up to the carpark area to catch a 25. Waited 30 mins and no buses arrived. Went back down towards the station, which was rammed. Decided to go down to the Lewes Road bus stopping heading to Brighton. Finally got on a 23 towards the Marina at 22.42hrs. Got home in Kemp Town at 23.12hrs. (Nearly 2 hours after leaving the Amex.) Shambles. Together with the wait at Brighton Station trying to get to the ground the whole trip was 5hrs to watch 90mins of football.

Beanstalk · Oct 31, 2024

beorhthelm said:
doesnt really move the problem to the rail company, it moves the problem to the fans who'll have to endure massive long queues to buy their ticket, then check their ticket, then checked again on the return. the fall back position if crowds are too much for safety is to cancel stops at Falmer, as happens with other extremely busy events.

This really. And lets be serious, it's not as if the station staff/train companies will happily just open up the gates and let 20,000 people through on the presumption that they've all bought a ticket. Anyone who has experienced trying to get out of Euston after coming back from the north knows that there is little care for getting people through the turnstiles.

You'd have to turn up to Brighton station at least two hours before kick off to get to the ground in time as they check every single person and send those without a ticket back to the minimal machines in the concourse. A really unmanageable possibility.

Uh_huh_him · Oct 31, 2024

Glad I walked it.

Beanstalk · Oct 31, 2024

Madafwo said:
They'd more than likely just stop serving Falmer on match days.

Could they do this in reality? 16.5% is the historic figure (12 years ago) of capacity using car parking facilities at the ground. With the closure of Bennett's Field as a club used parking lot and the additional 8k fans, that percentage is likely considerably lower now.

Lets say 90% take public transport to and from the ground. You're probably looking at 15k on the trains at a minimum travelling to Falmer. It's not like there are any nearby stations either.

If you can't service the ground with public transport, I'm not sure that you'd have a viable safety certificate. If the police couldn't guarantee safe journey for 15k fans+, there'd probably more likely be no football at the AMEX.

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