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[Albion] ST= Travel



A

ady1973

Active member
Jul 27, 2008
364
New Milton
After attending the last couple of home games (actually probably from a lot earlier). and leaving home 4hours before kick off, and still arriving either just as the players are coming out or arriving 5mins into the game. Due to the trains or when driving the general congestion around Worthing / Brighton areas. I am now thinking is all this really worth it and giving up my season ticket after 30 odd years. merely because of getting to and fro form the Amex is just too painful.
This is the first season where it has been a real pain, other seasons have been fine, so not sure why this season is particular different.

Anyone else in the same boat or is it just me ??
 






Uh_huh_him

Uh_huh_him

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2011
12,397
I travel down via train from South London.
I haven't noticed it being particularly bad lately.
But I tend to walk up from Brighton station and allow plenty of time for that
 


Albion my Albion

Albion my Albion

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 6, 2016
19,930
Indiana, USA
ady1973 said:
After attending the last couple of home games (actually probably from a lot earlier). and leaving home 4hours before kick off, and still arriving either just as the players are coming out or arriving 5mins into the game. Due to the trains or when driving the general congestion around Worthing / Brighton areas. I am now thinking is all this really worth it and giving up my season ticket after 30 odd years. merely because of getting to and fro form the Amex is just too painful.
This is the first season where it has been a real pain, other seasons have been fine, so not sure why this season is particular different.

Anyone else in the same boat or is it just me ??
Click to expand...

1734437913620.png
 


Birdie Boy

Birdie Boy

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2011
4,448
ady1973 said:
After attending the last couple of home games (actually probably from a lot earlier). and leaving home 4hours before kick off, and still arriving either just as the players are coming out or arriving 5mins into the game. Due to the trains or when driving the general congestion around Worthing / Brighton areas. I am now thinking is all this really worth it and giving up my season ticket after 30 odd years. merely because of getting to and fro form the Amex is just too painful.
This is the first season where it has been a real pain, other seasons have been fine, so not sure why this season is particular different.

Anyone else in the same boat or is it just me ??
Click to expand...
Where are you coming from to take 4 hours?
 




mile oak

mile oak

Well-known member
May 21, 2023
978
Birdie Boy said:
Where are you coming from to take 4 hours?
Click to expand...
Its taken me 4 hours in past from Mile Oak and quicker from LA and Kensington! Sometimes its luck of the draw, just with the sh1t show of trains you rarely win the lottery. The OP makes a very important point its not just the 90 mins of the match but the whole experience I dont think the risk assessment etc of building the stadium at Falmer can of considered this but what does that matter there will always be someone else to fill your ST seat, unless of course the club are ever relegated but PL its always a sell out or so close to capacity its not a problem for the club.
 








Birdie Boy

Birdie Boy

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2011
4,448
Something changed though... I used to go by car leave at final whistle on a 3pm kick off and be in Southwick for 530. Not sure what changed to cause the delays now.
 




W

Wes Tupper

Active member
Feb 27, 2024
133
I have a 165 mile journey each way by train. I’m now finding matchday travel extremely stressful. Flexible train tickets are too expensive, so I’m compelled to buy advanced tickets on specified trains. I constantly suffer from last minute cancellations that require rebooking at higher prices, delayed trains resulting in missed connections and the need to purchase fresh tickets, etc. Midweek home games now require an overnight stop.
I gave up driving to games a few years ago due to constant delays and to parking costs.
The main reason for keeping my season ticket is to ensure I get tickets for away games.
Last Sunday I spent the whole day on tenterhooks, wondering firstly whether I’d actually make kick-off (I didn’t) and secondly whether I’d get home that night (I did by 9.00pm).
The fun of attending home games has virtually gone for me, apart from those few games where the result and performance outweigh all the negatives.
I’ve no issues regarding our superb stadium or the matchday travel scheme, but the national train network is an absolute shambles.
 




Happy Exile

Happy Exile

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Apr 19, 2018
2,178
Granted not everyone will have the mobility or opportunity but I walk in and back from Lewes and think if you have the time and fitness it's so worth it to avoid the transport issues. Along the dual carriageway it takes 1h30 max, over the hills (much more pleasant) adds an hour. I've wondered in the past about seeing if anyone wants to do it as a group occasionally when the weather picks up. Might make travelling to the ground a more enjoyable experience for some perhaps. The location of the stadium feels like a privilege to experience when you leave a game with a thumping atmosphere (Man City at home for example) and within 20 minutes you're on your own in a silent valley surrounded by hills.
 


P

portlock seagull

Well-known member
Jul 28, 2003
17,931
ady1973 said:
After attending the last couple of home games (actually probably from a lot earlier). and leaving home 4hours before kick off, and still arriving either just as the players are coming out or arriving 5mins into the game. Due to the trains or when driving the general congestion around Worthing / Brighton areas. I am now thinking is all this really worth it and giving up my season ticket after 30 odd years. merely because of getting to and fro form the Amex is just too painful.
This is the first season where it has been a real pain, other seasons have been fine, so not sure why this season is particular different.

Anyone else in the same boat or is it just me ??
Click to expand...

Wes Tupper said:
I have a 165 mile journey each way by train. I’m now finding matchday travel extremely stressful. Flexible train tickets are too expensive, so I’m compelled to buy advanced tickets on specified trains. I constantly suffer from last minute cancellations that require rebooking at higher prices, delayed trains resulting in missed connections and the need to purchase fresh tickets, etc. Midweek home games now require an overnight stop.
I gave up driving to games a few years ago due to constant delays and to parking costs.
The main reason for keeping my season ticket is to ensure I get tickets for away games.
Last Sunday I spent the whole day on tenterhooks, wondering firstly whether I’d actually make kick-off (I didn’t) and secondly whether I’d get home that night (I did by 9.00pm).
The fun of attending home games has virtually gone for me, apart from those few games where the result and performance outweigh all the negatives.
I’ve no issues regarding our superb stadium or the matchday travel scheme, but the national train network is an absolute shambles.
Click to expand...

If you're a fellow exile (outside of Sussex) like us, it's beyond comprehension to non-exiles just how many barriers there are to attending matches. Hence I gave up my ST a few years ago after more than 20 years owning one (yes, inc. Gillingham!). Everything from rising costs, demand, time, age, TV, technology, transport, all-seaters, STH-culture...there's an abundance of barriers and stresses that have seriously negated from the match day experience to the point I didn't think even PL football adequately compensates. Moreover, when we put in a performance like Sunday's I really do question my sanity of a 10.5hr 'shift' to attend as I duly did. Instead, I now watch more NL locally and listen to Warren & Johny. You get out of the habit moreover, and not really by choice. Can't see self ever owning a ST again without living in Sussex which is highly unlikely. That or we're relegated.
 


BNthree

BNthree

Plastic JCL
Sep 14, 2016
11,505
WeHo
Birdie Boy said:
Something changed though... I used to go by car leave at final whistle on a 3pm kick off and be in Southwick for 530. Not sure what changed to cause the delays now.
Click to expand...

Few season ago we were getting less than 30,000 attendances. Now we have more people. During covid the train services got scaled back and have never been brought back up to the same level of service (this is trains in general, not just football trains on Falmer line). So we've got more people attending matches and less trains running. Figures more people are going to be driving or getting picked up and dropped off locally which adds to the traffic.
 




Black Rod

Black Rod

Well-known member
Jan 19, 2013
988
I have started walking from Brighton to the Amex. Which means if it is pissing down with rain, I don't bother going.

I never missed a game at Withdean or in the Amex early years but priorities change and watching the Albion just isn't important enough for me anymore to justify spending hours and hours of the day getting to and from the stadium.
 


O

Oh_aye

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2022
2,160
Happy Exile said:
Granted not everyone will have the mobility or opportunity but I walk in and back from Lewes and think if you have the time and fitness it's so worth it to avoid the transport issues. Along the dual carriageway it takes 1h30 max, over the hills (much more pleasant) adds an hour. I've wondered in the past about seeing if anyone wants to do it as a group occasionally when the weather picks up. Might make travelling to the ground a more enjoyable experience for some perhaps. The location of the stadium feels like a privilege to experience when you leave a game with a thumping atmosphere (Man City at home for example) and within 20 minutes you're on your own in a silent valley surrounded by hills.
Click to expand...
I always walk if it's not raining.
 




Tom Hark Preston Park

Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,675
Black Rod said:
I have started walking from Brighton to the Amex. Which means if it is pissing down with rain, I don't bother going.

I never missed a game at Withdean or in the Amex early years but priorities change and watching the Albion just isn't important enough for me anymore to justify spending hours and hours of the day getting to and from the stadium.
Click to expand...
I don't actually find it that bad getting to the Amex, there's a decent flow of B&H buses heading up that way. It's getting back that's a pig. Sure I could walk it, I only live 3 miles from the ground, but it's a long dreary soul-sapping hour's walk down Lewes Road to somewhere approaching civilisation
 




jackalbion

jackalbion

Well-known member
Aug 30, 2011
5,057
mile oak said:
Its taken me 4 hours in past from Mile Oak and quicker from LA and Kensington! Sometimes its luck of the draw, just with the sh1t show of trains you rarely win the lottery. The OP makes a very important point its not just the 90 mins of the match but the whole experience I dont think the risk assessment etc of building the stadium at Falmer can of considered this but what does that matter there will always be someone else to fill your ST seat, unless of course the club are ever relegated but PL its always a sell out or so close to capacity its not a problem for the club.
Click to expand...
The Stadium Risk Assessment!



But wait you are telling me you have, at the very earliest left Mile Oak, at 11am or 4.45pm at the very latest and got there for 3pm, 7.45pm, without stopping at the pub, just pure travel time. I think with even the slowest walking/bus with buggies getting on/trains delayed in the world, that is simply impossible. It just isn't possible, there is no fathomable way, even when I have left Mile Oak 4 hours before in the worst of conditions (train strikes, severe weather) that it has not taken 4 hours from Mile Oak.
 
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