[Albion] New fan zone - "The Terrace"

PeterOut said:

Yesterday I queued for the Race Hill P&R bus after the game, as I regularly do. Having stayed to the final whistle, I was not at the front of the queue. There were still 5 or 6 buses waiting to be loaded as I queued. They loaded two buses at a time, as they usually do.
Those 5 or 6 buses then departed, and I was still in the queue.
There was then a delay of 30 min untill the next buses arrived. This was not due to a lack of buses being provided, but entirely due to the decisions of the man who controls the traffic lights.
The bus controller at the head of the queue confirmed, with significant frustration, that the plan is always to prioritise those buses and coaches (and the cars in the Director's car park) to allow them to leave. So the green lights are held in an extended pattern to allow vehicles exiting.
The result of this is that buses returning from the Mill Road and Race Hill P&R can not get back into the Amex to pick up, causing greater delays for those standing in the cold (thankfully no rain yesterday).
So, more buses will have little or no benefit. Similarly, a new P&R at the Level will have little impact.
I counted ten buses queuing down Falmer Road waiting to return to the Amex, once I finally got on the bus. They were all stuck in an almost stationary queue, because someone has made the decison to prioritise exiting coaches and cars.
This is just a small observation for those who are calling for more buses, more P&R sites etc. The T-junction at the end of Village Way is a significant problem. Untill that is optimised, providing more buses will simply cause more buses to be parked on the Falmer / Drove Road, or nortbound on the A27 waiting to be let back into the Amex pickup points.

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PeterOut said:

Yesterday I queued for the Race Hill P&R bus after the game, as I regularly do. Having stayed to the final whistle, I was not at the front of the queue. There were still 5 or 6 buses waiting to be loaded as I queued. They loaded two buses at a time, as they usually do.
Those 5 or 6 buses then departed, and I was still in the queue.
There was then a delay of 30 min untill the next buses arrived. This was not due to a lack of buses being provided, but entirely due to the decisions of the man who controls the traffic lights.
The bus controller at the head of the queue confirmed, with significant frustration, that the plan is always to prioritise those buses and coaches (and the cars in the Director's car park) to allow them to leave. So the green lights are held in an extended pattern to allow vehicles exiting.
The result of this is that buses returning from the Mill Road and Race Hill P&R can not get back into the Amex to pick up, causing greater delays for those standing in the cold (thankfully no rain yesterday).
So, more buses will have little or no benefit. Similarly, a new P&R at the Level will have little impact.
I counted ten buses queuing down Falmer Road waiting to return to the Amex, once I finally got on the bus. They were all stuck in an almost stationary queue, because someone has made the decison to prioritise exiting coaches and cars.
This is just a small observation for those who are calling for more buses, more P&R sites etc. The T-junction at the end of Village Way is a significant problem. Untill that is optimised, providing more buses will simply cause more buses to be parked on the Falmer / Drove Road, or nortbound on the A27 waiting to be let back into the Amex pickup points.

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tigertim68 said:

It always amazes me how slowly it takes to fill the buses , and when I used to go to the Mill Road P&R , it used to drive me crazy that they could only load one bus at a time

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Dave the OAP said:

The worse ones are when they pt on coaches instead of busses, in that at least with busses it loads quickly as you can get more that one person on at a time and people file down the bus quickly as opposed to people hunting a seat on a coach.

certainly the “ experience” which is all what things seem to be about these days, is woeful for spectators wanting to get to and from the stadium.

you can understand why people have chosen to opt for giving up on it all. Of course there is still a supposedly waiting list so there must be people still wishing to experience the “ experience “ and good luck to them.

first time I have seriously thought of not renewing my ST since I had one at withdean. Home games and the “ experience “ are just not doing it for me anymore

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The Grockle said:

Any photo updates from the Chelsea match? Any sign it might be finished soon?

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tigertim68 said:

It always amazes me how slowly it takes to fill the buses , and when I used to go to the Mill Road P&R , it used to drive me crazy that they could only load one bus at a time

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portlock seagull said:

The marshalling is a disgrace, it makes it ten times slower than it needs to be. I've just accepted it now, having in the past tried to discuss with powers that be. It could and should be done a lot quicker. But no one cares enough, and it's all about taking your place in the line of lemmings instead.

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Change at Barnham said:

Our stewards need some training like the best aircrews where they are specialists in moving large groups of people on and off of planes in a polite but efficient manner. There is massive scope for improvement.

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goldstone said:

Only ever used the P&R once myself a few years back. Never again due to frustration with loading the bendy buses. The complaints here are genuine and it appears that there are some things that can be fixed if some common sense is applied. Someone senior at the club needs to have a proper look at the whole process. Can't someone on the fan advisory committee thingy bring this up as a priority?

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deletebeepbeepbeep said:

As an aside, details of the padel courts being built at the training ground have been published in the argus.

Brighton and Hove Albion to build new 'padel' complex

Brighton and Hove Albion are building new padel courts at their training ground.

www.theargus.co.uk

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brighton_tom said:

There's a video of 'The Terrace' here which I hadnt seen before... and a timeline for all the new work.

https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/pages/en/stadium-developments

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Wozza said:

It's harder to disperse from The Amex than from the vast majority of stadiums.

People like to feel like they're moving (away) - not stuck in a queue.

Even at stadiums with infamous bottlenecks (Wembley; London Stadium) there are tricks which regulars get to know.

Tottenham Stadium is hideous but you can keep moving, and have options.

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deletebeepbeepbeep said:

As an aside, details of the padel courts being built at the training ground have been published in the argus.

Brighton and Hove Albion to build new 'padel' complex

Brighton and Hove Albion are building new padel courts at their training ground.

www.theargus.co.uk

Click to expand...

huzzah said:

TL;DR: add distractions to the queue for the trains.

here follows a long winded answer to the not moving problem.

there is the famous story about mirrors in lifts being used to give people something to do so that time perceived to pass quicker.
my own experience of this was at Euro Disney. I went just after it opened. for many reasons (weather/bad press/school day) there were no queues at that time. However one ride had a queue. It was the star wars 3d ride. it was fun, but it was more fun in the queue, because there were Jawas and r2d2 and all other sorts of star wars characters and noises to keep me entertained.

If the waiting a long time cannot be solved, then we could perhaps solve it by fixing the perception of waiting a long time. here are some ideas:
* they could put some large displays in front of or along the queues that show highlights of the game or other ongoing games (like we do on the concourse).
* displays could be used for a "Fan Wall" display showing live social media reactions and fan photos from the match they just watched (I have seen similar things at computer conferences).
* Interactive quizzes that are displayed on a screen that you can do on your phone (like Kahoot!).
* same thing, but player rating thing maybe through the Brighton app.
* there are things that are outside the ground before the game that could also be there after the game like bands and djs, and gully wandering around.
* in the spirit of the starwars ride could we have lifesize Bobby Z, Wardy and Fozzy figures with iconic commetry being played
* would we collectively fall for mirrors again, like we did with lifts?

or is this just not cricket and as well trained english people should just learn to enjoy the queue?

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Creaky said:

Add to the above WiFi coverage and some protection from the elements for those queuing.

I used either the P&R from Mill Road or the racecourse until about five years ago. It really wasn't the time spent in the queue that turned me to using Seagull Travel but the cold and especially the wet.

I don't get back from the match any earlier using ST as the route back is not direct with the various drop offs. I do however stay dry.

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Paulie Gualtieri said:

First time in history I managed to get an 02 phone signal / WiFi whilst stationary in he coach park, have they improved the signal or did the c3,000 no shows make the difference?

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huzzah said:

TL;DR: add distractions to the queue for the trains.

here follows a long winded answer to the not moving problem.

there is the famous story about mirrors in lifts being used to give people something to do so that time perceived to pass quicker.
my own experience of this was at Euro Disney. I went just after it opened. for many reasons (weather/bad press/school day) there were no queues at that time. However one ride had a queue. It was the star wars 3d ride. it was fun, but it was more fun in the queue, because there were Jawas and r2d2 and all other sorts of star wars characters and noises to keep me entertained.

If the waiting a long time cannot be solved, then we could perhaps solve it by fixing the perception of waiting a long time. here are some ideas:
* they could put some large displays in front of or along the queues that show highlights of the game or other ongoing games (like we do on the concourse).
* displays could be used for a "Fan Wall" display showing live social media reactions and fan photos from the match they just watched (I have seen similar things at computer conferences).
* Interactive quizzes that are displayed on a screen that you can do on your phone (like Kahoot!).
* same thing, but player rating thing maybe through the Brighton app.
* there are things that are outside the ground before the game that could also be there after the game like bands and djs, and gully wandering around.
* in the spirit of the starwars ride could we have lifesize Bobby Z, Wardy and Fozzy figures with iconic commetry being played
* would we collectively fall for mirrors again, like we did with lifts?

or is this just not cricket and as well trained english people should just learn to enjoy the queue?

Click to expand...