[Albion] Mill Hill P&R on Saturday

[Dave the OAP]

The staff running the service are great (stewards, drivers etc) it ought to be said. I just don't fancy a cold, rainy
nov. evening wait of the same (I'm not young any more.) if 1 hour is standard.

Oh you have that pleasure to come…last year one game queued just over 1.5 hours…all the coaches had gone, stewards going home, and us stupid feckers stood waiting in the rain for the occasional bus. Since the bendy busses went, it’s been horrendous.

I now park in the Uni car park and am home 45 minutes after final whistle after clapping the boys off and meandering to the car park!

just trying to get a Newcastle parking spot

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Don't think so. P&R has capacity, and Mill certainly fills up for every game. Only a limited amount of capacity there. So trains or not, surely it should be the same every week. Unless more people are parking in withdean/patcham and walking round the corner to use the bus

Guaranteed more people did this on Saturday. And even on a normal day when trains ARE running, there are loads of people who use the P&R but don't park up Mill Road.

 

[ChickenBaltiPie]

Park & Ride is always busier when the trains are skrewed, and yes, a considerable number of people just ‘ride’ and don’t ‘park’ on Mill ‘hill!’

 

[dazzer6666]

Followed a couple of buses that came out of Village Way en route to Mill Road around 6pm and they were nowhere near full

 

[el punal]

Don't think so. P&R has capacity, and Mill certainly fills up for every game. Only a limited amount of capacity there. So trains or not, surely it should be the same every week. Unless more people are parking in withdean/patcham and walking round the corner to use the bus

Or could it be with the train fiasco on Saturday that many thought they would get to Brighton on a P&R bus rather than wait hours for a non existent train?

 

[portlock seagull]

If Sussex Police had any interest in controlling post match traffic they’d stick someone at top of Mill Rd to enable cars to get away. Meaning coaches returning for 2nd collections at Falmer would be able to get out and not wait 30-40mins just to get to the top.

However, as with Rail, it takes a genuine desire to sort this shit out. Which is sadly lacking. Also a brain. Again, appears sadly lacking.

 

[portlock seagull]

Followed a couple of buses that came out of Village Way en route to Mill Road around 6pm and they were nowhere near full

Fans don’t help. Never fill from the back etc so spares go unnoticed etc. if everyone had the mentality of Londonunderground commuters rather than seaside day trippers we’d probably only need 1 coach per p&r!

 

[WATFORD zero]

Not for us. Sprinted out at the final whistle and waited probably about 10-15 minutes for a bus. Actually it was a coach, which was much nicer

I get if you hang around you're going to get caught in the queues – been there, done that – but with a finite amount of buses and more people/demand for them, it's bound to be a bit of a hassle. There were mitigating circumstances I seem to recall with the Spurs game last season, where it was MUCH worse – the club had ordered extra vehicles from Portsmouth (twats) but a crash on the 27 meant they couldn't get through in time.

I was still in a significant queue about 6.30. It's been worse since the bendy buses went, but I'm guessing that if these extra coaches got stuck and the trains were f***ed, that explains why it was worse than normal. Normally the people I go with park up in my drive (round the corner) and we walk up.

A couple of times, they have parked at Race Hill, I've walked to Mill Road, we get the race hill P&R back and they drop me off on the way home. I suspect we may use this more frequently this season

 

[Jam The Man]

After 23 years of park and ride, I have to and have opted to pay more and go with Seagulls Travel.

 

[timbha]

After 23 years of park and ride, I have to and have opted to pay more and go with Seagulls Travel.

I’ve heard that the ST coach drivers are striking on the next four home match days, there are roadworks and Standing room only when the coaches are running.

 

[chrisg]

Ta chrisg. I'd be interested to hear.

Official answer. -
Yes we did have the same amount of buses at Mill Rd park and ride.
We will continue to monitor the queues and review the Mill Road park and ride operation.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Not constructive I know, but why do so many people call it Mill Hill?

Born and bred in Patcham for my first 27 years. Always known locally as Mill Hill. Funnily enough, just gone past it on the bus. The hill with a mill.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Can't they stagger the P&R buses somehow so that they arrive at regular intervals like regular buses? Maybe park some of them up somewhere away from the stadium? Must be absolutely gutting to be stuck in that queue, just missing your bus and knowing it'll be an hour before it comes round again. There has to be a better way shirley?

 

[trueblue]

The Southampton park and ride always seemed a better way of doing things. Load up several at once, make sure they’re full, all depart together - the big advantage being that people get on board to wait, rather than having to stand in the cold and rain. I guess there’s just not enough space, buses - or both - to do this at the Amex.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

I lived in Patcham for 17 years and it was always known as Mill Hill, not Mill
Road.

Is Patcham populated by a lot of north Londoners? lol.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

They were phased out due to lack of parts for maintenance etc as they were no longer being made. New buses also more environmentally friendly.

Bye bye to Brighton’s bendy buses

The entire fleet was sold for scrap, £50 per bus, according to one driver l spoke to afterwards.

 

[HeaviestTed]

Curiously I haven’t seen anyone complaining about people leaving early this week?

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

I meant people that had got to Amex by train were then using the P&R to get home as the trains were completely screwed and the bus stop queue on A27 were HUGE. That must have been a factor. If I'd have realised the EDF P&R was running I'd have queued for that rather than being stuck in the train queue for yonks.

I really don't see why people don't walk round to the Village Way stop if they want to catch a bus into town post match, the queue is faf far shortewr there, or even walk through the underpass & catch a 25 on the Sussex Uni campus before it winds it's way past the Amex. They would be on a bus much quicker, and would even get a seat!

 

[Weststander]

Crikey, just joined the longest ever queue at the top of Mill Road, it stretches out of sight from the roundabout.

This is becoming repetitively sh1t. Lots of moaning.

Might look at other options for the next home game.

 

[Weezle]

I'm in the queue too. It's shocking. We need the bendy busses back or twice the number of buses.