[Albion] More rail strike (Jan) & can Amex travel sustain the affects of rail strikes long term?

[pure_white]

More rail strikes at the start of January. Boro away hit. If this carries on are the measures and cost associated with the alternative arrangements put on by the club for games affected at the Amex sustainable? I would love to see what the risk analysis was undertaken for dependency on rail transport at the Amex before going ahead with building the stadium.

 

[clapham_gull]

I would love to see what the risk analysis was undertaken for dependency on rail transport at the Amex before going ahead with building the stadium.

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It's very difficult to predict the future.

 

[Easy 10]

Its a good question.

The only time I ever use trains is for the Amex, but its become increasingly unviable. I've given up on the west coast connection - 2 trains an hour, 4 carriages. You can't even get on.

And they think I'll be throwing myself on whatever "service" they cook up on NYE ? Mmmmnah.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

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It's very difficult to predict the future.

Unless you are Doris Stokes.

(One for the oldies there).

 

[Springal]

The club don’t care, it’s not within their control and they have no communication with the rail operators it appears.

Use seagulls travel or drive to the racecourse for P&R is their recommendation.

All part of their sustainable travel plans

 

[rippleman]

The club don’t care, it’s not within their control and they have no communication with the rail operators it appears.

Use seagulls travel or drive to the racecourse for P&R is their recommendation.

All part of their sustainable travel plans

But the club pays the rail operators through our travel tax so there has to be some kind of contractural arrangement. The "sustainable travel" plan was of the club's making and yet there has never been a will to deliver the plan for the benefit of fans.

If we paid directly for our train travel and we had to endure the delayed services we could claim compensation. As we pay through our STs there is no compensation mechanism available. I have read on here that PB gets "irked" when fans moan about the travel arrangements. He would be a lot more irked if he had to endure the shit service that we do.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Its a good question.

The only time I ever use trains is for the Amex, but its become increasingly unviable. I've given up on the west coast connection - 2 trains an hour, 4 carriages. You can't even get on.

And they think I'll be throwing myself on whatever "service" they cook up on NYE ? Mmmmnah.

Streaming becomes more and more appealing.

I was looking at going to a game over the festive period at the Amex, cba.

 

[Easy 10]

Unless you are Doris Stokes.

(One for the oldies there).

She was a medium not a clairvoyant, wasn't she ?

 

[Easy 10]

Streaming becomes more and more appealing.

I was looking at going to a game over the festive period at the Amex, cba.

Can't be arsed ?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Can't be arsed ?

Aye.

Spending hours guessing if there will be a train or not isnt my idea of fun.

 

[beorhthelm]

But the club pays the rail operators through our travel tax so there has to be some kind of contractural arrangement. The "sustainable travel" plan was of the club's making and yet there has never been a will to deliver the plan for the benefit of fans.

If we paid directly for our train travel and we had to endure the delayed services we could claim compensation. As we pay through our STs there is no compensation mechanism available. I have read on here that PB gets "irked" when fans moan about the travel arrangements. He would be a lot more irked if he had to endure the shit service that we do.

do you really want to pay for rail tickets so you can claim delay repay? wouldnt actually improve the service if there is breakdowns, signal failures, floods, strikes etc. the travel scheme is a matter of convienence, for a discount rate Southern get some revenue without having to manage ticket controls at Brighton, Falmer and surrounding stations, while fans avoid hassle and crowds, its win win. i wouldnt pick apart the sustainable travel plan too far, it done the job intended to get the stadium.

 

[Springal]

But the club pays the rail operators through our travel tax so there has to be some kind of contractural arrangement. The "sustainable travel" plan was of the club's making and yet there has never been a will to deliver the plan for the benefit of fans.

If we paid directly for our train travel and we had to endure the delayed services we could claim compensation. As we pay through our STs there is no compensation mechanism available. I have read on here that PB gets "irked" when fans moan about the travel arrangements. He would be a lot more irked if he had to endure the shit service that we do.

I don’t disagree. I am just paraphrasing a response I got back after the woeful service put on for the Villa game. There were no issues, no strikes but it was inadequate and bare bones service. I simply asked if the club had opportunity to feedback and look to improve what could be done and was told there was no control.

Another poster at the time summarised what the clubs ‘plan’ was when the Amex opened and with expansion, we are in a worse place in terms of public transport than we were in the opening season which is really poor.

 

[Bozza]

I don’t disagree. I am just paraphrasing a response I got back after the woeful service put on for the Villa game. There were no issues, no strikes but it was inadequate and bare bones service. I simply asked if the club had opportunity to feedback and look to improve what could be done and was told there was no control.

Another poster at the time summarised what the clubs ‘plan’ was when the Amex opened and with expansion, we are in a worse place in terms of public transport than we were in the opening season which is really poor.

I'm really not sure what the club can do about the rail service.

Whilst there's undoubtedly some sort of arrangement in place between the club and Southern (presumably), I can't see it extends to much more than the club paying a fixed rate for a percentage of fans who attend each game (eg £2 per fan for 30% of a game's actual (not stated) attendance). As @beorhthelm says above, it is (or was, anyway) an arrangement that broadly worked for all parties involved.

I can't see there will be any kind of SLAs on service provision and, frankly, even if there were - it's not going to have sufficient weight to have any great impact on railway operations. Simply, moving several thousand football fans c20 times a year is very small beer to the railway companies.

Park and Ride is different though, surely. That only exists because of the football and whether the club operate iti themselves, or contracts it out, they must be able to have some sway in the quality of that service.

 

[Easy 10]

I don’t disagree. I am just paraphrasing a response I got back after the woeful service put on for the Villa game. There were no issues, no strikes but it was inadequate and bare bones service. I simply asked if the club had opportunity to feedback and look to improve what could be done and was told there was no control.

Another poster at the time summarised what the clubs ‘plan’ was when the Amex opened and with expansion, we are in a worse place in terms of public transport than we were in the opening season which is really poor.

Very much this. There doesn't have to be an 'issue' any more for the service to be absolutely terrible, and its down to a number of factors.

The service was cut during the pandemic, and has never been fully restored to pre-pandemic levels
We've lost the Mithras P&R
We've lost Bennetts Field
The bendy buses have been binned, which increases waiting times for Mill Road
There's now 10,000 extra punters from when the stadium first opened

All of this puts additional demand on the train service, and its no longer coping anywhere near adequately. I don't have the answers to resolve this, but I would at least hope this is very high on the clubs agenda to explore some viable options to alleviate the problems. Its getting worse and worse.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Very much this. There doesn't have to be an 'issue' any more for the service to be absolutely terrible, and its down to a number of factors.

The service was cut during the pandemic, and has never been fully restored to pre-pandemic levels
We've lost the Mithras P&R
We've lost Bennetts Field
The bendy buses have been binned, which increases waiting times for Mill Road
There's now 10,000 extra punters from when the stadium first opened

All of this puts additional demand on the train service, and its no longer coping anywhere near adequately. I don't have the answers to resolve this, but I would at least hope this is very high on the clubs agenda to explore some viable options to alleviate the problems. Its getting worse and worse.

I seriously doubt the club care very much. Everybody that goes by train gets to the game. And everybody that goes by train gets home again, albeit taking an absurdly long time to go a pitifully short distance. Pretty sure the private thoughts of the club run something along the lines of "You're getting free train travel you ungrateful plebs, suck it up"

(give it two minutes before the botphone starts ringing off the hook in deepest darkest Chailey)

 

[Springal]

I'm really not sure what the club can do about the rail service.

Whilst there's undoubtedly some sort of arrangement in place between the club and Southern (presumably), I can't see it extends to much more than the club paying a fixed rate for a percentage of fans who attend each game (eg £2 per fan for 30% of a game's actual (not stated) attendance). As @beorhthelm says above, it is (or was, anyway) an arrangement that broadly worked for all parties involved.

I can't see there will be any kind of SLAs on service provision and, frankly, even if there were - it's not going to have sufficient weight to have any great impact on railway operations. Simply, moving several thousand football fans c20 times a year is very small beer to the railway companies.

Park and Ride is different though, surely. That only exists because of the football and whether the club operate iti themselves, or contracts it out, they must be able to have some sway in the quality of that service.

I did even acknowledge that upfront in my email to PB, but surely they have a voice with Southern. The villa game as an example - they were only running 4 coach services, twice an hour along the west Coastway. There’s no logical reason to that at any level.

Surely they can ask ‘why’ given they have a commercial agreement in place must be some lines of communication. Was ok for me, but the amount of fans & ordinary / less mobile travellers stranded at stations from Shoreham onwards was quite a lot.

If I was the club I’d be asking why they are paying Southern anything, as the net / net result would seemingly be the same level of service

 

[AstroSloth]

The club don’t care, it’s not within their control and they have no communication with the rail operators it appears.

Use seagulls travel or drive to the racecourse for P&R is their recommendation.

All part of their sustainable travel plans

It's far more sustainable than everyone driving to the Amex and parking, sitting in traffic with the engine idling for hours.

 

[dazzer6666]

I'm really not sure what the club can do about the rail service.

Whilst there's undoubtedly some sort of arrangement in place between the club and Southern (presumably), I can't see it extends to much more than the club paying a fixed rate for a percentage of fans who attend each game (eg £2 per fan for 30% of a game's actual (not stated) attendance). As @beorhthelm says above, it is (or was, anyway) an arrangement that broadly worked for all parties involved.

I can't see there will be any kind of SLAs on service provision and, frankly, even if there were - it's not going to have sufficient weight to have any great impact on railway operations. Simply, moving several thousand football fans c20 times a year is very small beer to the railway companies.

Park and Ride is different though, surely. That only exists because of the football and whether the club operate iti themselves, or contracts it out, they must be able to have some sway in the quality of that service.

Correct. They’ve never given two shits about commuters paying thousands a year for a daily service to get to work, so a few angry football fans once a fortnight won’t even register.

 

[drew]

We're in the same boat as many London clubs are if they have a tube strike.

Nothing the club can really do. Perhaps if this government got off their arses and attempted to resolve the issues rather than using them as a political tool we might get somewhere.

 

[drew]

Aye.

Spending hours guessing if there will be a train or not isnt my idea of fun.

Bad fan