Park & Ride Nightmare Last Night

[The Stout Yeoman]

It was a low risk game last night and according to my source there were only 4 police on duty ...... as one of them has to jog up to the traffic lights to switch them off after the game this probabily took a little longer for them to suss out ...

 

[Trolly Dolly]

From Eastbourne and I am preferring race course p & r to getting train; race course worked OK last night and I leave after final whistle but seat in EU is closest to p & r buses; they are now filling up the buses. I wonder whether this wet start to winter will turn race course car park into a swamp or whether it will sustain the rain as it is well drained and chalky

 

[Tooting Gull]

That should be obligatory reading for the transport manager at the club.

Shankly Seagull is clearly someone who is going out of his way to comply with the wishes of the club and as he says 'toe the line', but is being badly let down by the service provided. And I would totally agree with him, there are only so many times you put up with that before you do what is easiest. It's madness that certain people (including fans who should know better) have sought to demonise those in this situation.

Maybe if more staff with a cosy parking spot at the stadium tried doing this themselves, they'd sort it quicker.

Having said all that, for some reason it was particularly bad last night.

FWIW I tried getting the Seagulls Travel coach laid on from Woking for the first time yesterday picking up at Horsham and Henfield. The cost wasn't much different to the petrol, but I left home at 4pm, and got to the ground at 7.15pm. Normally it would take about an hour and a quarter. Got home at about 12.15am, normally 11pm if parking in Coldean, and 11.15-30pm if in the P&R.

Like most people I am trying this stuff, but an extra two hours to get there is a big chunk out of the afternoon/evening.

 

[Stat Brother]

I've been saying to newbies who go from work, now there is extra capacity, it takes a good 4 or 5 match day 'experiences' to get into the groove that suits you.

Midweek Mill Road P&R got dumped in favour of the train, this time last year.

The problem for the club being, how many people will give it enough of a chance to find the way that works the best.
Had I been in [MENTION=19676]ShanklySeagull[/MENTION]'s shoes last night, and it was my first game, I'd be in no rush to return.

 

[Pavilionaire]

My car experience post-match: Game over 21.45hrs, pint on the concourse, left ground 22.30hrs, 10 mins later I'm in the car at the Bridge Car Park, back home in Ashington 27 mins later at about 23.05hrs.

Going to the game took me an hour. I left Steyning at 18.00hrs and arrived at the Bridge 19.00hrs, and that was including the horrendous traffic opposite The Hiker's Rest. When that get's sorted travelling by car will be a breeze.

 

[mwrpoole]

That should be obligatory reading for the transport manager at the club.

Shankly Seagull is clearly someone who is going out of his way to comply with the wishes of the club and as he says 'toe the line', but is being badly let down by the service provided. And I would totally agree with him, there are only so many times you put up with that before you do what is easiest. It's madness that certain people (including fans who should know better) have sought to demonise those in this situation.

Maybe if more staff with a cosy parking spot at the stadium tried doing this themselves, they'd sort it quicker.

Having said all that, for some reason it was particularly bad last night.

FWIW I tried getting the Seagulls Travel coach laid on from Woking for the first time yesterday picking up at Horsham and Henfield. The cost wasn't much different to the petrol, but I left home at 4pm, and got to the ground at 7.15pm. Normally it would take about an hour and a quarter. Got home at about 12.15am, normally 11pm if parking in Coldean, and 11.15-30pm if in the P&R.

Like most people I am trying this stuff, but an extra two hours to get there is a big chunk out of the afternoon/evening.

But the problems that Shankly Seagull had were due to the horrendous traffic last night not the P&R service itself. The only possible complaint was the 1/2 hour wait for a bus at Mill Rd but if it's taking that long to get to Falmer then that's the knock-on effect. Aside from having enough buses so none need to do a return shuttle there's not much the club can do.

I arrived at Mill Rd at 6.50, far too late to get a space but it did take nearly 1/2 hour to get down the last 2-3 miles of the A23. I then headed off to Mithras House, opting to go via Coldean Lane to get on Lewes Rd. That was a big mistake as it was total gridlock and at 7.20 and only inching down the hill I gave up and parked in Coldean, luckily had an umbrella in the boot & arrived at my seat just as Kaz should have scored.

 

[Diego Napier]

5.20 - left home in Littlehampton
6.05 - reached A23/A27 exit slip road to head into Mill Road P&R
6.30 - finally crawl the last part into the P&R - got one of last spaces before full
7.00 - four empty buses pass first stop heading up hill before any stop to load the 200+ of us stood there waiting
7.42 - finally reach coach park after crawling through horrendous tailbacks

Made our seats with seconds to spare - 2hrs 25 mins to get to the game from home??

Early last season I used to park in Moulscoombe particularly for the night games but I switched to P&R to try to toe the line and help the club. I've got young kids so lengthy train queues and 1/2 changes are not really an option for night games (though we often use train at weekends).

I can't recall Cardiff but the Sheff Wed match and last nights have been awful and I've barely caught the game - like most on here I have to work so there is a limit to how early I can get away and nip home to pick up the kids. Surely two and a half hours would be sufficient to travel 24 boody miles and leave me enough time to get something to eat/drink pre-match!!

There has to be a better way than this. Its not just Mill Hill either - MH was full by 6.30 for the sheff wed game so we ended up crawling across town to Mithras House and although we got parked there were long queues for buses there so we nearly missed the game.

I'll give the P&R one more chance for the Leeds - if thats crap I'm going to have to resort to the car again...

I know it doesn't help relieve last night's frustration but make sure that you route this post to Insider; the more feedback they get the better they'll understand the problem and it will increase the likelihood of them doing something about it!

 

[Stat Brother]

But the problems that Shankly Seagull had were due to the horrendous traffic last night not the P&R service itself. The only possible complaint was the 1/2 hour wait for a bus at Mill Rd but if it's taking that long to get to Falmer then that's the knock-on effect. Aside from having enough buses so none need to do a return shuttle there's not much the club can do.

I arrived at Mill Rd at 6.50, far too late to get a space but it did take nearly 1/2 hour to get down the last 2-3 miles of the A23. I then headed off to Mithras House, opting to go via Coldean Lane to get on Lewes Rd. That was a big mistake as it was total gridlock and at 7.20 and only inching down the hill I gave up and parked in Coldean, luckily had an umbrella in the boot & arrived at my seat just as Kaz should have scored.

As bad as I believe the traffic was, last night.
I think the point is, was it any worse than usual for a midweek game.

From my experience the answer to that is no.

And that's where the problem lies.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Nearly all of last night's problems were beyond the club's control. The A23 and A27 roads were heaving, because of the weather, and because of several accidents. The buses were stuck in the traffic, I'm not really sure what else could have been done. Traffic on the roads is always much heavier when it's raining.

If it makes you feel better, I got one of the Seagull Travel coaches last night. It was supposed to pick us up at 1745, but didn't turn up until 1830, because the driver (his own admission here) got lost and couldn't find Burgess Hill. Once we finally made it on to the A23, we queued all the way from Pyecombe to Patcham, and then from there to Falmer. I got to my seat a minute or so before the game kicked off.

How can you leave from Albourne, and not be able to find Burgess Hill?

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

There are SO MANY simple ways that the transport could be improved after the game. I have sent suggestions in to the club, but no response and one year on, no change.

We have threads like this after every other home game, especially evening ones, we refer it to Insider, and nothing changes. 'I will pass on your comments to the Transport Manager' is what we get told.

Indeed travel has got worse, because of the increased attendances.

Perhaps if 'The Transport Manager' were to watch how Park and Ride busses and trains routinely leave with spare capacity he might attempt to improve things.

Last night, after the game I went into the Ticket Office to get some away tickets, thinking that the P+R queue would have died down somewhat.

No such luck.

It was an hour after the game had finished before we got back to Mill Road. That's before the drive home.

With young kids in our party, it's very late especially on a school night. People will continue to leave early, and those that don't will continue to have to endure a transport system that at the moment IMO is falling short.

(perhaps this thread could be merged with the other one re last night's travel)

 

[Ernest]

Whoever is in charge of these things hopefully will read these comments. But a start would be to marshall the train queues so every train leaves loaded to full capacity and not have a couple of coaches half empty thus winding those people left behind. Put double deckers on the H & S bus instead of those stupidly small Compass single deckers thus getting double the people on each bus, a double decker turned up on the S route last night and packed loads on.

Simple ideas but doable if the club were really interested in improving transportation to the ground

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Sounds bad, it takes me less time to get to the ground from mid Hampshire than that. Its expensive at £13 but I do find the bridge car park very easy.

It took me 2 hours to park and get to the ground from mid Hampshire despite the queue outside The Hikers Rest. I was also out quite quickly after the game, home before 23:30.

Saturdays its easy to get to and then we stay in the concourse and Dicks for a while after the game so its even easier to get out.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I don't know where you're sitting then because they were handing out leaflets on the P+R buses last night advising of the change. There is very limited P+R spaces at the old Lewes Road barracks for the 'boro game but that's all for the Lewes Road area.

Interesting. When I posted the earlier message, I was, in fact, sitting in my workplace at Preston Barracks, in Lewes Road.

It's probably a good idea, though, to discourage expectations of the Mithras House P&R being up to its usual high standard on the day of the Middlesbrough game.

 

[TheMajor]

5.20 - left home in Littlehampton
6.05 - reached A23/A27 exit slip road to head into Mill Road P&R
6.30 - finally crawl the last part into the P&R - got one of last spaces before full
7.00 - four empty buses pass first stop heading up hill before any stop to load the 200+ of us stood there waiting
7.42 - finally reach coach park after crawling through horrendous tailbacks

Made our seats with seconds to spare

Just in time to see LuaLua miss the best chance of the match then !

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Park in Mithras House. Get the P&R from Mithras House to ground. Walk back from ground to Mithras House. It'll take you 30 minutes at normal walking speed.

 

[jackanada]

I've started going back by the PnR to the racecourse.

Both times so far I've left on the whistle (from WSL - north end) made it to the queue which steadily moved forward until I got on a bus in about 10 minutes. the bus was filled to capacity, but of faff getting out the stadium and then smooth progress. Bit of a hike down to kemptown afterwards but nicely downhill.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Whoever is in charge of these things hopefully will read these comments. But a start would be to marshall the train queues so every train leaves loaded to full capacity and not have a couple of coaches half empty thus winding those people left behind.

...

Simple ideas but doable if the club were really interested in improving transportation to the ground

Theoretically do-able, but - as far as Lewes-bound passengers are concerned - likely to be frustrated by the fact that vast numbers of people seem to prefer hanging around on the platform at Falmer station, unwilling to get on the first train that turns up, because "it isn't going to Polegate or Eastbourne" (or wherever). This makes it impossible to estimate the numbers of people to allow on to the platform for the next train.

When will Polegate / Eastbourne-bound folk learn that the quickest way to get home might be to catch the FIRST train to Lewes, regardless of its final destination, and then, if necessary, change on to a Victoria - Haywards Heath - Lewes - Eastbourne train that leaves from Platform 1 at Lewes? Even if there ISN'T a Victoria train at Lewes, it's less of a crush to wait at Lewes for an Eastbourne train from Falmer (since ALL trains going to Lewes disgorge a large number of passengers when they get there).

 

[jackanada]

Theoretically do-able, but - as far as Lewes-bound passengers are concerned - likely to be frustrated by the fact that vast numbers of people seem to prefer hanging around on the platform at Falmer station, unwilling to get on the first train that turns up, because "it isn't going to Polegate or Eastbourne" (or wherever). This makes it impossible to estimate the numbers of people to allow on to the platform for the next train.

When will Polegate / Eastbourne-bound folk learn that the quickest way to get home might be to catch the FIRST train to Lewes, regardless of its final destination, and then, if necessary, change on to a Victoria - Haywards Heath - Lewes - Eastbourne train that leaves from Platform 1 at Lewes? Even if there ISN'T a Victoria train at Lewes, it's less of a crush to wait at Lewes for an Eastbourne train from Falmer (since ALL trains going to Lewes disgorge a large number of passengers when they get there).

Is there an instruction for everyone on the platform to get on the train? If not there should be. Give it a few games for people to get the idea, then go hardcore and after the train has left make everyone who refused to board the train exit the station and head to the back of the queue. Sorted.
(exception for our blue badged friends and such)

 

[Ernest]

Theoretically do-able, but - as far as Lewes-bound passengers are concerned - likely to be frustrated by the fact that vast numbers of people seem to prefer hanging around on the platform at Falmer station, unwilling to get on the first train that turns up, because "it isn't going to Polegate or Eastbourne" (or wherever). This makes it impossible to estimate the numbers of people to allow on to the platform for the next train.

When will Polegate / Eastbourne-bound folk learn that the quickest way to get home might be to catch the FIRST train to Lewes, regardless of its final destination, and then, if necessary, change on to a Victoria - Haywards Heath - Lewes - Eastbourne train that leaves from Platform 1 at Lewes? Even if there ISN'T a Victoria train at Lewes, it's less of a crush to wait at Lewes for an Eastbourne train from Falmer (since ALL trains going to Lewes disgorge a large number of passengers when they get there).

That's when you need marshalls to load the trains and announcements that once you're on the platform you WILL board the next arriving train

 

[superwomen]

Last night was a nightmare - but tonight gridlock on A27 we were going to go to the gym at falmer but give up as traffic was back patcham A23 turn off - so what would happen on a match night if the road has to be closed due to a accident !