Pay on the gate question

[BensGrandad]

Can chip and pin not be used on any form of laptop/mobilephone. I do not know am just asking. Using the old swipe system if a couple bounced it is revenue lost that the club didnt have in the first place and if 5% bounced 95% would be paid, so we would have the money for the 95%. How does the shop operate at Withdean do they have a credit card facility?

With attendances as low as they are surely anything is worth a try.

 

[Beach Hut]

Can chip and pin not be used on any form of laptop/mobilephone. I do not know am just asking. Using the old swipe system if a couple bounced it is revenue lost that the club didnt have in the first place and if 5% bounced 95% would be paid, so we would have the money for the 95%. How does the shop operate at Withdean do they have a credit card facility?

With attendances as low as they are surely anything is worth a try.

You would probably need a fixed line or WiFi however the acquirer would charge a shed load for your personal development via a laptop (been there).

I suspect the club shop has a contract with Streamline or someone like that however you may be right it might be worth risking the revenue.

 

[BensGrandad]

I think that we must just agree to disagree after all it is Christmas the season of good will.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I'm certain that, by the time Falmer comes into use, the technology will have advanced to the point at which the cashless stadium will be very common indeed.

Coventry City are moving in that direction already:-

http://www.computersoftware.com/assets/coventrycity.pdf


And this, from the Coventry City website:-

SMARTcards

Posted on: Tue 29 May 2007

For the first time the 2006/2007 campaign saw the Club introducing new and revolutionary SMARTcard technology at the Ricoh Arena.

Have you got all the info you need ahead of using the SMARTcards?

The Supporter Management And Rapid Ticketing project has seen the Club introduce new technology to improve ticketing, access to the stadium and regular communication with supporters.

The introduction of new ticketing software and access control systems will allow the Sky Blues to offer new services such as 'Print at home' tickets and SMARTcard entry, which will reduce queues and improve safety by knowing exactly who is in the stadium and who is not.

The introduction of SMARTcards provides the Club with a platform to introduce other innovations such as a cashless stadium environment and car parking facilities.

FLEXICARDS

CCFC launched its brand new Flexicard scheme prior to last season's England under-21 match against Germany at the Ricoh and despite sounding like a credit card, it is actually nothing to do with banking!

A CCFC Flexicard serves four purposes:

- It acts as your matchday ticket (the same as the Season Ticket SMARTcard does) so you will never have to purchase a paper ticket again

- It is a supporter loyalty and discount card and will give you £2 off every match ticket you purchase

- It gives you priority ticket booking for home, away and cup tickets

- It will save you time and money when purchasing tickets

FLEXICARDS ARE NOT AVAILABLE TO UNDER-16s.

Benefits include:

- Save £2 on the standard price of a match ticket every time you purchase a ticket on your Flexicard (£3 compared to the price of a ticket if you purchase on a matchday).

- Save time and expense. No more time-consuming trips to the ticket office to purchase your match tickets or waiting in telephone queues.

- Priority ticket booking for home, away and cup tickets.

So how does it work?

Step 1
Purchase your ticket via the normal process (online, telephone or by visiting the Ticket Office).

Step 2
Once bought, the computer uploads your ticket to its database allowing you access through the turnstiles for the match (you place your card flat against the reader in the same way Season Ticket SMARTcards are used).

Step 3
You will then be texted and e-mailed confirmation of your seat details so you know where you will sit come match day

So how much does it cost?

The cost of the Flexicard is £8 for adults and £5 for concessions. The card lasts up until the end of the 09/10 season and with the benefit of £2 off your match ticket you will only have to purchase four tickets in this time to reimburse your initial fee.

So how do I join?

You can either register over the phone or by visiting the Ticket Office. Alternatively you can download the application form at www.ccfc.co.uk and return it to the Ticket Office.

COVENTRY CITY FC TICKET OFFICE
Ricoh Arena, Phoenix Way, Foleshill, Coventry, CV6 6GE
T: 0870 421 1987 (option 1)
F: 0870 421 5072
E: ticketoffice@ccfc.co.uk

 

[Tooting Gull]

Surely we don't want to base our revenue-raising on the Coventry model...

 

[Beach Hut]

I think that we must just agree to disagree after all it is Christmas the season of good will.

Yes - Merry Christmas

LB is probably right as 3 years down the line contactless card payment will have advanced enough for us to have a card to access all areas.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I'm certain that, by the time Falmer comes into use, the technology will have advanced to the point at which the cashless stadium will be very common indeed.

Coventry City are moving in that direction already:-

http://www.computersoftware.com/assets/coventrycity.pdf

Coventry City are indeed moving into the cashless era ...along with virtually every club outside of the Premiership that has built a new stadium in the past 5 years...

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Interesting Coventry policy, but 'not available to under 16's'? Strange. And it doesn't seem to make purchases that easy for the first time buyer either.

Still, it be a good start

 

[BensGrandad]

There of course is the one answer, that if ,as has been suggested, we are going to have a ticket office on Brighton Station when we get to Falmer, why not set it up now so that all the teething troubles are solved before we get to Falmer and our 20,000 people every game. We could also benefit by increased ticket sales now when we need it.

 

[Bry Nylon]

...before we get to Falmer and our 20,000 people every game

First half dozen games will be a sell out; after that I imagine the average will bump along around the 9'000 - 12'000 mark, if that, dependent on the opposition.

Where do you get 20'000 from??

 

[clapham_gull]

Yes - Merry Christmas

LB is probably right as 3 years down the line contactless card payment will have advanced enough for us to have a card to access all areas.

The Oyster Card system is a good analogy for how ticketing will go.

For those not aware, you don't need to buy paper tickets in London anymore for the tubes or buses.

You have a credit card sized bit of plastic that lasts for as long as it doesn't fall apart at which point you get a new one.

You simply swipe it over a reader as you go through the tube barriers and as anyone who uses one will agree, it's better than having to push a paper ticket in a slot.

It's called Oyster because the card readers are oval shaped devices than now sit on the tube barriers.

You have two choices, "load it up" with a travel card or season ticket and/or put cash on it.

If you have the cash option, cash is simply taken off it as you move around.

It's actually a good analogy for how season tickets / cup games could work with a similiar football application.

My card has a season ticket "on it". This allows me access to Zones 1 & 2 in London for a year. Bit like league games.

However, I sometimes want to go out of Zone 1 & 2 and don't want to bother buying extra paper tickets. Bit like an FA Game.

Because of this the Oyster Card also allows me to put "cash" on it, generally referred to as "charging up". So if I happen to stray out of my allowed zones, the Oyster simply deducts the extra amount from the card.

Or prior to an FA cup game, charge up £20 quid on the card and it lets me in.

Charging up can be done online, or any machine on the underground system.

Any cash on the card lasts forever - I've already paid it to London Underground. So I can use it next year (or next season).

Barclaycard credit cards are NOW avaliable with the Oyster System built in, so you don't need an extra card.

Soon you will also be able to buy things other than tube travel with the card in London.

It's basically the opposite of a credit card. You credit the card and use it.

It works, millions of Londoners are using them and would never think of going back.

Anyone visting London (even infrequently) should consider getting one. The card itself is free, but you have to buy one with a few quid on it.

For the cash option you don't need to register it, only for a season ticket.

You can't put a "daily travel card" on it as such, but the way it works is that when you have been charged as much as daily travel card, you don't get charged anymore that day.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I think the cards are a good idea, and will come in anyway soon whether we like it or not.

But the point remains, even with them, the pay on the day issue. Can you very easily on the day, on impulse, put money on the thing and go to the game.

This is key, because without it we are going to lose thousands of fans and pounds each month.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

My information was that the ticket arrangements for Falmer were not part of the Planning Permission and this will decided with an agreement with Brighton Council.

Strictly speaking, this IS covered by the planning permission and the conditions attached to it.

But you are right - the final agreement will be settled by the City Council, after consultation with the wider "Travel Management Group" that will include the Football Club, Brighton and Hove City Council, The University of Brighton, The University of Sussex, Sussex Police, British Transport Police, East Sussex Fire Service, East Sussex Ambulance Service, East Sussex Highway Authority, The Highways Agency, Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company, Govia South Central, Lewes District Council and Falmer Parish Council.


From the 2007 Decision Letter:-

46. The Stadium shall not be brought into use unless and until a Travel Management Plan prepared in consultation with the Travel Management Group has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

The Travel Management Plan shall include details of:

1. Match ticket sales points;
2. Provision of Transport Voucher or equivalent and journeys/modes to be covered by the same;
3. Capacity location management and operational arrangements of Park and Ride sites and the Bus and Coach Park;
4. Provision of Signage directing vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists to Stadium and Parking;
5. Public Transport arrangements to be provided including (but not limited to) addition public transport capacity on Event Days;
6. A Parking Management Strategy for the Controlled Parking Zone as defined in Condition 48 below;
7. Methodology for assessment of additional traffic impacts;
8. Publicity arrangements in respect of parking restrictions in the vicinity of the Stadium including (but not limited to) restrictions on parking on the Falmer Campus of the University of Brighton in Falmer Village and in Stanmer Park and the use of non-car travel modes (to include away supporters);
9. Pedestrian routing to and from the Stadium;
10. Management of Pedestrian Routes;
11. An Information Strategy for publicity of travel details and advice of spectator behaviour;
12. Mechanism for monitoring and review of the Travel Management Plan;

No event with an anticipated attendance of 500 or more shall take place at the Stadium other than in accordance with the Travel Management Plan or such separate Travel Management Plan as shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority specific to that Event.

 

[clapham_gull]

I think the cards are a good idea, and will come in anyway soon whether we like it or not.

But the point remains, even with them, the pay on the day issue. Can you very easily on the day, on impulse, put money on the thing and go to the game.

This is key, because without it we are going to lose thousands of fans and pounds each month.

These "charge them up.." cards are becoming more and more popular, a friend of mine has just got a job at a company doing the same type of thing.

Basically a new type of card you charge up prior to using, like the Oyster but for buying anything where the seller accepts it as payment.

The cash is ON THE CARD, not in your bank account type idea...

Like not walking around with thousands of pounds in cash in our pockets, we will probably have to get used to not walking around with "charged up cash cards"

I presume these cards have a limit to the amount you can charge them up for.

The likelihood (as with the Barclaycard example) is that in the next few years you will have an existing card with the functionality.

Charging a card up with "a ticket" doesn't seem to huge leap.

You could do it very easily over an automated telephone service, probably run by a separate company. You just make a phone call, register "a ticket" to your normal bank card and away you go.

It isn't a case of the money being taken from your account as you walk in the stadium, it's a case of a virtual ticket for a specific match being "loaded onto the card" - In reality the information is stored centrally.

Potentially if you drop your card, someone could use it to get into the match - but how would they know there was a ticket registered to it ?

Can't see any security risk beyond the normal ones, you are simply using an existing bit of plastic for a different purpose.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The beauty of Charge Up cards is that the price you pay can be varied according to how frequently you use the card. There's no reason why a first time supporter couldn't be charged full price for the first admission to the stadium and then given a varying discount for future games, depending on how often they go.

I can't see the traditional season ticket surviving.

 

[Springal]

they are annoying for one offs though, i went to Holland vs England last year at the Amsterdam ArenA and they run it. Everything was charged so you either had a fair bit of money left over at the end [who can really be assed to go and ask for cash back] or you had like 10/20cents too less for anyhing if you tried to buy 2 items or whatever.

If i was a regular it'd be ok but for one offs, complete cack.

 

[clapham_gull]

The beauty of Charge Up cards is that the price you pay can be varied according to how frequently you use the card. There's no reason why a first time supporter couldn't be charged full price for the first admission to the stadium and then given a varying discount for future games, depending on how often they go.

I can't see the traditional season ticket surviving.

Exactly - it isn't a case of how do we get around ticket restrictions at Falmer, it's simply a case of this is how ticketing will work in the future (*)

People adapt VERY quickly, chip and pin ? Oyster cards on the Underground.

After a couple of days, it's simply the norm.

(*) present, if you a user of the London Undergound.

 

[clapham_gull]

they are annoying for one offs though, i went to Holland vs England last year at the Amsterdam ArenA and they run it. Everything was charged so you either had a fair bit of money left over at the end [who can really be assed to go and ask for cash back] or you had like 10/20cents too less for anyhing if you tried to buy 2 items or whatever.

If i was a regular it'd be ok but for one offs, complete cack.

Yep, but the likelihood is that you will be able to use an EXISTING card to do it (Barclaycard already do it) and you will able to use any other unused credits somewhere else.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

There doesn't have to be turnstiles. You can always have a ticket office at the ground which you visit first. Quite a few clubs do that, after all. In recent years, I've done that at Partick, Falkirk and Swindon. Works fine.

That is how I got a ticket for West Ham, I think. The ticket/card was bought on the day. Algie will be able to verify that. Upton Park is a damn sight more tricky to get to than Falmer Tesco Amrican Expre$$ Diamond Super Arena.

 

[BensGrandad]

I can't see the traditional season ticket surviving.

How will I be able to gaurantee sitting in the same seat for each game.