Seagull travel . Huge price increases.

[Your Mum]

I'd get on with salivating over ...

your mum

 

[drew]

The food and drink cost for myself and son is £15/20 per game for afternoon games - £10 for evening games. If my season long bill increases by £11 I'll be delighted.

But your travel isn't the limit of your expenditure. ST prices have gone up per game by £7 for my ticket in WSU. Expect a slight increase at the concessions, programmes, kit etc etc. Everything optional but for many part of the experience of supporting the club.

 

[drew]

No, but less games also means less revenue for the club.
The loss of revenue from 8 games must amount to quite a bit.

Is that a serious comment? I think you will find that the club's revenue will be considerably more next season! (Also, where did you get 8 games from, it is only 4 that we lose, ie 19 home games instead of 23?)

 

[drew]

Is it a monopoly? AFAIK North West Sussex Seagulls run their own coaches. I am not aware there is anything to stop a rival operating a competing service.

Out of interest, do you get a travel subsidy from the club towards the cost of your coaches?

 

[BBassic]

Higher demand? Will we be getting many more home fans than last season

There's likely to be a higher demand for match day tickets, yeah. Granted that is unlikely to affect travel season ticket purchases.

My point stands however. We probably had a number of new season ticket holders sign up last season when it looked likely we'd hit the big time and it's feasible some of those would want to make use of Seagulls Travel. Even if not my other point definitely stands: someone will pay the money they're asking for.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I would have thought that many operators would welcome the regular commitment, certainly during the leaner winter months, when many of their coaches would be sitting in their depots unused at the weekends.

The regularity of Rail Replacement work (especially at weekends) is now an attractive alternative for some coach operators. Such work will be better paid as well. This will tend to push up the going rate for football services.

 

[Steve.S]

My wife & I, both season ticket holders,have been using Seagull Travel for the past three seasons. We are very pleased with it and consider it really good.value for money. We have never been let down, as those who advocate using public transport have; we have a guaranteed seat, rather than suffer the overcrowding offered by public transport; on our return to the coach park we can board our coach immediately, rather than queue for ages in the often really bad weather in the open air. These are just some of the reasons we are pleased to be with Seagull Travel. The many moaners on here, who complain that they are paying a bit more for fewer games, might care to consider how much less they will be spending on pies/pints etc at the Amex for those fewer games. I am sure that the amount they "save" on these apparent necessities will far outweigh the extra Seagull Travel costs. As other respondents have suggested, if you don't like it, don't use it. Plenty of others will.

Thank you, based on this, I have now purchased 2 seats for next season. I was reluctant due to the cost, however it seems a stress free way to get to and back from games, so worth the extra cost

 

[Gazwag]

Thank you, based on this, I have now purchased 2 seats for next season. I was reluctant due to the cost, however it seems a stress free way to get to and back from games, so worth the extra cost

If you are coming from Hastings I would consider driving to Polegate to pick up the coach. We do this from Bexhill for evening matches and get indoors by 11pm at the latest (except when the coach broke down on the way home one game), if we got the coach from Bexhill it would add at least half an hour, maybe more, due to all the drop offs. Its also an hour and five minutes from Bexhill to Polegate for pick ups, compared to a 20 minute drive.

 

[Official Old Man]

Thank you, based on this, I have now purchased 2 seats for next season. I was reluctant due to the cost, however it seems a stress free way to get to and back from games, so worth the extra cost

I use ST for away games and do find them very good. I would use them for the home games as well but, and this may sound stupid, I find the drive to P&R, the queuing and packed buses and the getting wet waiting for a bus post match all part of the match day experience and would not change it.
That said, I've a feeling next season may be different. Most games will be sell outs and P&R full. Leaving home 2 hours before KO may have to be 3 hours and that is too much waiting around.

 

[The Oldman]

Hi Old Man. Yes I most certainly do remember Southdown. I have only been living in this part of the world since 1989, just before the Stagecoach takeover.

Southdown were running single deckers on what was then the 107 route, and I wasn't aware that the service was ever double deck operated. Indeed, if it was today, then the bus wouldn't be able to get under the railway bridge in the Brighton Road in Horsham![/QUOTE

Interesting. I used to stay on Backhouse farm north of Henfield and one of our treats was to catch the 17 to Horsham and it was a DD. Pretty sure the bridge was there then (late 1950's) so maybe it took a different route but cannot work out what that would be.

Just found this pic of a 17 in Pool Valley confirming DDs did serve the route in the 50's

 

[father_and_son]

All are probably true but how many coaches, if any, do Seagulls Travel actually own, all the away coaches are hired from other companies. I appreciate that their charges may have increased but surely they would put their routes out for tender around April time for the next season.

It would be very difficult to put out a tender when we don't know the fixture list yet (plus the inevitable last minute changes).

I imagine that ST have a "preferred supplier" list and as soon as they know when coaches will be required they set about booking them, starting at the top of list and working down until someone agrees to take the contract. If their cheapest partners can't support a specific date then that impacts the average cost per game.

Given that the PL means far less standard timings for games, more mid-week, more sundays etc, I expect that they will struggle to as good a deal for next season than last, known that and hence the increases.

 

[Ernest]

Given that the PL means far less standard timings for games, more mid-week, more sundays etc, I expect that they will struggle to as good a deal for next season than last, known that and hence the increases.

Premier League means LESS midweek and MORE Saturday 3pm Kick offs FACT

 

[Uter]

Out of interest, do you get a travel subsidy from the club towards the cost of your coaches?

I don't know if they get a subsidy like Seagulls Travel. I don't actually have any connection to them. Presumably they are organised by supporters volunteering their time and so with no staff to pay their costs are lower. This might be enough for them to offer travel at similar or lower prices to ST without any subsidy, but that is just speculation on my part.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Higher demand? Will we be getting many more home fans than last season

Seagull Travel will if Southern continue to be a shower of shite...

 

[OzMike]

Is that a serious comment? I think you will find that the club's revenue will be considerably more next season! (Also, where did you get 8 games from, it is only 4 that we lose, ie 19 home games instead of 23?)

8 games overall, the sky money will get swallowed up in the player budget, wages, will cover losses and the repayment of loans to TB.
Revenue lost from the 4 home games cannot be retrieved from other home games, once ground capacity is reached then that's that.
We get money from away games, % of ticket sales etc. not a lot but it will be lost.
We were prevalent in this league this season, so had a lot of televised games, next season there won't be so many as they would rather show the bigger teams from the Premier League.

 

[drew]

8 games overall, the sky money will get swallowed up in the player budget, wages, will cover losses and the repayment of loans to TB.
Revenue lost from the 4 home games cannot be retrieved from other home games, once ground capacity is reached then that's that.
We get money from away games, % of ticket sales etc. not a lot but it will be lost.
We were prevalent in this league this season, so had a lot of televised games, next season there won't be so many as they would rather show the bigger teams from the Premier League.

Are you sure We get a % of away ticket sales? My understanding is that you only claim expenses! Sponsorship and advertising revenue will increase. The club aren't go to blow the lot. Bloom will get some back but isn't going to recoup his outlay for quite a few years. At the end of the day revenue is massive compared to this.