The "dreadful" transport situation - a poll

[B.W.]

Not great, is it? But it must be difficult to get it right. I'm in BF car park and the last game was a lot worse than the one before (both under new scheme). When the police took charge the car park was cleared a lot quicker. Hmmm.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Very easy to get a train from Newhaven to the Amex and back, I prefer Saturday matches as the trains don't seem to be so packed.
After the QPR match was the longest I have waited for a train but that was because of the QPR special train.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Lots of small improvements could be made, without significant costs to the club. Indeed the number of stewards could be reduced, and costs saved, in some locations.

I have had some correspondence with the club, who are hoping to get a group of fans together, all of whom use different methods of transport to/from The Amex, to discuss how things can be tweaked.

 

[Norman Potting]

My major complaint is that all of the park and ride facilities are concentrated on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean.

This makes match day very difficult for some of us.

There's always one

With regard to trains if they were to run a through service from West of Brighton they can only use platform 3 as this is the only platform with access to the mainline and both Coastway routes; also it is limited to 4 cars trains due to location of the points to enable this (no doubt someone more anorakly informed than I will correct if this is no longer so). Probably feasible at weekends but not so likely for evening games in the week. And if they did do that there would be complaints about overcrowding and probably a good many left behind to whom the service would be of use.

For a while in the early to mid '90's there were regular weekday services through from Eastbourne to Bognor and Seaford to West Worthing or similar. There was even an early morning service I recall that ran from Hastings to Portsmouth along the coast.

Special charter Lear Jet to Shoreham Airport for Rex Cathedra??

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

So the upshot is that despite the odd hiccup, the Albion do a pretty good job of getting 30,000 people away from The Amex. And as usual, the situation is massively misrepresented by a vocal minority (one in five it seems) on NSC who go on and on, making the issue appear worse than it actually is.

Good poll.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

I am very lucky--two stops from Moulscoomb School to Falmer Station.
Even then I get pissed off if my journey takes longer than twenty minutes.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

http://www.wearetherangersboys.com/forum/showthread.php?177889-Amex-Stadium

Rangers fans very impressed with the stadium, but not with the transport.

 

[fire&skill]

I'm usually back home in Shoreham by 17:45 on a Saturday game. This is using Mithras House. Not too bad really.

 

[perseus]

What is surprising is that there isn't any form of Falmer (or Lewes) to Littlehampton service either before games or after, particularly midweek.

I didn't think such a thing was possible until, last night, my Hove - Brighton train then became a Brighton - Falmer/Lewes service leaving from Brighton Platform 3 (i.e. not the regular side of the station for Lewes trains). And, just to be clear, it was never advertised as a Lewes train from West of Brighton, it was just the rolling stock was then used to go to Lewes having arrived at Brighton.

But, given it is possible for a train to traverse East to West and West to East through Brighton like this, why not have a special service or two like this? It would save a lot of congestion on Brighton Station itself.

The snag is that only 3 coach trains can do this (and it did occur at least once vs Millwall mid-week). 3 coach trains on the West Coastway are not long enough. I find 20 minutes waiting at Falmer plus 8 minutes on the train is bearable. But another 15 minutes at Brighton and then a crowded train west is too much for me. Seriously, I am going to have to find a better way to go to matches as QPR (the worst it has been) was the final straw for me. It is the time it takes. 45 minutes w/o a break is beyond the pale.

Blame down to the railways, West Coastway. It is bad enough when the football is not on and not just rush hours. But journeys usually less than 20 minutes which is bearable and probably OK even for a claustrophobic like me up to 45 minutes. People who can put up with a commute to London seem to not mind quite so much.

 

[brighton_tom]

Are we now at a point where the transport situation is just what we have to accept? Or does anyone know of improvements the club or rail companies will be trying to implement?

At recent games the trains and queues at Falmer seem pretty organised, but just not enough trains. It was between 10 to 15 minutes between trains arriving at Falmer to go to Brighton on monday, in which time a pretty lengthy queue has built up. Are more trains or a shuttle service not a possibility?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Are we now at a point where the transport situation is just what we have to accept? Or does anyone know of improvements the club or rail companies will be trying to implement?

At recent games the trains and queues at Falmer seem pretty organised, but just not enough trains. It was between 10 to 15 minutes between trains arriving at Falmer to go to Brighton on monday, in which time a pretty lengthy queue has built up. Are more trains or a shuttle service not a possibility?

New signalling has been/is being installed now to allow more trains, but since Southern dont just run between Brighton and Lewes - it depends on what trains they have.

P&R and normal buses were chaos on Monday. Race Hill closed due to an event so Mithras House had to handle twice the amount of people and had queues of 1 hour according to a steward. Normal buses were even worse as Brighton and Hove Buses didnt add any extra services to its Sunday timetable. What also didnt help was a bendy bus breaking down outside the Amex and an absolute twunt of a bus driver, drivng an empty double decker past 70 people at the Uni, causing people to have to wait over 45 minutes.

On a normal matchday, its all fine. On a Bank Holiday or with another event, its chaos.

 

[Billy the Fish]

On saturday they were sending half empty trains to brighton again, this was at about 17:45 and they were holding loads of people back

 

[Bognor Bystander]

Parking at the Uni has become more annoying since the barrier in the far corner of CP1 has been deliberately blocked and all traffic has to queue up the hill to get out. Also frustrating that the stewards just stand about and chat to each other rather than directing the traffic.

 

[nicko31]

Despite the attempt to influence the poll and stir up trouble most are happy and it will still get better.

Does anyone remember trying to get out of the Goldstone when we got 27,000??

 

[brighton_tom]

New signalling has been/is being installed now to allow more trains, but since Southern dont just run between Brighton and Lewes - it depends on what trains they have.

P&R and normal buses were chaos on Monday. Race Hill closed due to an event so Mithras House had to handle twice the amount of people and had queues of 1 hour according to a steward. Normal buses were even worse as Brighton and Hove Buses didnt add any extra services to its Sunday timetable. What also didnt help was a bendy bus breaking down outside the Amex and an absolute twunt of a bus driver, drivng an empty double decker past 70 people at the Uni, causing people to have to wait over 45 minutes.

On a normal matchday, its all fine. On a Bank Holiday or with another event, its chaos.

Is the new signalling something that will be ready for the start of next season?

 

[ozzygull]

Even though I drive down from Reading, I don't include the journey from Reading to where my Mum lives in Hove as part of the football transport. So for the journey from Hove to Flamer and back I think it is fine. I go by train and accept that with 28000 ish going to a football match there will be a queue, and expect the same after the match. Of course I would love to just walk out and get straight on a train, but I think that is very unrealistic. The queue always looks worse then it is and I don't think I wait much more then 30 minutes for a train after leaving at full time and clapping the team. To me that seems reasonable. Once I get to Brighton I have a choice of another train to Hove or catch a Bus. Pretty easy.

When I have been to away games where the crowds are similar and I use public transport, my experiences are similar or worse.

I really can't think of much to complain about.

 

[Napper]

Had 2 quick beers post match on Monday ( 15 ish mins ) and pretty much walked straight onto the platform for a train that arrived a few minutes later.

No issues

 

[keaton]

On saturday they were sending half empty trains to brighton again, this was at about 17:45 and they were holding loads of people back

Were people standing in the doorways and/or refusing to get on the back of the train by any chance?

 

[Notters]

It was between 10 to 15 minutes between trains arriving at Falmer to go to Brighton on monday, in which time a pretty lengthy queue has built up.

What time was this out of curiosity? We left after one pint (about 5:30 I suppose) and walking to Fiveways (45 minutes) we saw a train was leaving the station just before we headed down the stairs of the WSU, another as we walked past Falmer station, another as we got to the keep and another as we walked past Moulsecoomb station 25 minutes later. So there were four in around 20 - 25 minutes after 5:30. Perhaps there had been a delay before?

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

New signalling has been/is being installed now to allow more trains, but since Southern dont just run between Brighton and Lewes - it depends on what trains they have.

P&R and normal buses were chaos on Monday. Race Hill closed due to an event so Mithras House had to handle twice the amount of people and had queues of 1 hour according to a steward. Normal buses were even worse as Brighton and Hove Buses didnt add any extra services to its Sunday timetable. What also didnt help was a bendy bus breaking down outside the Amex and an absolute twunt of a bus driver, drivng an empty double decker past 70 people at the Uni, causing people to have to wait over 45 minutes.

On a normal matchday, its all fine. On a Bank Holiday or with another event, its chaos.

We got onto a Mithras house bus 35 minutes after the game ended, with just a short wait