Village Way

[Guy Fawkes]

Went to the match by bus yesterday and was astounded at the delays coming out and buses unable to move to the stops due to traffic congestion. Can somebody explain why they cannot put the lights out of action and make all traffic turn left towards the A27, traffic wanting to go to Woodingdan or east could go around the roundabout, and with the lights out of action straight on up the road. Plod could act to stop the traffic for a second to allow traffic not at the football coming from Woodingdean through.

This only need be done for about 30 mins max.

Normally i find that traffic flows fairly well and quickly away from the Amex after the game but the Reading cup game seemed much worse and i think that because there wasn't any travel included in the ticket price, a lot had arranged to be picked up after the match rather than use public transport.

Seems like another argument for keeping the subsidy in place to me.

 

[Notters]

Surely making people turn left will make the bridge even more congested than it already is? If anything, more people turning right would be a good thing?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Might not go down well with people who use the Racecourse P&R.

I use Race Hill - i think the plan is god awful. Also, when you have buses from the Amex going back to Race Hill going round the roundabout, they would get stuck in the jam to back up towards Woodingdean, which would then hold everything else up as well. Then your going to have the extra time of the P&R buses going into the queue for the A27 waiting for other traffic to pass (because other people do use Falmer Road). Not to mention sending the Woodingdean traffic into the A27 lane would congest it all up further.

I do agree the lights should be switched off though and/or should be controlled by the police as to what the traffic flow is, with priority to public transport of course.

And I agree - Village Way is awful for people doing U-turns - there is regularly near-misses and cars forcing their way through - but there is no alternative.

 

[Stoichkov]

Yep, as another Race Hill P&R user, I can't see this helping at all

 

[Dave the OAP]

I use Race Hill - i think the plan is god awful. Also, when you have buses from the Amex going back to Race Hill going round the roundabout, they would get stuck in the jam to back up towards Woodingdean, which would then hold everything else up as well. Then your going to have the extra time of the P&R buses going into the queue for the A27 waiting for other traffic to pass (because other people do use Falmer Road). Not to mention sending the Woodingdean traffic into the A27 lane would congest it all up further.

I do agree the lights should be switched off though and/or should be controlled by the police as to what the traffic flow is, with priority to public transport of course.

And I agree - Village Way is awful for people doing U-turns - there is regularly near-misses and cars forcing their way through - but there is no alternative.

Yes there is. Stop people parking on double yellows on village way. Stop people driving down VW towards the university after say, 4:30! Saturday was chaos as people were double parked and busses couldn't get around them.

The club need to look at the best way of arranging for people to pick up disabled and impaired customers. Maybe only let people with blue badges down village way and make them park in the small university car park just to the left of the roundabout.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Yes there is. Stop people parking on double yellows on village way. Stop people driving down VW towards the university after say, 4:30! Saturday was chaos as people were double parked and busses couldn't get around them.

The club need to look at the best way of arranging for people to pick up disabled and impaired customers. Maybe only let people with blue badges down village way and make them park in the small university car park just to the left of the roundabout.

But then you will still have people coming to pick up, but with nowhere to go except Falmer Road which would see more cars stopping and therefore holding everything up. Also, if it is blue-badge only, then you will still get people trying to get in there, then being told no meaning they will have to turn around - that will again hold everything up.

A special "pick-up" area is needed really, but where ?

 

[Dave the OAP]

But then you will still have people coming to pick up, but with nowhere to go except Falmer Road which would see more cars stopping and therefore holding everything up. Also, if it is blue-badge only, then you will still get people trying to get in there, then being told no meaning they will have to turn around - that will again hold everything up.

A special "pick-up" area is needed really, but where ?

Well that is suggesting we don't do anything. The pick up point I would suggest is by the entrance to the bridge car park which last year we used a few times. That is ok for the people who just want picking up...yes they need to walk past the station and falmer school, but hey...

With regards to disabled blue badges, if you sent out an edict that it would be strictly enforced, people would quickly get the message and not attempt to try to get down there! You could have a disabled pickup by the bus stop near the coach park entrance and have people park in the university car park by the mini roundabout ...you would then use the same system as most airports use for taxis where the passenger tells a steward he/ she is here and then the steward radios to the car park and the pick up is sent around.

On Saturday we noticed 5 stewards standing around doing nothing as we were in the queue, so it's not as if you are taking someone away from directing traffic.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Well that is suggesting we don't do anything. The pick up point I would suggest is by the entrance to the bridge car park which last year we used a few times. That is ok for the people who just want picking up...yes they need to walk past the station and falmer school, but hey...

With regards to disabled blue badges, if you sent out an edict that it would be strictly enforced, people would quickly get the message and not attempt to try to get down there! You could have a disabled pickup by the bus stop near the coach park entrance and have people park in the university car park by the mini roundabout ...you would then use the same system as most airports use for taxis where the passenger tells a steward he/ she is here and then the steward radios to the car park and the pick up is sent around.

On Saturday we noticed 5 stewards standing around doing nothing as we were in the queue, so it's not as if you are taking someone away from directing traffic.

You can give as much notice as you like - people will still try it. I do agree that blue-badge only on VW is a good idea and it could speed up the exit from the Amex - not least the 25 buses which take nearly 30 minutes to get round VW via the Uni because of the amount of traffic. Not sure the "airport taxi" system would work since there could be a lot of cars for a lot of different people.

You could do it via a hardline approach - stick signs up saying that VW is unavailable to vehicles without a blue badge excluding buses, taxis and bikes and if you ignore you get a warning, and do it again you get fined. Would need a bit of a computer system to do - but nothing the club couldnt outsource to some traffic people.

 

[robinsonsgrin]

Yes there is. Stop people parking on double yellows on village way. Stop people driving down VW towards the university after say, 4:30! Saturday was chaos as people were double parked and busses couldn't get around them.

I wish there was some consistency here re village way. we had a special bday bash meal in east stand brasserie last season which meant the usual pub transport had to be abandoned for that match. cab from pub to amex early doors was no prob. trying to arrange a cab pick up afterwards was more problematic, the cab office stated that the police would not allow any pick ups from village way after a game.. so we ended up walking to where the bridge car park is now..... not ideal with people who couldn't walk that well. when did this all change then? grrrrrrr

 

[Lord Bracknell]

You could have a disabled pickup by the bus stop near the coach park entrance and have people park in the university car park by the mini roundabout ...you would then use the same system as most airports use for taxis where the passenger tells a steward he/ she is here and then the steward radios to the car park and the pick up is sent around.

There is already a facility for disabled supporters to use the Sussex University car park and travel by accessible minibus between their parking place and the coach park (using a drop-off point next to the lift that goes down to the concourse). There's no need for the "pick up" vehicle to be called specially, because the use of two minibuses - with a relatively easy run to the stadium - means that there will always be a vehicle waiting at the university car park for whoever wants to use it. And plenty do.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

You could do it via a hardline approach - stick signs up saying that VW is unavailable to vehicles without a blue badge excluding buses, taxis and bikes and if you ignore you get a warning, and do it again you get fined. Would need a bit of a computer system to do - but nothing the club couldnt outsource to some traffic people.

Why the distinction for taxis? What's the difference between someone getting a family member to drop them off, and paying a taxi to do exactly the same thing?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Why the distinction for taxis? What's the difference between someone getting a family member to drop them off, and paying a taxi to do exactly the same thing?

Because the club allows Taxis into the Amex P&R area as it is. Only option is to ban them too.

 

[BensGrandad]

The P &R buses for the race course would drive around the round about and back throught the disabled lights without a stop until they reach the Downs pub so no hold up other than those , which they have at any time. The delays at The Downs would be the same irrespective of which way traffic turns coming out of VWay. The only delay would be on to the slip road going onto the A27, which should be minimal

 

[HAILSHAM SEAGULL]

The roundabout is too tight IMHO for a park and ride bus to drive around it without holding up other traffic.

 

[BensGrandad]

The roundabout is too tight IMHO for a park and ride bus to drive around it without holding up other traffic.

I must admit, having never driven a bus, I hadnt considered that as a problem

 

[Garage_Doors]

Can somebody explain why they cannot put the lights out of action.

The traffic lights after the game are manually controlled by the coach park staff.

 

[Dave the OAP]

The traffic lights after the game are manually controlled by the coach park staff.

Really? On Saturday we sat for 1o minutes in the queue and the lights were at red for most of that period and the busses couldn't get out of the park and ride area.

 

[Dave the OAP]

There is already a facility for disabled supporters to use the Sussex University car park and travel by accessible minibus between their parking place and the coach park (using a drop-off point next to the lift that goes down to the concourse). There's no need for the "pick up" vehicle to be called specially, because the use of two minibuses - with a relatively easy run to the stadium - means that there will always be a vehicle waiting at the university car park for whoever wants to use it. And plenty do.

Then there isn't a reason for people to be allowed along village way after 4:30! If it's just picking up people, then we move it to the entrance to bridge car park

 

[Butch Willykins]

You can't stop traffic using village way on a Saturday afternoon. There is a large Virgin Gym/tennis centre/3G pitch at one end of it.

 

[Notters]

You can't stop traffic using village way on a Saturday afternoon. There is a large Virgin Gym/tennis centre/3G pitch at one end of it.

Hence [MENTION=20]granny weatherwax[/MENTION] getting irate in this thread.