Villa Park Redevelopment

[Pat Mustard]

The biggest difference with the CWG is that they have done everything possible to stop people driving to venues, which in turn means the roads are free of the type of congestion we get around Villa Park.  There are enough places within 5-10 minutes walk of the stadium to kettle people onto buses in the way they have at the Alexander Stadium (the North Stand car park alone could hold dozens), but it is entirely reliant on those buses then being able to get away from the stadium cleanly.

I think we are stuck with the current shitshow on transport until the North Stand is rebuilt, but after that point I think the CWG has shown how it has to be handled in future, which is stopping as many people as possible from driving to the ground.

[Flin5tone]

We need a speedy shuttle service from the Lichfield road area(plenty of space around ) that can use the bus lanes and carry people back to the city centre in 5 minutes ,a fair price would be £4 return.

Four fucking quid? - you serious??!!!

Yes? Around the price it would cost with TFWM service

[chrisw1]

It's also reliant on operators tieing up coaches for most of Saturday for two journeys.  If the cost was £4.00 quid return that's £160 - £200 quid per coach before wages, cleaning etc.  Also probably with far more risk of damage and abuse than other gigs they may get.

I still think it's a good idea, but I'm pretty sure the club would need to be involved as I can't really see it being a worthwhile commercial venture for coach companies. 

[Flin5tone]

The club would have to subsidise it. Many clubs on the continent public transport is included in your match ticket.

[London Villan]

Its £5 return when they do it at edgbaston.

[dave.woodhall]

I may be wrong but I would guess that a large proportion of the Games crowd are coming from and going back to one place, namely the city centre. You don't get that concentration at a match - the crowd spreads out all over the place. 

[paul_e]

I may be wrong but I would guess that a large proportion of the Games crowd are coming from and going back to one place, namely the city centre. You don't get that concentration at a match - the crowd spreads out all over the place. 

true but if you can get shuttles to handle the 'clumps' of supporters going to the city centre, erdington, sutton, etc then you free up normal public transport to handle most of the rest, add park and ride facilities on top and it'd be pretty simple to spread out the congestion to a much broader area. All adds costs and need for staffing/organisation though so would need the club to heavily back that sort of scheme.

[dave.woodhall]

It needs everyone working together - not least Invisible Andy to realise that we've got the eyes of the sporting world on us and sports tourism is a massive earner.

[Nev]

It wouldn't just be one journey each way, you have a number of vehicles doing the journey a number of times depending on demand, that's how it works at other large entertainment or sporting events. For it would start at a given time, perhaps 1pm from town with the last bus departing at 2.15/2.30.
The return journey's start immediately after the final whistle and continue until there is no one left to pick up. How many vehicles this needs depends on demand but we have a fairly static attendance so you have a rough idea.

This wouldn't replace the trains or taxi's but give an alternative and take the pressure off the existing options somewhat. It's true, not everyone goes back into Town but I think enough people do to warrant at the very least, a trial run.

[Chico Hamilton III]

The return journey's start immediately after the final whistle…..

Or maybe 10 minutes before the final whistle, to give us wankers a head start

[Chris Smith]

It wouldn't just be one journey each way, you have a number of vehicles doing the journey a number of times depending on demand, that's how it works at other large entertainment or sporting events. For it would start at a given time, perhaps 1pm from town with the last bus departing at 2.15/2.30.
The return journey's start immediately after the final whistle and continue until there is no one left to pick up. How many vehicles this needs depends on demand but we have a fairly static attendance so you have a rough idea.

This wouldn't replace the trains or taxi's but give an alternative and take the pressure off the existing options somewhat. It's true, not everyone goes back into Town but I think enough people do to warrant at the very least, a trial run.

It used to work exactly as you describe Nev, we used it for years.

Thinking back though this was before all day opening for pubs so that probably influenced our choice, little point hanging around in Aston for 45 minutes after the game when you couldn’t get a drink.

[rjp]

I seem to remember someone on here (sorry can't remember who) said that the main reason the buses stopped was because Sky change the dates and times so often and with such short notice nowadays.  It became impossible to plan overtime etc.

[dave.woodhall]

Are there enough spare buses these days to have them hanging around for a few hours on Saturday afternoon?

[pauliewalnuts]

Are there enough spare buses these days to have them hanging around for a few hours on Saturday afternoon?

I read somewhere (actually, it might have been a previous page on this thread but I can't be arsed to look now I've stopped typing) that they had to bring in buses from all over the country to run these shuttles, so no, I suspect there wouldn't be.

[Nev]

I'm only basing my thoughts on what happens elsewhere. At Cheltenham and here for the CG they use Stagecoach but at Edgbaston it's your common or garden WMPTE and it's that shuttle service that would be easiest to replicate if the service is viable at all.