[Albion] Seagull travel next season

sully said:

The problem is that it’s still a very good price for a return trip door to door (under £5.50 per game). I think sometimes we expect too much from our club. It costs that much to park for 2 hours in Brighton.

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Easy 10 said:

That is outstanding VFM. Nobody likes a price rise, but crikey, how anyone can moan about paying that for reliable travel to and from the Amex is beyond me. Seems at times some peoples expectations can verge towards a sense of entitlement.

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Mellor 3 Ward 4 said:

That is NWSS, not Seagull Travel

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sully said:

The problem is that it’s still a very good price for a return trip door to door (under £5.50 per game). I think sometimes we expect too much from our club. It costs that much to park for 2 hours in Brighton.

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Easy 10 said:

As an aside, does anyone know of any other football clubs (Premier League or otherwise) that pay for travel subsidies for their fans to get to and from the stadium ?

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Cheshire said:

The fans pay for travel subsidy, it is part of the price of our match ticket.

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Cowfold Seagull said:

We at North West Sussex Seagulls have also seen price increases for season ticket holders on our match day coaches to the Amex.

For an old codger's season ticket from Cowfold l am now paying 102.00, as opposed to 89 last season. Needles to say we have also lost quite a few regulars for the same reason.

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I remember the good times said:

UPDATE
email over the weekend from Seagull Travel stating that season ticket (for coach travel) renewals are down by 20% due to the price increase. In my case it has gone from £197 to £248 from Uckfield. For me it is purely for the convenience but the £15.35 price to book 'on the day' will put a lot of people off.

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Cheshire said:

That is a good price, but not Seagull Travel prices. These work out at £10.84 per match before you add on extra depending where you are travelling from. So if we look at say Petworth or Bexhill as examples. Seagull Travel season ticket this season from these two areas is now £15.84 per match, and as others have been saying this price increases if you buy a match to match coach ticket. Yet if we take one of our examples Bexhill, the train from Bexhill to Eastbourne, to get into the free travel zone, is only £6.50.

While ST coaches are a choice and for some maybe worth paying a bit extra for the convenience, reliability, safety if more elderly or disabled and in many cases near door to door service then the train offers or park and ride, when it is priced way out to alternative transport arrangements you can see why this season so many ST customers are not renewing.

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Cowfold Seagull said:

Indeed, and l'm happy to pay it. If l were to make the same journey by bus, Cowfold to the Amex, changing in central Brighton, it would cost me neary 15.00 return. So no contest really.

Perhaps in introducing this transport subsidy in the first place, the club made a rod for it's own back, and the moment it's withdrawn and prices rise a little, there is an outcry.

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El Presidente said:

We’ve had a message from Paul Barber in relation to this issue:

“A few emails today stemming from Seagulls Travel’s email to their customers last night. I’ve just arrived in Yorkshire and seen the NSC thread created as a result. Just to round up the main queries:

- there are no plans whatsoever to scrap the subsidised travel zone - or the club’s substantial contribution towards it;

- a sustainable travel plan was a condition of our planning consent (but the club subsidising the cost of that travel plan forever wasn’t. That said, we have no plans to reduce or stop our contribution towards the cost of running the travel zone or maintaining the infrastructure on or around our land);

- the subsidised travel zone is open to ALL supporters with a valid season or match ticket (this includes home and away fans);
- in addition to the very significant capital costs for transport infrastructure and facilities at the time of the stadium build, we currently make a substantial contribution to the cost of supporter travel to and from matches (as we have for over 7 seasons). No other club does this as far as we are aware (and I’m told Southampton stopped their contribution to theirs soon after St Mary’s opened);

- of course, ALL supporters also contribute towards the cost of our travel zone and infrastructure in the cost of their season ticket or match ticket because every supporter uses some part of the infrastructure to get to and from the stadium (bus, train, park and ride, road junction, car park, coach park, foot path, cycle path, cycle park etc);

- we are only stopping the additional subsidies paid to Seagulls Travel (a commercial operation) and a number of other supporter groups who use private buses/coaches for the added convenience of a door to door service with some sitting outside the travel zone (as opposed to joining the subsidised travel zone at a convenient point for them);

- however, we now have many supporters who travel from outside the subsidised travel zone who do not receive any additional support towards their travel costs for getting to the zone or stadium, as well as many other fans within the subsidised zone who pay to park their cars or private mini buses and who also do not receive any additional subsidy;

- we appreciate that some fans are travelling from outside of the subsidised zone and making huge efforts to organise travel to and from home games, but it doesn’t seem fair that the club should in effect pay a double subsidy for some supporters to enjoy a door to door service when we are not able to support all supporters to do similar;

- we have no problem with all the current buses/coaches operated by Seagulls Travel or the other groups continuing to organise trips to and from the Amex or using our facilities to park their buses/coaches;

- we will still make our coach park available, free of charge, to any supporter bus/coach that wishes to park at the Amex provided they have contacted our operations team in advance (I’m not aware of any other clubs that provide free bus/coach parking).

Finally, the club’s board continues to have a significant responsibility to manage the club’s costs as efficiently as possible, and to continue to reduce our dependency on Tony Bloom year on year. Yes, our revenues are significantly higher in the Premier League but so are our costs. Tightly managing our costs is therefore an important part of our strategy to remain as competitive as possible.

The cost of the additional travel subsidies we are stopping ran to large six figures per season - and this was on top of a very substantial ongoing contribution to the main subsidised travel zone which is open to everyone - costs that our rivals do not cover.

Regards, Paul”

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Sorrel said:

Can you get coach travel to just some matches with NWSS?

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Sorrel said:

I've occasionally gone by ST from Billingshurst, but a much bigger crowd go with NWSS. I thought the NWSS coaches were season ticket only. Can you get coach travel to just some matches with NWSS?

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HalfaSeatOn said:

Oops, I had always thought getting to Hampden Park got you in to the free zone

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HalfaSeatOn said:

Oops, I had always thought getting to Hampden Park got you in to the free zone

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Home and Away said:

Is parking available/free at the Amex on away days if travelling with Seagulls Travel?

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Albion_Dave said:

Yes it is.

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