Car Park Gridlock

[T.R.O.L.I.]

As usual RFC have their safety priorities totally the wrong way round. After every game there is some twat on a megaphone down the B&Q slope telling 20,000 people to "keep on the path, there are buses coming through". No you fool, make the buses wait 5 mins until the pedestrians clear.

Spot on - I don't see why they let the buses go when the road is full of pedestrians. I guess it'll take someone getting mowed down by a bus before it gets looked into.

The buses wait 15 minutes before they go already. That's plenty of time to get the rush of supporters down the hill. I'm at the back of Y24, the last area of the ground to clear and can be down the hill easily 15 mins after the end of the game. I doubt RFC should take action because its supporters are stupid enough to walk in the middle of the road. Besides, the whole idea is to make the buses a more attractive option than driving - if you let everyone get back to their cars before the buses go, what's the point of the buses?

Nope, I'm half way up Y23, and I leave as soon as the final whistle goes. I then stand on the stairs for 5mins while people clap and look at the scoreboard (if you want to do that, why not stay in your seat and let others get out?). I then peg it out of the ground by the exit next to the Greyhound track, by which time there's the man with the megaphone bellowing at me.

I'm a very quick walker - I don't see how anyone could get there any quicker.

I agree, buses should have priority over cars. But surely pedestrians should have priority over buses? I walk back to town - only takes about 25mins at the most... that's much more "green" than taking the bus.

Ditto from the back of Y25 - I walk bloody quickly when I get out of the ground but the fact it takes me a good 10 minutes to get out of the ground after the final whistle means that I generally have to take evasive action from buses or bikes.

The only 2 games when it hasn't been that bad this year were Arsenal and Charlton when the result wasn't in the balance in the last 5 minutes.

[Crasher]

I thought the parking was not too bad this time.
I was out the car park within 30 mins.

The real kicker for me was the fact that the M4 was still shut (as it had been on the way down).

I went on a grand-tour of the berkshire/oxfordshire/warwickshire/worcs countryside to get home - took me almost 4 hours.

[RoyalBlue]

Yesterday they started the cars leaving earlier than usual, the guys marshalling the buses down Northern Way were getting annoyed and were on their walkie-talkies trying to get the cars stopped. So don't know if this is a new policy or just a mistake. It was a bit dangerous for us pedestrians IMO.

But woe-betide anyone who stands up for a nano-second in the ground.

As usual RFC have their safety priorities totally the wrong way round. After every game there is some twat on a megaphone down the B&Q slope telling 20,000 people to "keep on the path, there are buses coming through". No you fool, make the buses wait 5 mins until the pedestrians clear.

Spot on - I don't see why they let the buses go when the road is full of pedestrians. I guess it'll take someone getting mowed down by a bus before it gets looked into.

The buses wait 15 minutes before they go already.

Absolute rubbish! Our seats are right by one of the exits from Y21, which means we can get out of the stadium PDQ even though we wait for the final whistle to blow. Once out of the stadium we then run along Shooters Way, which means we are on Northern Way within 5-6 minutes of the final whistle blowing. By then the idiot with the megaphone is already bawling for people to get off the road because the buses are leaving. I know because on several occasions I have asked him just how he expects people to get off the road when the pavements are already packed.

Anyway, even if you were telling the truth, the buses should not be allowed to move until the roads are clear of the bulk of pedestrians and those remaining can be shepherded onto the pavements.

[Northern Git]

People who moan about the parking clearly never go to away games. Last season it took me over an hour to get out of Southampton. Villa this season the same and I missed most of the first half. Get used to it I'm afraid it goes with being in the Premiership. Just wait till we go to Chelsea Spurs and Arsenal there is no parking at all.

Fraid your wrong there mate. And at away matches I dont pay £95.00 for a parking space tho'.

If you are happy with substandard 1960's customer service - good for you. Suppose I should have look at your user name - says it all.

Substanderd customer service what's that got to do with parking?

So you think that taking £95.00 of someone for parking then completely f**king it up has nothing to do with customer service?

And no I don't expect to leave immediately after the game, the holding back of cars to allow the pedestrians to clear is, given the way the exits from the ground have been constructed, a very sound way of operating.

What I do object to is, after going into the Jazz Cafe to watch the results then walking back to the car, being stuck in gridlock at the bottom of the car park for 40 mins.

This had nothing to do with the A33 traffic - it was clear, It had nothing to do with pedestrians - they had long gone, it had nothing to do with the buses they were also long gone.

It had everything to do with Reading FC and their inept stewards coning off half an already congested exit.

So you are saying they were coning off 1 or 2 of the lanes at the roundabout itself by the traffic lights?

Not saying anything about the A33 roundabout / lights. That area appered to be as normal (if totally empty by the time I goy there). The entrance was blocked off to allow two lanes of traffic to join the A33.

They had coned off one of the two lanes before the mini roundabout above where the buses stop. Its normally two lanes from the bottom of the car park- one of which filters in before the mini roundabout.

They had, just after the two lanes merge, put it back into one lane. The usless f**ks of stewards stood and chatted whislt everything around them ground to a halt.

So we have been at the 'new' ground for what? six, seven seasons? RFC collect £200,000+ plus a season now for the privilage of using the car park and they still f**k up.

[Royal Lady]

As I have mentioned before - if they removed te "safety" gate - and we appear to be the only club who insist on this - we wouldn't all have to walk round the entire circumference of the ground, just to get down the hill. Therefore, the pedestrians would be out of the area much quicker, the buses could leave quicker and the cars could start leaving the car park quicker.

[londinium]

Simple solution... park at the Greyhound track.... you get in easy and as long as you can be bothered to walk fairly fast after the game, you get out easy enough

[The 17 Bus]

so long as you do not get run over by the buses.

[The 17 Bus]

As I have mentioned before - if they removed te "safety" gate - and we appear to be the only club who insist on this - we wouldn't all have to walk round the entire circumference of the ground, just to get down the hill. Therefore, the pedestrians would be out of the area much quicker, the buses could leave quicker and the cars could start leaving the car park quicker.

10/10 RL, simple common sense really.

[Northern Git]

Simple solution... park at the Greyhound track.... you get in easy and as long as you can be bothered to walk fairly fast after the game, you get out easy enough

You are probably right. I was rather working on the principle that I wanted to give my cash to the club rather than anyone else.

That idea is going out the window now - its not just the car park that pissed me off, also been on the wrong end of few other things this season from different sections of the club that have sadly made me spend my cash elsewhere.