How to increase bus use....

[weybridgewanderer]

Just looked at the bus timetable and note the bus leaves the stadium at 1700.

If KO is at 1500 quite often the match is still playing at 1650. I am not sure I would get out of the ground [if I stayed to watch the game] in time for the bus....
Sort of explains all the folk leaving early.

Are you guaranteed a place on the return bus if you have a return ticket?

the stagecoach buses normally leave around 17:10/17:15.

not sure what you mean by 'guaranteed', it won't wait all night for you no

[Jerry St Clair]

When they stop profiteering from buses, then I'll take RBC and RFC's constant whining about lack of public transport use seriously.

The park and ride buses from the station are more expensive for football fans on match days than they are for anyone else on anay other day of the week. If anything, they should be cheaper because every football bus is rammed and therefore running at maximum efficiency. There's absolutely no justification for it - it stinks.

The Stagecoach buses are a fiver, so as soon as you have more than one person driving it's cheaper to drive.

[Spaced Invader]

I stopped getting the bus because, by the time I had got to the queue from Y25, I was having to wait at least half an hour to get on the bus. In that time I can walk down to Halfords, where I now park my car, and drive home from there. In the time it takes me to walk back to my car most of the traffic has cleared, plus I've had a nice bit of exercise for the day.

If there was some way to get the buses to town leaving quicker (so I didn't have to wait half an hour to get on) I might reconsider catching them.

[working class hero]

Just looked at the bus timetable and note the bus leaves the stadium at 1700.

If KO is at 1500 quite often the match is still playing at 1650. I am not sure I would get out of the ground [if I stayed to watch the game] in time for the bus....
Sort of explains all the folk leaving early.

Are you guaranteed a place on the return bus if you have a return ticket?

the stagecoach buses normally leave around 17:10/17:15.

not sure what you mean by 'guaranteed', it won't wait all night for you no

I mean is there a risk that you won't get on the bus even if you are on time? If they do single fares how do you guarantee a place on the bus? Or is it just a matter of luck and you might ber left high and dry - with a useless return stub?

[weybridgewanderer]

Just looked at the bus timetable and note the bus leaves the stadium at 1700.

If KO is at 1500 quite often the match is still playing at 1650. I am not sure I would get out of the ground [if I stayed to watch the game] in time for the bus....
Sort of explains all the folk leaving early.

Are you guaranteed a place on the return bus if you have a return ticket?

the stagecoach buses normally leave around 17:10/17:15.

not sure what you mean by 'guaranteed', it won't wait all night for you no

I mean is there a risk that you won't get on the bus even if you are on time? If they do single fares how do you guarantee a place on the bus? Or is it just a matter of luck and you might ber left high and dry - with a useless return stub?

yes there is a risk you won't catch the bus

they do singles if you are too concerned

certainally the stagecoach buses wait till about 5:10/5:15 when things are beginning to quieten down behind the south stand before they leave. if yu have a mate on the bus he can ask the driver to wait for you but 70 other people on the bus may wonder why you are taking so long, they want home! the bracknell bus has waited 10 minutes for someone who was on upstairs on the bus coz his dad who was downstairs hadn't seen him.

so yes there is a chance you may be left behind if you don't get a move on. not everyone that goes on the bus wants to come back by bus, some prefer to stay in town for a beer. similarly some people go into reading in the morning then get the bus back so there is not the same number on the bus both ways. some people even buy return tickets then change their mind coz a mate will buy them a beer then give them a lift home

[Forbury Lion]

The only thing I would say is that more information re the buses would be useful. There are loads of buses seemingly randomly lined up after the game, and nobody seems to know which bus goes from where, even the stewards.

It's easy for me, I just get the number 72..... I say easy, there are in fact three number 72's and they all go to different final destinations, the 72a and 72b go near my home but because the older buses do not have letters only numbers they tend to all read 72 or 720.

So my suggestion is you stick the newer buses that can display a's b's and c's on the destinations onto the route numbers that need them.

What puts many off getting the bus is the length of the queue for buses to the station, instead of using single deckers can they not swap them for spare doubles?

[Huntley & Palmer]

When they stop profiteering from buses, then I'll take RBC and RFC's constant whining about lack of public transport use seriously.

The park and ride buses from the station are more expensive for football fans on match days than they are for anyone else on anay other day of the week. If anything, they should be cheaper because every football bus is rammed and therefore running at maximum efficiency. There's absolutely no justification for it - it stinks.

The Stagecoach buses are a fiver, so as soon as you have more than one person driving it's cheaper to drive.

I've never managed to figure out how they can charge a smaller amount of rugby fans less for the same journey on a match day as well, on exactly the same buses and I would imagine less of them as well.

[Jerry St Clair]

I've never managed to figure out how they can charge a smaller amount of rugby fans less for the same journey on a match day as well, on exactly the same buses and I would imagine less of them as well.

Obviously, what we need are Sheffield style trams - with obligatory local characters on board, of course!

[anR]

How about people that show valid tickets or something are allowed through the safety fence? We must be able to relax the rules for this. Yes a few others will slip through, but so what! At least we'd be able to get the bus on time and comfortably.

[Forbury Lion]

How to increase bus usage..... easy, make life more difficult for car users and increase car parking to £50 a game.

The Safety Fence is an issue for those in the East who need to get the buses down the hill for places like Shire Hall or Basingstoke. Perhaps a gaurantee that the buses other than the Shire Hall park and ride will wait for say 15 minutes after the gate is opened to allow East standers a chance to get aboard?

Subsidise the bus ticket prices by adding £1 onto the car parking costs (also subsidise disabled parking for those who do not have a choice in the matter).

As a novelty gimick make Kingsley Royal and any injured players travel to the game on a random buses for each game.

[Gloria Gooner]

As a novelty gimick make Kingsley Royal and any injured players travel to the game on a random buses for each game.

I understand Dave Kitson now does this through necessity.

[Forbury Lion]

As a novelty gimick make Kingsley Royal and any injured players travel to the game on a random buses for each game.

I understand Dave Kitson now does this through necessity.

I hope his bus doesn't turn up late as has been the case in the past.

[Woodcote Royal]

I stopped getting the bus because, by the time I had got to the queue from Y25, I was having to wait at least half an hour to get on the bus. In that time I can walk down to Halfords, where I now park my car, and drive home from there. In the time it takes me to walk back to my car most of the traffic has cleared, plus I've had a nice bit of exercise for the day.

If there was some way to get the buses to town leaving quicker (so I didn't have to wait half an hour to get on) I might reconsider catching them.

There is an hourly bus service to Woodcote that leaves the station at 17.35 but it takes so long to load every sodding bus one at a time at the Mad Stad that I end up having to wait for the 18.35.................no thanks, I'd sooner drive.

Solution?

Charge return fares from the Station to the Madstad and open the doors to every bus at the end of the match, not bothering to check tickets or charge for the return journey.

In other words, if the idiots who supervise our station buses can ensure my journey will take no longer than it would to walk the same distance, I will happily leave my car behind on most match days.

[Gloria Gooner]

When they expand the stadium, will they increase bus numbers accordingly?

[Jerry St Clair]

When they expand the stadium, will they increase bus numbers accordingly?

I doubt it.

[Dirk Gently]

When they expand the stadium, will they increase bus numbers accordingly?

I doubt it.

'Tis a condition of planning permission.

In any case, the real way to increse bus use is to have lots of park and rides, properly and reasonably priced, so that there is a P&R available for just about everyone appraching from every direction. For instance, put one at Winnersh Triangle, one at J12, one the other side of J11 on the A33, one in Caversham and so on - none would get too congested and as long as it's easier for people to use them then they would make things better for everyone.

[The 17 Bus]

Trouble is the current Park and Ride at Winnersh cannot be used as is almost full to capacity, so they would have to find somewhere else, only real options would be businesses as building park and rides for football is not really feasible.

[weybridgewanderer]

When they expand the stadium, will they increase bus numbers accordingly?

Looking at the plans for the car park there will be less spaces for cars than there is currently.

There will be more space for buses than there is currently.

[3 veesinarow]

Solution?

Charge return fares from the Station to the Madstad and open the doors to every bus at the end of the match, not bothering to check tickets or charge for the return journey.

In other words, if the idiots who supervise our station buses can ensure my journey will take no longer than it would to walk the same distance, I will happily leave my car behind on most match days.

This system works perfectly at Leeds...and they have forty or fifty buses nose to tail lined up from the city to the ground, not six or seven. Same coming back, you just show your ticket to an inspector prior to the bus boarding area and then it's all pile on the first one at the head of the queue until it's full and move on to the next. Simple.

[weybridgewanderer]

Solution?

Charge return fares from the Station to the Madstad and open the doors to every bus at the end of the match, not bothering to check tickets or charge for the return journey.

In other words, if the idiots who supervise our station buses can ensure my journey will take no longer than it would to walk the same distance, I will happily leave my car behind on most match days.

This system works perfectly at Leeds...and they have forty or fifty buses nose to tail lined up from the city to the ground, not six or seven. Same coming back, you just show your ticket to an inspector prior to the bus boarding area and then it's all pile on the first one at the head of the queue until it's full and move on to the next. Simple.

One difference at leeds is they park a us at the back of the line of buses with several ticket sales windows in it. So there is no "fannying about" getting on the bus

I did suggest that something like this was implemented at shire hall to turn the buses round quicker ( buy your tickets while you wait for the bus to come back.

Reading Buses considered the plan but decided it was not safe to have someone way out at shire hall collecting all they money. In other words making it safe would not have been commercially viable