Green Park Match Day Parking

[One8Seven1*]

Work email I thought I would pass on to those of you who park in Green Park.

Match day traffic management

Due to the traffic congestion and unauthorised parking in Green Park, during Reading Football Club match days, security is changing the way traffic and parking is managed.
For every match day, there will be a member of the Green Park Security team at both the North and South entrances to the Green Park estate. This is to make sure that those who should be allowed access to the estate are.
All vehicles will be stopped and requested to provide identification and/or information to prove their employer is in Green Park or reasons to access Green Park eg. contractors or guests.
Access to Green Park will be controlled four hours before the start of the game, until 30 minutes after the game has finished.

[RoyalBlue]

Great! Add that to the fact that the old HP car park is going to shut in a few weeks time and the club are still 'looking for alternatives' and parking is going to be an absolute nightmare, particularly for those fans who have pretty little choice apart from using their cars on match days.

The club seem pretty complacent about the whole situation (it's not as though the developers would have decided over night that they were going to start work at the HP site) and I suspect STAR haven't exactly been snapping at their heels.

I'm sure that even more people will begin to wonder whether it really is worth the hassle, only to then have to endure the sort of turgid display and negative formation/tactics that we witnessed again last night.

[Hendo]

I have used the park and ride from Mearoak every home game this season. Good service and very easy to get out onto the A33 to go either way after the game. I guess it wouldn't be so good if coming from the town end.

Used to park in the old HP car park but not done that all season.

[Four Of Clubs]

... And Morrisons have introduced restrictions on Saturdays (max 3 hrs) so insufficient time to get to/from Mstad - still ok for evening games as open till 23:00.

... and the Council are about to make Gillette Way ALL double-yellows not that there were many spaces left - just a few nr the Bingo.

as well as notices now up in the Retail Park suggesting that's a no-no.

The double-yellows in the industrial estate opposite have spread gradually over the past few years too!

[RoyalBlue]

I have used the park and ride from Mearoak every home game this season. Good service and very easy to get out onto the A33 to go either way after the game. I guess it wouldn't be so good if coming from the town end.

Used to park in the old HP car park but not done that all season.

Park and ride is fine for those who live locally and/or are able to get there early enough to add that extra leg to their journey. However, it is no good for those who are racing from work to try to get to an evening game or who already have lengthy car journeys to get to the vicinity of the stadium.

[Marc89]

Ah thats a pain.. Might try schedule the weekly food shop with home games and use the Asda Click n Collect service in Green Park!

[tee peg]

I thought half of Green park was empty?

[Maneki Neko]

fans who have pretty little choice apart from using their cars on match days.

that number must be tiny.
there are so many transport options available.
trains, buses from every satellite town, park and ride etc

[PieEater]

Seems like an over reaction to me, what's their problem with congestion after a game - nobody is working then. Unauthorised parking would be an issue if they'd lost some money for authorised parking, but they don't.

It would be pretty easy to bypass the security, just wave your Costco card or gym membership, or say you've got a booking at LSQ.

[Elm Park Kid]

You can still park in the World Turned Upside down car park? They don't seem to care whether you actually go in the pub or not.

I'm only highlighting this because I have an 'alternative' parking solution

[Nameless]

Seems like an over reaction to me, what's their problem with congestion after a game - nobody is working then. Unauthorised parking would be an issue if they'd lost some money for authorised parking, but they don't.

It would be pretty easy to bypass the security, just wave your Costco card or gym membership, or say you've got a booking at LSQ.

Good call, I forsee a significant rise in applications for a Costco card !!

Not sure how the club can be expected to provide parking that simply doesn't exist. We've had use of the HP site for a lot longer than was expected and if anyone thinks you can just magic up a couple of thousand parking spaces every other Saturday then they are probably not safe behind the wheel.
If anyone has any constructive ideas about where a large plot of land could be found at a reasonable price that allows RB easy access at his convenience then I'm sure the club would love to hear. Sadly land prices round the area are such that it's going to be a tough job....

[Armadillo Roadkill]

fans who have pretty little choice apart from using their cars on match days.

that number must be tiny.
there are so many transport options available.
trains, buses from every satellite town, park and ride etc

The buses from Tilehurst are all full on the way there. On the way back you have to miss the end of the game - as they take extra passengers you can't get on. It can take a good 15 minutes from the final whistle to get out of our seats in the East Stand due to congestion in the gangways.

The queue for the buses into town are just horrible - then getting a number 17 back into the Village. It's just a non starter.

Cars are the only practical option - cheaper if there's more than one of you.

[Tilehurst_13]

Been parking here for 3 years and only ever been approached twice!

oxf*rd sake

[One8Seven1*]

fans who have pretty little choice apart from using their cars on match days.

that number must be tiny.
there are so many transport options available.
trains, buses from every satellite town, park and ride etc

Yeah? You wait until the Thai's build on the car park and attendances drop a couple of thousand. They say they'll be more buses but actually what they are offering is the same amount of buses but doing double runs. So you either get to the game early, or you arrive on the nose; and leave the game 5 minutes early to get away straight away, or you hang around for 40 minutes for the bus to make it back for the last load. You think the majority of current car users are going to fancy that?

We've got one of the biggest stadium car parks in the country and it sells out every game, and we then use additonal parking from the likes of Green Park; so when our car park is gone, and you can't park in GP, or the old Speedway, and there are residents living on the doorstep of the stadium, that is going to backfire masively on the club!

[download]

I think I saw a sign up at the HP car park to say it was closing after the 23rd Feb, I don't know if anyone can confirm. Thank you for the heads up about Green Park checks. I used to know a chap who worked at Green Park who gave me permission to park at his offices. I had all the necessary emails etc to back me up, but was never once queried. He then left the company so I thought better of it and started using HP instead.

By the way the checks I think will be made immediately after the Costco roundabout (if you are travelling from the South) so I don't think waving a Costco card will help. For evening games, I think they lock the Costco car park, so if you get back at 10pm you may be in trouble. Although I guess if you travel in from the North, you can claim that is were you are heading and they will wave you through.

It does make for another tick in the don't bother to renew my season ticket. I can get to Saturday games ok, but evening games are going to be a bit of a balls ache, if I can't park in HP. It might be better to pick and choose the Saturday games. If I didn't have a season ticket, last night would have been a easy one not to bother going to.

In truth, Reading BC seem to go out of the way to make car travel difficult to try and drive people on public transport.

[genome]

The buses from Tilehurst are all full on the way there. On the way back you have to miss the end of the game - as they take extra passengers you can't get on. It can take a good 15 minutes from the final whistle to get out of our seats in the East Stand due to congestion in the gangways.

I used a Tilehurst bus (F23?) for the Burnley match and stayed to clap the players off the pitch, it took me a good 5 minutes to get out of the stadium and I still caught the return bus.

[Yellowcoat]

I did the same and in fact the bus was emptier on the way back than the inward journey. Suspect some are just finding ways to justify their need to drive everywhere from door to door (often on their own as well). Just give the other methods a try.

[muirinho]

The buses from Tilehurst are all full on the way there. On the way back you have to miss the end of the game - as they take extra passengers you can't get on. It can take a good 15 minutes from the final whistle to get out of our seats in the East Stand due to congestion in the gangways.

Which Tilehurst bus? I get the F21. It's busy on the way back, but not overcrowded. I've never left the game before the final whistle, and never have had a problem.

Have you tried the buses since Premier League days?

[RoyalBlue]

Seems like an over reaction to me, what's their problem with congestion after a game - nobody is working then. Unauthorised parking would be an issue if they'd lost some money for authorised parking, but they don't.

It would be pretty easy to bypass the security, just wave your Costco card or gym membership, or say you've got a booking at LSQ.

Good call, I forsee a significant rise in applications for a Costco card !!

Not sure how the club can be expected to provide parking that simply doesn't exist. We've had use of the HP site for a lot longer than was expected and if anyone thinks you can just magic up a couple of thousand parking spaces every other Saturday then they are probably not safe behind the wheel.
If anyone has any constructive ideas about where a large plot of land could be found at a reasonable price that allows RB easy access at his convenience then I'm sure the club would love to hear. Sadly land prices round the area are such that it's going to be a tough job....

I'd welcome you to try my match day journey and then still suggest it's convenient. I would have thought that £7 per car park space would seem a pretty good deal for most organisations that might have parking available on Saturdays and occasional weekday evenings. Could the difficulty be that our club are looking for a share of that income, thus making it considerably less attractive? As for parking that doesn't exist, the owners/club seem set on making that situation even worse with REP. Yes, there may well be a multi-storey car park provided at some point but whilst construction is taking place supporters are going to lose even more parking availability.

Whether or not it's the club's fault, the plain economic fact is that people aren't going to waste time and money trying in vain to hunt down a parking space (or spend hours trying to get there by public transport) just to spend more money watching the type of turgid shyte on the pitch that we witnessed last night and too often throughout the past couple of seasons.

It does make for another tick in the don't bother to renew my season ticket. I can get to Saturday games ok, but evening games are going to be a bit of a balls ache, if I can't park in HP. It might be better to pick and choose the Saturday games. If I didn't have a season ticket, last night would have been a easy one not to bother going to.

Exactly this. Furthermore, as home games are 'away' for me anyway, I might go one step further and do proper away games, rather than facing the struggle to the Mad Stad.

[RoyalBlue]

Worton Grange
Reading Football Club would like to confirm that the Worton Grange car park facility will not be available to supporters from the beginning of March 2016 – due to imminent redevelopment work which is set to commence on the site. The Worton Grange car parking facility will not be open to fans from Saturday 5th March onwards, and supporters who have been using that off-site car park will need to seek an alternative travel arrangement to get to the final six games of the season.
Read more at http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article ... 3tVBc26.99

Yippee! Start the problems off with the biggest attendance of the season! (assuming we don't get the Friday night slot)