Bus Services to Mad Stad Axed-Reinstated 1st 2 games see p8

[Terminal Boardom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-10681565

Further evidence of cost cutting. But I can not say that I am overly surprised. However, I would have thought that the club would have been as interested as possible to attract as many people to the place to support the local team. I suppose that this is a case of once a small club, always a small club.

[under the tin]

I think that's a bit harsh, TB.
The "limited numbers using the service " on these routes is more telling.
Why run near empty buses?
I suspect you are old enough to remember the days when Chelsea's average gate was similar to what ours was last season. We all know what they get now.
If we get back to the Prem, RFC's own particular brand of out of town glory hunters will come flooding back. I assure you.

[floyd__streete]

Saving a few pounds is far more important than providing a service to supporters, you should all know R£ading FC's policy by now.

[brendywendy]

I think that's a bit harsh, TB.
The "limited numbers using the service " on these routes is more telling.
Why run near empty buses?
I suspect you are old enough to remember the days when Chelsea's average gate was similar to what ours was last season. We all know what they get now.
If we get back to the Prem, RFC's own particular brand of out of town glory hunters will come flooding back. I assure you.

the double decker that comes through crowthorne from farnborough is usually very busy when its finished its collections. and the evidence of my own eyes tells me that the other buses outside the ground after the game were equally, if not more full most weeks.
not only that- but there was huge scope for increasing prices while still keeping more than competetive with the price of carparking/driving.
this is a huge shame, as it cut at least an hour off my match day travel, as well as being cheaper, quicker, and without a long walk in the middle.


BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[weybridgewanderer]

Bus from Bracknell was usually full

not good

[Royal Lady]

The buses always looked pretty full to me. Will cause problems now, esp with less parking available now too.

[brendywendy]

i am going to piss and moan in writing to the club

[M Brook]

The Wokingham bus was invariably full. In fact, I used to walk to town to catch it there rather than go to the Rifle which was closer cos sometimes all seats were gone by the time it got to the Rifle. I've also caught the Farnboro bus from yateley quite a few times but that was rarely busy.

This is very much a backward step and another example of why we are returning to our 'small club' reputation.

[Wycombe Royal]

The buses I have seen have generally only been half full and even if there was only 10 people using them there would still be big complaints.

[Terminal Boardom]

I think that's a bit harsh, TB.
The "limited numbers using the service " on these routes is more telling.
Why run near empty buses?
I suspect you are old enough to remember the days when Chelsea's average gate was similar to what ours was last season. We all know what they get now.
If we get back to the Prem, RFC's own particular brand of out of town glory hunters will come flooding back. I assure you.

Why would I be interested in Chelsea's average attendance from a few years back? I think you may have me confused with someone else.

[Barry the bird boggler]

They shouldn't be removing services if they are used to more or less full capacity regularly. Perhaps reduce the number (probably only 1 service anyway). If it's a financial issue the prices should go up first rather than just removing them.

If they weren't being regularly used then they should be dumped.

[under the tin]

I was just trying to make a point about the more successful a club is, the more "loyal fans" they have.
Chelsea was just an example, but the premise works for us too.
A percentage of the glory hunters obviously used to travel in by bus, numbers are inevitably affected.

[STAR Voice]

STAR reps have just got back from one of our meetings with the Club's Senior Management Board, where this was one of the subjects discussed.

The situation is that there is a single contract for these four routes, and collectively they make significant losses. Essentially the club hires the buses and drivers for the day, and keeps any revenue taken, so the fewer the passengers there are then the bigger the loss for RFC.

They are now investigating to see the exact figures for these routes to see if the two routes which are better supported (but still not full) can be cost-justified, and also if the contractual terms will allow them to keep on just the two routes.

So two routes *may* stay (but no promises) and two are definitely not cost-justifiable because so few people use them. The club is working on putting together family tickets and similar deals, etc, but the worry is that once the family price gets over £8 people will just go by car instead. We are in the area with the highest proportion of car ownership in the UK, after all.

These bus routes were started in the PL when demand was much higher and also we needed a transport plan for the planning purposes. Now that the demand is much lower the number of people actually using these services just makes it completely uneconomic - and putting the price up so the club are subsidising it less is likely only to reduce the number of people using it even more.

The club are, still, subsidising local services with Reading buses, on the rationale that as they can spend less money on subsidising buses, spending it on the local services is a much more effective way of making that money benefit the greatest number of supporters.

[Sun Tzu]

If the bus services are economically viable presumably someone will step in and run them instead of the club ?

Perhaps the people who use the buses could organise between themselves to hire a bus once a fortnight, in that way they have complete control not only of the costs but the route and timings.

[Hoop Blah]

If the bus services are economically viable presumably someone will step in and run them instead of the club ?

Perhaps the people who use the buses could organise between themselves to hire a bus once a fortnight, in that way they have complete control not only of the costs but the route and timings.

They may just be a worthwhile loss leader though, in which case those fans who use the bus, either every week or just a few times a season, might now be lost.

I don't expect the club to sort out everyones transport, far from it, but I can imagine that they could be a bit one dimensional in their thinking onthis.

[Sun Tzu]

If the bus services are economically viable presumably someone will step in and run them instead of the club ?

Perhaps the people who use the buses could organise between themselves to hire a bus once a fortnight, in that way they have complete control not only of the costs but the route and timings.

They may just be a worthwhile loss leader though, in which case those fans who use the bus, either every week or just a few times a season, might now be lost.

I don't expect the club to sort out everyones transport, far from it, but I can imagine that they could be a bit one dimensional in their thinking onthis.

Fair comments !

And it does sound like (in a move that will shock the usual cynics) STAR have managed to open the eyes of some to the possibility of options !

I'd be a bit surprised if there are many fans who ONLY come to games because of the buses, but they may make it easier for some and it would be a shame if anyone was unable to get to games due to lack of buses. I do know previous attempts to organise car shares have been very poorly used which is interesting as you would think for many of the outlying areas car shares would be more convenient and cheaper than buses....

[Jerry St Clair]

If the bus services are economically viable presumably someone will step in and run them instead of the club ?

Are Stewarts of Mortimer still running a bus through Burghfield?

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

Since the farnboro bus started, I've used it for most home games. It has been rarely full in that time but also rarely lightly used, most games it's appeared to be more than half full. Sure i could drive, but it's saved a lot of hassle and fuel and some money. I was finding that, when i was driving iwas having to leave earlier and earlier to get a parking space. Trains from crowthorne at weekends are a joke; typically they're only once every two hours, so getting a train from home isn't an option (plus its a mile and a half walk to the station for me). So, it will be back to taking the car again i suppose.

Is it cynical of me to be curious about the timing; the club only announced this after the seaon ticket renewal period had closed? I can also foresee that STAR will be completely suppine on this issue.

[Royal Monk]

What a bunch of oxf*rd ..... i cant make many games this coming season but bought my son a season ticket on the strength that he could catch the bus that goes through Tadley. Him and his mate are fckuked now

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

The telling info here is that the club hire the buses and pay all costs, so the company is guaranteed a profit, however it is just a two way trip, with no way of increasing income over and above charging more. Most of the time the buses are sat in the car park during a match.

Do RFC pay for all the buses in this way??? As surely the ones from town must make some profit, which should be offset against the cost of other routes, IMHO.