Northam; are you Chapel in disguise.

[pap]

What do you mean by "mass transit"? What is Southampton Central station, if not a mainline station walking distance from the ground? St Marys is walking distance to its city centre, walking distance to the mainline train and coach station and walking distance to regional train stations. Also easy walking distance to Hythe and Isle of Wight ferries.

 

Compare that to West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, QPR or even places like Man Utd or Leeds (ridiculous queues for buses back into town).

 

London Underground, Merseyrail, Manchester Metro Link. That sort of thing.

[Bucks Saint]

Wanted to kill myself when people started singing 'Happy Birthday Ron.'

 

Very rational. Hope you dont have a tv or radio

[Sour Mash]

London Underground, Merseyrail, Manchester Metro Link. That sort of thing.

Which all have massive queues that last for over half an hour after games. Not sure how any of them would work in Southampton and make much of a difference to half the ground leaving 5 mins early.

[pap]

Which all have massive queues that last for over half an hour after games. Not sure how any of them would work in Southampton and make much of a difference to half the ground leaving 5 mins early.

 

Some, and those queues are easily avoided if you know what you're doing, especially in London, which has a good bit of redundancy in it. After the Emirates I saw thousands of people trying to squeeze into Finsbury Park, and only around 10 or 15 that realised you get virtually anywhere if you went overland to Kings Cross.

 

I accept that football, even when played regularly, is an exceptional event, but it helps if you haven't got really shít transport in the first place. The M27 is the perfect monument to the spirit of South Hampshire transport planning. 30 years ago, it was seen as the solution of a lot of problems. These days, it's the cause of a load of 'em. It enabled people to move to places they might not have considered, contributing to our Solent City sprawl.

 

Spread out population, crap roads, far too many traffic lights, crap transport and continuing problems with all three motorways.

[Golden Balls]

I didn't hear that from the Northam. Sometimes I look over to the Itchen and can visibly see there is chanting happening but can't hear a thing. The acoustics are all wrong. That said, atmosphere has been terrible this season.

 

As for people leaving early. It's the same at every ground and has always been that way at SMS. Saturday seemed like slightly more than usual. I start to make my way down at stoppage time but with the queue in the aisle I still see the whole game. I do find early leavers strange. Fair enough if you have somewhere to be, but that's surely a minority. Why would you miss the end of the match just to sit in traffic or begin your walk home earlier? What's the rush? If you'd done that every game in the 2002/03 season you'd have missed about 10 goals.

[Sour Mash]

Some, and those queues are easily avoided if you know what you're doing, especially in London, which has a good bit of redundancy in it. After the Emirates I saw thousands of people trying to squeeze into Finsbury Park, and only around 10 or 15 that realised you get virtually anywhere if you went overland to Kings Cross.

 

I accept that football, even when played regularly, is an exceptional event, but it helps if you haven't got really shít transport in the first place. The M27 is the perfect monument to the spirit of South Hampshire transport planning. 30 years ago, it was seen as the solution of a lot of problems. These days, it's the cause of a load of 'em. It enabled people to move to places they might not have considered, contributing to our Solent City sprawl.

 

Spread out population, crap roads, far too many traffic lights, crap transport and continuing problems with all three motorways.

Those queues aren't easily avoided, that's why they exist.

 

So what journeys would an equivalent of a mersey rail, Mancheter Metro Link or London Underground in Southampton make a significant difference to? And how does that differ to a West Ham fan travelling back from one of their home games to Hertfordshire for example?

[pap]

Those queues aren't easily avoided, that's why they exist.

 

That's why CityMapper exists, at least from the consumer's perspective.

 

If people are too thick to avail themselves of the available information, what can you do?

 

So what journeys would an equivalent of a mersey rail, Mancheter Metro Link or London Underground in Southampton make a significant difference to? And how does that differ to a West Ham fan travelling back from one of their home games to Hertfordshire for example?

 

Any of the outlying towns, especially those that aren't presently well-served, or utterly reliant on the M27

 

Even your West Ham fan would benefit. Even if he or she drives down, every local taking the metro is one less motor on the road.

[Sour Mash]

That's why CityMapper exists, at least from the consumer's perspective.

 

If people are too thick to avail themselves of the available information, what can you do?

 

 

 

Any of the outlying towns, especially those that aren't presently well-served, or utterly reliant on the M27

 

Even your West Ham fan would benefit. Even if he or she drives down, every local taking the metro is one less motor on the road.

So there are big queues at Upton Park, White Hart Lane Stations, Highbury and Islington, but none at Southampton Central. It's easy to get back to Totton, Romsey, Fareham, Winchester, even Reading.

 

Half the people leaving early are just going back to the pub anyway.

[st alex]

Easiest way to beat the traffic is to cycle past it.

 

(This is where everyone claims they can't cycle because they've come from Salisbury or Andover or Lymington in which case just get a train). Southampton has a problem with high car dependancy, granted public here isn't particularly good but it cripples the city whenever cruise ships arrive or football matches are on or schools start start or finish.

[GaleLeTissier]

People can come/leave/get a beer etc when they want...the fact you lot are on a internet site moaning about is embarrassing

[Whitey Grandad]

I take that on board, and I've had issues in smaller places in traffic. Southampton is something of a special case though. Not enough redundancy in the roads, and not enough alternatives off them, unlike a lot of other cities which have invested in better transport networks and have better transport links.

 

All the government money goes to the North innit.

[Lord Duckhunter]

People can come/leave/get a beer etc when they want...the fact you lot are on a internet site moaning about is embarrassing

 

Why on earth would anyone leave a game when there's a chance of a result altering goal?

 

I couldn't walk away from a game if I was a neutral and it was in the balance , so really don't see how a supporter could . At QPR the male of a couple stood next to my nipper said " this has got 0-0 all over it" when the injury time board went up and the women said "let's go" . They then both walked out . Of course they missed Mane's winner, plus the excitement at the end , with a disallowed goal ect . Of course they have the right to leave or do what they want , but I personally would prefer a proper football supporter to have had those 2 tickets . You can not call yourself a proper supporter if you can leave or turn off any game that's 0-0 heading into injury time, let alone one with a team you're meant to be following is involved . Saturdays game was a done deal on 85 mins , but the same people stream out of the ground near me regardless of the score. Even the Chelsea game where we were hanging on for dear life . I'm sure they've all got excuses but personally I think it's pathetic .

[pap]

All the government money goes to the North innit.

 

Pah. Certainly didn't seem that way when I got here in 1994. EU Objective One money has been responsible for much of the investment since then.

 

Besides, it's not like the South hasn't had money for infrastructure. I can remember walking under the uncompleted M27 as it was being built.

 

If I had to come up with a serious answer to Southampton's specific problems, and why other places don't have them to the same extent, I'd probably point to the fact that all of the places that do have metro systems are all areas where the economy of the metropolitan area is considered as a whole. Merseyrail operates over all of Merseyside, not just Liverpool. The Metrolink's main reason for existence was connecting towns like Bury, Rochdale and Ashton-under-Lyne to Manchester.

 

Southampton is the main city in the South Hampshire conurbation. If you live in the metro area but not in Southampton, chances are that you're going to need it for work, shopping or whatever. Aside from a creaky train network which serves a "central" station a mile away from anything useful and a small airport, what else is there to take traffic off the roads?

[Whitey Grandad]

Pah. Certainly didn't seem that way when I got here in 1994. EU Objective One money has been responsible for much of the investment since then.

 

Besides, it's not like the South hasn't had money for infrastructure. I can remember walking under the uncompleted M27 as it was being built.

 

If I had to come up with a serious answer to Southampton's specific problems, and why other places don't have them to the same extent, I'd probably point to the fact that all of the places that do have metro systems are all areas where the economy of the metropolitan area is considered as a whole. Merseyrail operates over all of Merseyside, not just Liverpool. The Metrolink's main reason for existence was connecting towns like Bury, Rochdale and Ashton-under-Lyne to Manchester.

 

Southampton is the main city in the South Hampshire conurbation. If you live in the metro area but not in Southampton, chances are that you're going to need it for work, shopping or whatever. Aside from a creaky train network which serves a "central" station a mile away from anything useful and a small airport, what else is there to take traffic off the roads?

 

You're quite right, we are severely lacking in any sort of light railway/tramway system. Hampshire County Council had many such schemes planned for years but eventually had to give up when there was no government money forthcoming. No votes in it, of course.

[70's Mike]

You're quite right, we are severely lacking in any sort of light railway/tramway system. Hampshire County Council had many such schemes planned for years but eventually had to give up when there was no government money forthcoming. No votes in it, of course.

plus NIMBY's