Foster Wheeler Park & Ride

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

Sorry for asking as no doubt this has been asked before (I only have time to search about 4 pages back!) but I plan to use the FW Park & Ride tonight as £10 in the Speedway car park has put me off, and I have a few questions.

1. What time does it open?
2. How frequent are the shuttles to the Stad?
3. Is it safe?

Thanks in advance - much appreciated.

[weybridgewanderer]

1/ First bus is at 18:30

2/ Buses run roughly every 10 minutes. thats what is advertised on the official site anyway. really depends on 1/ how many buses are on the route and 2/ how bad is the traffic at HP.

3/ I've used it for years and never had any probelms.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

Thanks weybridge! I'llbe using this tonight for sure (as BC would say).

[Tutti Frutti]

I used it loads when I lived in London. It's fine, just don't arrive any more than 30 mins before kick-off or you've had it.

[fridays child]

I used it loads when I lived in London. It's fine, just don't arrive any more than 30 mins before kick-off or you've had it.

You mean any less ?

[Tutti Frutti]

I used it loads when I lived in London. It's fine, just don't arrive any more than 30 mins before kick-off or you've had it.

You mean any less ?

Quite. Brain. Not. Plugged. In.

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

Just be warned that they are currently digging up the entrance road to the FW car parks so people should leave slightly earlier to avoid getting caught in traffic.

[Ruud Van Kitson]

never taking this shit bus again. absolutley useless. they had two buses in use, we spent an hour and a half standing in rain, and were 25 mins late for the game.

[mini _dariusz]

never taking this shit bus again. absolutley useless. they had two buses in use, we spent an hour and a half standing in rain, and were 25 mins late for the game.

Saw the queues when I came past in my car.

Then saw some people start walking obviously believing the bus wouldn't get them there in time.

[M Brook]

Just be warned that they are currently digging up the entrance road to the FW car parks so people should leave slightly earlier to avoid getting caught in traffic.

Did that. Got there at 5.55 expecting the first bus to arrive around 6 20ish so it could be on its way by 6 30. First bus turned up at 6 35 and didn't leave until 6 55! By then the traffic was chokka. Got to the ground at 7 20. Didn't see another bus. Not surprised people were late.

That first bus must leave by 6 30 otherwise the whole service backs up. I've used the FW park n ride for 4 years. Its got more and more expensive and less and less reliable.

[Behindu]

Can I suggest people email the club with their bus experiences..
I'd hope they monitor what goes on but they probably don;t have the staff to actually have someone at the P&R so may just rely on the bus company lettingthem know if there are problems.
If they hear from users about buses arriving late / excessive queues etc then they are more likley to try and sort it than if the bus company just tells them it's all OK !

[cheeryoleary]

Can I suggest people email the club with their bus experiences..

It'll never work. Bitching about it on a fans website is much more satisfying.

[weybridgewanderer]

the club advertise this bus runs roughly every 10 minutes, is this a ocntract with Reading buses?

if people are not happy, email customerservices@readingfc.co.uk, I have , it will only change if many many others do to.

I have sent an email this morning, was on the second bus that didn't leave till 19:25, then did a 3 point turn in the middle of the A327.

Foster Wheeler at 18:20, seat in the north stand at 20:00, just as the game kicked off.

Have used this car park for years and never seen it so bad as it was last night although the traffic around HP was nowhere near as bad as I had feared.

why did it take 25 minutes to get 70 people on the first bus? I ghave suggested they start selling tickets to the Q rather than waiting till the bus turns up.

[Behindu]

Can I suggest people email the club with their bus experiences..

It'll never work. Bitching about it on a fans website is much more satisfying.

Indeed, it is the preferred approach of most !

Which is odd when a different approach might actually get something done ...

[Dazed]

You may have more luck getting in touch with Reading buses. I'm not sure if it is still the case but last season the club decided to stop running the match day buses as they funded them. Reading buses then took over match day travel, but like I said I'm not sure about this season.

[weybridgewanderer]

Apparently the club has a meeting with the transport providers set for tomorrow(Friday). Not sure if they have one before every home game or if this is as a result of the problems experienced last night.

[weybridgewanderer]

announcement to be by the club apologising for the dreadful service on Wednesday night. it may also make reference to excuses from reading buses about the bad weather and the traffic.

there is a suggestion that at future games they will have a conductor sell tickets to people in the Q so the bus turnaround will be quicker. Unlikely this will be in place by tomorrows game v everton, hope to have it in place by the west ham game

[PieEater]

It sounds like having 100 buses as a solution for solving the congestion when the ground expansion happens is going to be a real winner.

[The 17 Bus]

My dad helps a mate out in Tadley on a wednesday, left to get home to Woodley for b4 6, got stuck in traffic going home so missed the footy bus, tried to drive to FW, but by half seven was not there, so turned around and went home again, £21 wasted on his ST. And by the sound of it he made the right decision if it took from 6-20 to 8pm to get there.

In all honesty WHERE ARE THE BUS LANES??? separate the public transport from the private cars.

IMHO it is time they used MORE of the car park to park buses, in most situations folk can leave the car at home, it is what my dad would rather do, and I do not include folk that are disabled or have disabled passengers in the car in this.

[Platypuss]

http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Blogs/0,,10306~1094547,00.html

Following the problems encountered by matchday bus services before Wednesday night's game with Chelsea, the Club has met with Reading Buses to discuss the situation.

In trying to understand the cause of the problems, we have studied the events of the evening in comparison with the FA Cup replay against Manchester United in January, when a sell-out crowd with a large travelling contingent was comfortably admitted into the stadium in time for kick off and all bus services ran smoothly.

To provide some background to the evening's events: at around 5pm a heavy build-up of traffic started to develop in all routes out of the town centre. This was greatly exacerbated by the extremely poor weather conditions, which always leads to a significant increase in road traffic.

The unusually high build-up of traffic continued to intensify from 5pm as the weather continued to deteriorate, meaning that a number of buses were delayed. Some buses were unable to reach the start of their routes due to the congestion, while others lost time along the way.

All buses were in service with a full compliment of buses on all routes, but many experienced delays for the reasons stated above - primarily the inclement weather conditions which caused an unusually high volume of road traffic.

The Henley service was an exception because the bus suffered a broken window en route to the start point, and a replacement bus could not be arranged at short notice. As compensation to passengers, this service will be running free of charge for Saturday's game with Everton.

We will continue to work with all relevant authorities to prevent a repeat of similar problems in the future, and encourage supporters to leave as much time as possible for their journeys.