Stuart Midgley
Juniors
- Messages
- 13
The Rabbitoh's organised a charter train to Olympic Park from Central and Redfern for the Charity Shield two weeks ago and it got me thinking - what would be the possibility of St George chartering trains to take St George area members to Wollongong for home games and vice-versa?
I'm a 6-game ticketed member at Kogarah and I'd like to go to the games at Wollongong but the drive is a major pain in every respect, and I'm sure a lot of Wollongong members feel the same about coming to Kogarah.
Scheduled trains are almost as bad - they take forever (up to 2 hours) because they stop at every little station, they are infrequent outside of peak hour and they are another cash expense to have to fork out on the day. And even worse, you have to change at Hurstville to catch a south coast train if heading to the Illawarra, or likewise to get a local that stops at Kogarah or Carlton if coming up from Wollongong.
The thing is this however: express trains from Wollongong to Hurstville (there are some during weekday peak hours) only take 1hr 6min in the current Cityrail timetable - and they still stop at some stations that a special would power straight past. A special should be able to do the trip in just over an hour.
Here's my thoughts:
- St George charter a train for each home match.
- The train picks up at a few locations at the start of the journey and then runs express to the destination.
- Trains to Kogarah games pick up at maybe 4 stops, just north and south of Wollongong Station (and at Wollongong itself, of course) and then make a non-stop run to Carlton. Trains to Wollongong games pick up at Central, Redfern, Rockdale, Kogarah, Carlton, Allawah, Hurstville, Sutherland and then non-stop to Wollongong.
- Return train leaves either Carlton or Wollongong a set amount of time after the match, sufficient for people to walk to the station even if the game goes into extra time. Appropriate timings can be worked out.
- Most important: train transport to the games is offered as an optional purchase with your annual ticket purchase.
If the train travel option is offered as a part of the annual purchase subscription the club will have the number of patrons and the money to pay for the charter banked in advance, which takes out the risk.
By offering the train travel as part of the annual ticket subscription members would know they don't have to worry about paying for transportation on the day. It's just turn up, show your members ticket and on you go.
It gives supporters an easy, quick, painless way to get to the home games at the other stadium from where they live. It would be especially attractive to families who wouldn't have to shove 4 kids in the car for 2 hours.
It would be a 'Saints' train which families might like more.
And, because it's a Saints train, the club could have reps walk through the train selling things - they've got an hour to offer raffle tickets, supporters gear, family day sign-ups, etc. Big Dell could even ride the train once or twice as part of his members ambassadorship.
Most supporters can walk from the station to the stadiums at both ends, while people with disability problems could register that fact when they buy their season tickets and the club can use the shuttle buses for those members who have advised that they can't make the walk. (Much like they do now, as I understand).
CityRail outer suburban sets seat from just over 400 people on a 4-car to over 800 on an 8-car, so the club should be able to deal with a range of subscribers.
Questions:
Please, what does everyone think? Could it be done? What would be the problems? Does anyone know the costs of train charter, or work for Cityrail and can advise of the intricacies of doing this?
Is this a good idea or a clanger?
I'm a 6-game ticketed member at Kogarah and I'd like to go to the games at Wollongong but the drive is a major pain in every respect, and I'm sure a lot of Wollongong members feel the same about coming to Kogarah.
Scheduled trains are almost as bad - they take forever (up to 2 hours) because they stop at every little station, they are infrequent outside of peak hour and they are another cash expense to have to fork out on the day. And even worse, you have to change at Hurstville to catch a south coast train if heading to the Illawarra, or likewise to get a local that stops at Kogarah or Carlton if coming up from Wollongong.
The thing is this however: express trains from Wollongong to Hurstville (there are some during weekday peak hours) only take 1hr 6min in the current Cityrail timetable - and they still stop at some stations that a special would power straight past. A special should be able to do the trip in just over an hour.
Here's my thoughts:
- St George charter a train for each home match.
- The train picks up at a few locations at the start of the journey and then runs express to the destination.
- Trains to Kogarah games pick up at maybe 4 stops, just north and south of Wollongong Station (and at Wollongong itself, of course) and then make a non-stop run to Carlton. Trains to Wollongong games pick up at Central, Redfern, Rockdale, Kogarah, Carlton, Allawah, Hurstville, Sutherland and then non-stop to Wollongong.
- Return train leaves either Carlton or Wollongong a set amount of time after the match, sufficient for people to walk to the station even if the game goes into extra time. Appropriate timings can be worked out.
- Most important: train transport to the games is offered as an optional purchase with your annual ticket purchase.
If the train travel option is offered as a part of the annual purchase subscription the club will have the number of patrons and the money to pay for the charter banked in advance, which takes out the risk.
By offering the train travel as part of the annual ticket subscription members would know they don't have to worry about paying for transportation on the day. It's just turn up, show your members ticket and on you go.
It gives supporters an easy, quick, painless way to get to the home games at the other stadium from where they live. It would be especially attractive to families who wouldn't have to shove 4 kids in the car for 2 hours.
It would be a 'Saints' train which families might like more.
And, because it's a Saints train, the club could have reps walk through the train selling things - they've got an hour to offer raffle tickets, supporters gear, family day sign-ups, etc. Big Dell could even ride the train once or twice as part of his members ambassadorship.
Most supporters can walk from the station to the stadiums at both ends, while people with disability problems could register that fact when they buy their season tickets and the club can use the shuttle buses for those members who have advised that they can't make the walk. (Much like they do now, as I understand).
CityRail outer suburban sets seat from just over 400 people on a 4-car to over 800 on an 8-car, so the club should be able to deal with a range of subscribers.
Questions:
Please, what does everyone think? Could it be done? What would be the problems? Does anyone know the costs of train charter, or work for Cityrail and can advise of the intricacies of doing this?
Is this a good idea or a clanger?
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