New Everton Stadium - Hill Dickinson Stadium


I agree with what everyone has said about Merseytravel, but on a positive note... we have one of the best football stadiums in world football, and it is situated on the banks of the Royal Blue Mersey. Not long ago, it looked like we were off to Kirkby! I know there has been a lot of debate about its capacity given that our record attendance is 78,000, but it's still an incredibly impressive stadium, with its impossibly steep stands and its closeness to the pitch. It's also larger in area than the RS' stadium, despite having a slightly smaller capacity.
 
It will appear online that it was a total catastrophe, everything about the day, the experience, the transport, the scoreboard, the corner flags, the clarity of the announcer, the acoustics, the smell and the wind will have ruined everyone’s life, and that of their pets.

But 99% of people will have had a fantastic, probably emotional day, put up with a few foibles, realised that no-one forced them to buy a Korean Chicken Bowl if they didn’t want one, and found out some do’s and don’ts in terms of getting in and out of the area.

There will be issues, and people are right to voice them of course. But plenty on X will have already pre-decided what they are going to dislike.
Will there be hotdogs? That's all I'm concerned with!!
 

First of all you're asking people with poor mobility to get on overcrowded trains and fight their way through to Sandhills station to pick up points.

AFAIK the only way past this is the drop off points near to the station from private cars in soft closure zones periods, but that's a minimum of an hour or so before KO. After that the hard zone comes into play and that drop off window disappears.
I'm not saying it's the answer but I'm seeing ideas and provision being put in places, there is

- 100 accessible parking spaces at the stadium
- blue badge holders can park closer to the ground in double yellows but I'm not sure where
- shuttle from sandhills, I'm guessing people can also be dropped off here ?

Of course I'm sure more could be done and I hope you are providing potential solutions to the Everton fan groups or the club

As an aside, how does the above compare to goodison ?
 
I'm not saying it's the answer but I'm seeing ideas and provision being put in places, there is

- 100 accessible parking spaces at the stadium
- blue badge holders can park closer to the ground in double yellows but I'm not sure where
- shuttle from sandhills, I'm guessing people can also be dropped off here ?

Of course I'm sure more could be done and I hope you are providing potential solutions to the Everton fan groups or the club

As an aside, how does the above compare to goodison ?
Think this is anywhere outside of the road closures and anywhere with a no loading / no waiting sign.
My arl fella drives over from Leeds and had a blue badge, he seems to think he can park in the permit zones and double yellows so long as it’s outside the above.
 
I'm not saying it's the answer but I'm seeing ideas and provision being put in places, there is

- 100 accessible parking spaces at the stadium
- blue badge holders can park closer to the ground in double yellows but I'm not sure where
- shuttle from sandhills, I'm guessing people can also be dropped off here ?

Of course I'm sure more could be done and I hope you are providing potential solutions to the Everton fan groups or the club

As an aside, how does the above compare to goodison ?

There's 54 disabled parking spots at the new stadium; off site parking areas for disabled people has been set up, but these lie outside the soft closure areas to the north and south of the hard closure areas directly outside the stadium. The soft parking zones are still a distance to the stadium itself (including that long walk through the gates and to the stadium entrance) and any disabled person who doesn't drive but wanting to use the soft parking zones to be dropped off will need to use it at least one hour before the game kicks off because after that point that also becomes a hard parking zone.
 

This is crying out for a proper, frequent matchday bus service from Walton Lane/Priory Road at £2 a ride £3 return. Something that you can get 2 hours before kick off up to 10 mins before kick off. And vice versa. You get the gist.

If after all this time there is nothing in place, heads need to roll. Starting with mophead. Too busy with his bendy bus set.

People want to drive. Regardless.
The soccer bus from Kirkby stops on Walton Lane/Spellow Lane.

 
The interminable transport conundrum has been known about from the start..... hence the intentionally vague and threadbare transport plan published over 5yrs ago, that looked like it was put together by an A-level Geography student in a spare afternoon (and that's being kind). Yet, even now some people are still asking where they can park as near to the stadium as possible? The mind boggles.

It isn't just about having parking spaces, it is also about having sufficient road lanes to access them and still provide space for the all-important shuttle buses to operate effectively, to serve an area that is practically devoid of any bus routes.

It was stated from the very beginning that this stadium would need a complete reversal in the proportions of people using public and private transport.... it was writ large (in the small print). At Goodison it was 60:40 in favour of the car. ie approx 24k attended via car and 13k via public transport and/or walking. It was determined pretty early on, that the few roads accessing BMD could not cope with anything like that influx of cars.... hence the parking restrictions and road closures that were immediately imposed in the plan. In effect they claim that they need at least 31k to use public transport and/or walk to the new stadium (I think that was a consevarive estimate, and that they actually need far more to use public transport/walk, with the conundrum being that these numbers have not been allowed for in the provision planned)..... For the bulk of the rest who need to drive, they want them to try to park as far away from the site as possible, to avoid complete gridlock on the few available access roads.

The simple message is very clear, if you live in the city-region and are able-bodied, then please leave your car at home. I know that is a completely alien concept to some drivers, who believe that it is always someone else's responsibility, but on this occasion, it is everyone's responsibilty to try to make it work, and everyone in the city-region has direct access to a bus or train service that serves the city centre, so there are no excuses.

If you have mobility issues and have a blue badge, then you have to get there very early to get one the few parking places available nearer to the ground or be dropped off. If you're an out-of-towner who hasn't got easy access to a direct train/bus service to Liverpool city centre.... then either drive to the city centre (area) and get a Shuttle bus/walk or drive to any of the peripheral Northern or Wirral Line stations (they all serve Moorfields) and get the train, or failing that, try your luck parking outside of the restricted zones..... but be prepared to walk! In fact, walking is the recurring theme.

Unfortunately, some people still think that they have the god-given right to turn up last minute and be dropped off or park on top of the place.... no doubt spoilt by being able to do precisely that at GP for years. This appeared to be what happened at the 2nd test event, with the Strand jammed for an hour before KO, because far too many wanted access Grt Howard Street to park in the 10 streets area. Leaving thousands having to arrive late, stuck in the traffic, and in shuttle buses that ended up taking almost an hr to do less than a 2 mile journey.

This is still a test event.... so let's test the transport plan fully, by using the buses, shuttles, trains and walking routes as per that plan and let's not all try to turn up 20 mins before KO.
 
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The interminable transport conundrum has been known about from the start..... hence the intentionally vague and threadbare transport plan published over 5yrs ago, that looked like it was put together by an A-level Geography student in a spare afternoon (and that's being kind). Yet, even now some people are still asking where they can park as near to the stadium as possible? The mind boggles.

It isn't just about having parking spaces, it is also about having sufficient road lanes to access them and still provide space for the all-important shuttle buses to operate effectively, to serve an area that is practically devoid of any bus routes.

It was stated from the very beginning that this stadium would need a complete reversal in the proportions of people using public and private transport.... it was writ large (in the small print). At Goodison it was 60:40 in favour of the car. ie approx 24k attended via car and 13k via public transport and/or walking. It was determined pretty early on, that the few roads accessing BMD could not cope with anything like that influx of cars.... hence the parking restrictions and road closures that were immediately imposed in the plan. In effect they claim that they need at least 31k to use public transport and/or walk to the new stadium (I think that was a consevarive estimate, and that they actually need far more to use public transport, with the conundrum being that these numbers have not been allowed for in the provision planned)..... For the bulk of the rest who need to drive, they want them to try to park as far away from the site as possible, to avoid complete gridlock on the few available access roads.

The simple message is very clear, if you live in the city-region and are able-bodied, then please leave your car at home. I know that is a completely alien concept to some drivers, who believe that it is always someone else's responsibility, but on this occasion, it is everyone's responsibilty to try to make it work, and everyone in the city-region has direct access to a bus or train service that serves the city centre.

If you have mobility issues and have a blue badge, then you have to get there very early to get one the few parking places available nearer to the ground. If you're an out-of-towner who hasn't got easy access to a direct train/bus service to Liverpool city centre.... then either drive to the city centre (area) and get a Shuttle bus or drive to any of the peripheral Northern ir Wirral Line stations (they all serve Moorfields) and get the train, or failing that, try your luck parking outside of the restricted zones..... but be prepared to walk! In fact walking is the recurring theme.

Unfortunately, some people still think that they have the god-given right to turn up last minute and be dropped off or park on top of the place.... no doubt spoilt by being able to do precisely that at GP for years. This appeared to be what happened at the 2nd test event, with the Strand jammed for an hour before KO, because far too many wanted access Grt Howard Street to park in the 10 streets area. Leaving thousands having to arrive late, stuck in the traffic, and in shuttle buses that ended up taking almost an hr to do less than a 2 mile journey.

This is still a test event.... so let's test the transport plan fully, by using the buses, shuttles, trains and walking routes as per that plan and let's not all try to turn up 20 mins befor KO.

Which is why the whole thing should have been refused planning permission by the local authority.

But here we are.

As for those with mobility issues getting there early to get around the finite resources placed their way by this plan: people who are disabled usually have multiple health issues and adding on a couple of hours to match attendance with a drop off / pick up way before / way after the kick off / final whistle effectively means they'll have to think long and hard about that attendance.

People have to stop thinking abstractly about what difficulties others need to surmount to attend a match at the BMD.
 

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