ACTIVE TRAVEL CASE STUDYAMERICAN EXPRESS COMMUNITY STADIUMBRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION F.C. (UK)

EUROPEAN HEALTHY STADIA NETWORK

Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. arecurrently based at the AmericanExpress Community Stadium,commonly referred to as .The club and their community trust,Albion in the Community (AITC), haveestablished a Travel Management Planin conjunction with local authorities toencourage fans, staff, visitors and otherusers of the stadium to use walking,cycling and public transport asalternatives to travelling by private car.

Main activities and achievements

The Amex was the first building of its kind inthe UK to achieve a BREEAM very goodrating on completion of the stadium in July2011, and continues to focus on reducingCO2 emissions by encouraging the use ofpublic transport and active travel options.

Though the priority for Brighton & HoveAlbion is sustainable transport, and asignificant proportion of this consists ofjourneys via public transport, by its verynature the use of public transport is a form ofmulti-modal travel as it has an implicit

.

• Official parking around the stadium andlocal sites is limited and accounts for just15% of the total attendance. This is thereverse of a large number of other EnglishFootball League clubs where in the orderof 80% travel to their stadium by privatecar and 20% by sustainable means;

• The number of people using multi-modaltravel to the stadium (walking or cycling incombination with public transport)accounts for more than 50% of the totalattendance, approximately 12,800 peopleper match during 2015/ 16;

• The club has 172 covered and securecycle racks with a further 46 within thenewly landscaped street;

• The main road to the Amex from Brightoncity centre has a dedicated and well-signposted cycle lane. On-site signagedirects cyclists to cycle locking facilities.

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ACTIVE TRAVEL CASE STUDYAMERICAN EXPRESS COMMUNITY STADIUMBRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION F.C. (UK)

Above: Cycle locking facilities at the Amex

Travel Management Plan

The Travel Management Plan, operated inpartnership with Brighton & Hove CityCouncil and Lewes District Council, isintended to reduce the use of privatevehicular transport to the Amex onmatchdays and non-matchdays.

The main aims are to:

• Encourage fans, staff, visitors and otherusers of the stadium to use walking,cycling and public transport as analternative to private car use;

• Increase the awareness of staff, visitorsand other users of the advantages andpotential for travel by moreenvironmentally friendly means;

• Introduce a package of physical andmanagement measures that will facilitatestaff and visitors to travel by modes oftransport other than private car;

• Promote the benefits of sustainable travelwhich include health, reduction in stress,increased productivity andenvironmental friendliness;

• Increase awareness of and improve roadsafety and personal security;

• Identify a nominated member of staff toact as a Travel Plan Co-ordinator (TPC)

Partners

The TPC works closely with Brighton &Hove security, health and safetydepartments; transport officer; supporterservices; and marketing andcommunication departments internally,before liaising directly with externalstakeholders. The TPC also attends a TravelManagement Group composed of thefollowing stakeholders and organisationswhich meet regularly to discuss promotionand maintenance of sustainable travel to thestadium. These include:

• Brighton Aldridge Community Academy

• Brighton & Hove City Council

• Brighton & Hove Buses

• British Transport Police

• East Sussex Fire & Rescue

• East Sussex County Council

• Falmer Parish Council

• SECAmb

• Southern Railways

• Sussex Police

• University of Brighton

• University of Sussex

Communications and Promotion ofActivities

The success of the travelmanagement plan is in part thanks to theoffer of free public transport use for bothhome and away supporters as part of theirmatchday league ticket.

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Above: Falmer train station is just a short walk from the Amex

Brighton & Hove Albion use this in tandemwith the travel guide, to discourage the useof private vehicles to and from the stadium.The travel guide provides a plethora ofinformation for individuals and groupswanting to walk or cycle to the Amex andexplains that fans attempting to park in thearea surrounding the stadium will bedeterred by stewards and may risk parkingtickets. Live social media updates on amatchday also inform fans of travel options.The travel guide is emailed to all matchattendees in a pre-match brief, is availablevia the C website and is also circulatedregularly via social media.

Sodexo, the catering partner,promote the rail links, bus service andcycling to the stadium for all non-match dayevents to their staff. Furthermore, eachevent organiser receives a Welcome

with a directions guide once theirevent has been booked.

Evaluation of Activities

The club assesses how supporters chooseto travel to the stadium on matchdays asthey enter the stadium perimeter bymonitoring the number of supporters atvarious entrance points. In each year thissurvey was conducted, over 50% ofsupporters visiting the stadium used acombination of walking or cycling withpublic transport and this has beenmaintained in the 2015/16 season (53.1%).

Supporter satisfaction with travel options isalso examined through an online survey.Over 90% of respondents rated their travelexperience as positive in 2015/16.

How have activities been funded?

Associated costs are part-funded throughthe price of matchday tickets; the rest issubsidised by the Club. Providing asustainable transport plan was an essentialpart of the planning permission to build the_

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19.6%

32.1%

0.4%

17.6%

8.0%

22.2%

23.2%

34.2%

0.4%

13.3%

5.6%

17.7%

19.2%

31.0%

0.6%

13.0%

12.0%

14.0%

13.1%

40.0%

16.4%

12.9%

17.0%

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 40.0% 45.0%

Multi-modal (Bus + Walking)

Multi-modal (Train + Walking)

Cycling Only

Park & Ride

Coach

Parking

Travel options taken by fans on a matchday

2015/2016 2013/14 2012/13 2011/12

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Amex and therefore the transport levy onmatchday tickets plays a vital part inallowing Brighton & Hove Albion tomaintain all of the access areas and travelmethods that service the stadium including:walkways surrounding the stadiumcompound, bike storage facilities andextension of the platform at the nearbyFalmer Station.

Fundraising and cycling advocacy

Albion in the Community have beeninvolved in a number of successful cyclingadvocacy projects, contributing to thegrowing cycling culture in and aroundBrighton, including:

• a Bike Train event in 2012 promoting andencouraging fans to cycle to the stadiumon matchdays in conjunction with theClub and a local cycling organisation.The event was led by local MP andcurrent Co-leader of the Green Party ofEngland and Wales, Caroline Lucas.

• Brighton & Hove Albion organise anannual to event withindividual participants raising money forAITC to enable them to carry out a rangeof activities including health initiatives,school and social inclusion programmesacross the region. The event attractsboth seasoned and amateur cyclists,who also act to encourage cycling as analternative mode of transport and forrecreational purposes.

Future plans

The Travel Management Strategy isextremely successful in encouraging bothhome and away supporters to travel to thestadia on matchdays by sustainable means,with just one in five using private vehicles.The Club monitors travel patterns on aseason by season basis, adjusting resourcesaccordingly and working closely with localstakeholders to ensure the existing balanceis maintained.

Above: Manager Chris Hughton (centre right) supporting the Brighton to Paris bike ride in 2015

All text tables, copyright European Healthy Stadia ® Network 2017

Primary authors:

Dr Matthew Philpott, MA, PhDMichael Viggars, MA

European Healthy Stadia ® Network151 Dale StreetLiverpoolL2 2JHUnited Kingdom

info@healthystadia.eu+44 (0) 151 237 2686www.healthystadia.eu

EUROPEAN HEALTHY STADIA NETWORK

Key Contact:

Sue Burchett

Compliance Manager

Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.

sue.burchett@bhafc.co.uk

+44 (0) 1273 878 283

www.seagulls.co.uk www.albioninthecommunity.org.uk