Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

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HammerMan2004
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by HammerMan2004 »

Danny's Dyer Acting wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:31 am Why? Because the place is designed for football fans and around the realisation that it needs to deal with a huge peak of people trying to enter in a short period before kick off.
And yet we are where we are. Arrive 45 minutes early, meet with your mates, have a couple of drinks on the island or in the concourse and have a sing-song...or just continue to be unhappy with it I suppose. It's your life.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by mushy »

mike1961 wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:25 am As I just posted an another thread "In the old days I just had to get to the street entrance of the Bobby Moore Upper 5 minutes before kick off and I would be in my seat in time ..." so I would say 10 minutes is a reasonable waiting time to get in but HALF AN HOUR hanging around is too much!
But why is it half and hour? Is it because there are many like minded people that all want to get in at the last minute? You can't really blame the amount of turnstiles as it appears that we should have more than enough.
The long queues seem to be a particular problem for evening games, lots come straight from work and grab a quick bite to eat first.
But what I don't understand is why you would expect a 10 minute queue when you know full well it's going to be longer?
My bigger question is -:
What do we think the club could be doing better to ensure less last minute queuing?
I can't think of much they could do to be honest.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Pentonville »

I’m struggling to think of a single away ground where I have had to queue more than 5 minutes.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by mike1961 »

I'm talking about the period after 2004/5 when I became a STH. 5 minutes was enough time from getting to the stand entrance in Castle Street to getting to my seat in the BMU. Before then you just had to get there early to queue for a ticket at the ticket office. Those really were the good old days ...
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Danny's Dyer Acting »

mushy wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:37 am But why is it half and hour? Is it because there are many like minded people that all want to get in at the last minute? You can't really blame the amount of turnstiles as it appears that we should have more than enough.
The long queues seem to be a particular problem for evening games, lots come straight from work and grab a quick bite to eat first.
But what I don't understand is why you would expect a 10 minute queue when you know full well it's going to be longer?
My bigger question is -:
What do we think the club could be doing better to ensure less last minute queuing?
I can't think of much they could do to be honest.
The club could look at why this doesn't happen anywhere else and make the necessary changes.

I would imagine the two key steps would be reducing the bottleneck at the search points (single file lines and you could fit in 2/3x as many people doing pat downs) and putting more turnstiles in.

There's a problem with both of those suggestions though. In fact there are two problems. We all know what they are.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by ornchurch ammer »

Danny's Dyer Acting wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:46 am The club could look at why this doesn't happen anywhere else and make the necessary changes.

I would imagine the two key steps would be reducing the bottleneck at the search points (single file lines and you could fit in 2/3x as many people doing pat downs) and putting more turnstiles in.

There's a problem with both of those suggestions though. In fact there are two problems. We all know what they are.
Could they? I would imagine that they couldn’t give a flying f***.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by mushy »

Danny's Dyer Acting wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:46 am The club could look at why this doesn't happen anywhere else and make the necessary changes.

I would imagine the two key steps would be reducing the bottleneck at the search points (single file lines and you could fit in 2/3x as many people doing pat downs) and putting more turnstiles in.

There's a problem with both of those suggestions though. In fact there are two problems. We all know what they are.
Firstly it does happen at away matches, not necessarily for away fans as there is a maximum of 3,000 and away fans tend to get inside the ground earlier.
You mention that security is a particular issue and I would agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that once you get through security you go straight into a queue for the turnstiles. In other words if there were no security whatsoever the queues at the turnstiles would be massive. It's just a traffic light effect.
As for putting in more turnstiles, I don't think physically there are and spaces left to do this are there?
It's a bigger ground with nearly twice the capacity, personally I think the days of turning up five minutes before kick off and expecting to get in are long gone.
It's a culture change that we need to get used to, especially for big evening matches.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by mike1961 »

Perhaps it is the security checks which are the bottleneck, but there are still usually big queues in front of the turnstiles if you turn up in the last 15 minutes. Surely the equation is simple: if the crowd is (approximately) twice the size of the Boleyn crowd then don't we need twice as many turnstiles to be able to get in in the ground 5 minutes before the kick off. I have a feeling something else is going on here ...
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Hermit_Road »

mike1961 wrote: Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:22 pm Perhaps it is the security checks which are the bottleneck, but there are still usually big queues in front of the turnstiles if you turn up in the last 15 minutes. Surely the equation is simple: if the crowd is (approximately) twice the size of the Boleyn crowd then don't we need twice as many turnstiles to be able to get in in the ground 5 minutes before the kick off. I have a feeling something else is going on here ...
Interesting point. How many turnstiles did we have at The Boleyn? I don't know but would guess about 60 to 70. I thnk The London Stadium has about 90+. However, times do change (I do recall turning up at the last knockings a few time at The Boleyn) and nowadays I'm at the turnstiles at least an hour before kick off as I just don't see the point in being in a que for ages during the last 15 or so minutes.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Johnny Byrne's Boots »

£4.6M extra stadium funding needed last season (SixFootTwo)
The London Stadium required a further £4.6m of funding in the last season in variance to the budget set for the financial year April 2021 to April 2022 documents have revealed. Public stadium owners have published reasons for the extra funding which was incurred despite crowd restrictions enforced by the pandemic.

The London Legacy Development Corporation board pack for July 2022 gives a variance breakdown for the additional costs claiming:

Cancellation of summer events in 2021 and postponement of the Hella Mega concert tour which is now due to take place in June 2022;

Higher West Ham match costs reflecting additional stewarding requirements to manage fan behaviour

COVID requirements, and various governing bodies

Additional Europa League matches for West Ham;

Commercial income slippage (including Stadium Naming Rights), which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.


more...
£4.6M is about first team starter wages. Good job we don't own it :winker:

Page 17 is the relevant one in the linked document
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by goa127 »

I arrived a bit late for the Tottenham game. I crossed the bridge at approximately 7.47 or therabouts. There was no queue at security but a ten minute queue at the turnstiles. Interestingly after I got in the queue was almost as big, meaning all those behind me had arrived more than 5 minutes after kick-off. The biggest hold up seemed to be peoples' phones not working the turnstiles. 3 people in front of me had issues. I usually find if I'm at security 15 minutes before K.O. I'm in the ground in time. When the NFC works it allows people through very quickly, perhaps in the coming months it will work more consistently
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Kialos »

Yes, there appeared to be problems at the turnstiles. Certainly slower than the "good old days" of access cards for some reason.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by mushy »

Kialos wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:25 pm Yes, there appeared to be problems at the turnstiles. Certainly slower than the "good old days" of access cards for some reason.
I've yet to discover if this is an issue with NFC or user error. There does seem to be a lack of understanding of how NFC works with people still trying to stick their phones into the scanner thinking this is how NFC works. They should (as they do at most away grounds) have trained up stewards on each turnstile helping those that need to know, at least until the new system has become bedded in.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Danny's Dyer Acting »

The unsuitable facilities aside, there's a lack of staff on the gates as well.

The ones I use have had one person on the entrance side at every game so far. Poor bloke has to spend the whole time frantically looking up and down the row for signs of anyone having problems and then anyone that does have an issue has to push their way through everyone else at the front to get to him. Complete mess.

Let's assume you get about 50,000 people going through those gates in the hour leading up to kick off, surely with the money being made someone can afford to employ more than 1 person to manage issues at each of the ten gates?
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by mushy »

Danny's Dyer Acting wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:40 pm

surely with the money being made someone can afford to employ more than 1 person to manage issues at each of the ten gates?
Isn't that the issue though DDA?
There isn't any money being made, not by the stadium owners anyway. The club need to spend money on improving the stewarding but they won't really as it's not in their best interest to look after their 'customers'.
They know we will turn up week in week out no matter what.
Anyone that thinks Gold and Sullivan are fans are seriously misguided.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Kialos »

mushy wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:36 pm I've yet to discover if this is an issue with NFC or user error. There does seem to be a lack of understanding of how NFC works with people still trying to stick their phones into the scanner thinking this is how NFC works. They should (as they do at most away grounds) have trained up stewards on each turnstile helping those that need to know, at least until the new system has become bedded in.
In theory but I couldn't get a green light holding my phone up to the scanner, I literally had to insert it into the scanner. I don't know why that should be. I've got NFC enabled.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Albie Beck »

mushy wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 1:36 pm I've yet to discover if this is an issue with NFC or user error. There does seem to be a lack of understanding of how NFC works with people still trying to stick their phones into the scanner thinking this is how NFC works. They should (as they do at most away grounds) have trained up stewards on each turnstile helping those that need to know, at least until the new system has become bedded in.
Kialos wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 4:27 pm In theory but I couldn't get a green light holding my phone up to the scanner, I literally had to insert it into the scanner. I don't know why that should be. I've got NFC enabled.
There's some "user error" for sure, but that's probably to some extent the result of inconsistent or unclear guidance from the club.

But the system itself is crap, as H11 has stated. Or the implementation is. What gives the game away is the random nature of the problems. It can work fine for someone one time, and then next time it won't refresh or the reader won't pick up, or a number of other faults occur. For those adept with phone tech, it's probably the work of a few seconds to sort it out.

For others - even those who use their phones for a lot more than just making calls - it leads down a rabbit hole of confusion.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Kialos »

I'm wondering whether the terminals installed can't cope with the amount of traffic when it's really busy and it's taking so long to recognize the NFC ticket that the user assumes they still need to insert it in the terminal and the actual result of getting a green light is not as a result of inserting it but just a delayed recognition of the ticket?
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by jabbaglob123 »

I'm convinced that there are not enough turnstiles. Those turnstiles were designed for your day tripper tourists athletics fans who would come and go as they please on anniversary games. They were not designed for 60k football fans arriving 10 mins before the games. Whole concourse needs to be ripped up and redesigned. The toilets and bars in those pods could be removed and more turnstiles added.
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Re: Olympic Stadium Discussion and Questions

Post by Danny's Dyer Acting »

jabbaglob123 wrote: Tue Sep 06, 2022 5:49 pm I'm convinced that there are not enough turnstiles. Those turnstiles were designed for your day tripper tourists athletics fans who would come and go as they please on anniversary games. They were not designed for 60k football fans arriving 10 mins before the games. Whole concourse needs to be ripped up and redesigned. The toilets and bars in those pods could be removed and more turnstiles added.
There are 16 sets of turnstiles at the Emirates. There are 10 at the London Stadium.

I can't find how many are dedicated to home fans at the Emirates but at "our" place one is for away fans and one is for corporate & Club London seats. So you have about 45,000 general sale home fans using 8 entrances.
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