Last night was by no means a highlight of anyone’s life, but at least one good thing has come out of it, and it concerns the Emirates Bus Park. It shows that Celtic FC and the authorities are capable of listening to reasonable suggestions, and there were loads of stewards and police with barriers in the Bus Park to ensure an orderly and a safe departure for everyone. We give them our praise and our thanks.
Each CSC using the Emirates last night were given a leaflet from the club which advised that passes are now going to be issued in the same way that things work in the other bus-park behind the Jock Stein stand.
But the job is only half done. Those of us who were at St Johnstone on Saturday would have been impressed by their Bus Park whereby a bus came in by an entrance and went out by an exit on the other side of the Bus Park, and you were on the Motorway in a matter of about two minutes.
Barriers were in place, no-one tried to cheat and the whole thing was orderly and civilised (as befits St Johnstone who are a good example of a provincial club who look after their supporters). Now, of course, Celtic Park and McDiarmid Park are not really on the same scale, and the Glasgow Motorway is a great deal further away from Celtic Park than the A9/M9 is from McDiarmid. Nevertheless, a lesson can be learned.
Is it not possible to create an exit gate (and don’t, please, anyone try to tell me that they couldn’t afford it!) from the Emirates Bus Park straight on to the main road, thereby avoiding the needless congestion where the Bus Park meets the Car Park?
There could then be a designated Bus Lane (which would only operate after a game) to take buses at reasonable speed to the Motorway. The junction at Dalmarnock Station would have to be closed for a short while to allow buses to go through, and indeed the other “feeder” roads, but the benefits would far outweigh any slight delay in that the cumbersome buses would be out of sight, and cars could then travel so much faster.
Am I being a selfish bus traveller, or am I, for once in my life, talking sense? Now is the time to send our ideas to Celtic FC for they are now clearly in “listening mode”.
David Potter
*Celtic SLO John Paul Taylor also provided an update on Monday afternoon to supporters clubs ahead of the game against RB Leipzig, where some of the points and suggestions made by David Potter this evening are addressed. Having checked with the Celtic SLO that it is fine to share this update on The Celtic Star, we hope that many supporters using the two coach parks at Celtic Park will find this information useful.
COACH PARK UPDATE
Afternoon All
Ahead of tomorrow’s match I wanted to update you on discussions that have taken place since our last home match.
The issue of exiting was again raised at the Fan Forum and it was further confirmed that a working group to try to find solutions to this issue has now been established with its remit being to:
Meet with Police Scotland and Glasgow City Council (Trafcom) to seek assistance in relation to coach parks asking for:
• Police to man points after pedestrian phase
• Switching off traffic lights at Gateway and Gallowgate
• Implement ‘bubble exit’ of all coaches
• Police to assist at Emirates
We have subsequently held our first meeting with both to outline the challenges that getting away from Celtic Park is presenting.
In respect of the above points, on the first point they advised they will support this for as long as they can however they have advised they are only obliged to remain until the end of the pedestrian phase, we have suggested that we would pay for additional resource if required and available.
On the second point, it is their preference that the lights remain on as they claim this is the most effective way of keeping traffic moving.
On the third point, they again explained they cannot provide a ‘bubble exit’ due to complaints from other road users, this went to the City Council who advised that no priority was to be given to football fans over other citizens.
On the final point Police have advised that they will provide a presence at the Emirates.
Glasgow City Council advised that cycle lanes are to be made permanent however some work will take place in the new year around the key junctions with a view to widening these.
It does appear that in order to overcome the exiting problems particularly from the Jock Stein Coach Park we are going to have to make physical changes and this is something we have started to look into to try to get direct links on to the Clyde Gateway, this however will take time if it can indeed be done.
Tomorrow night sees another sell out match with an 8pm kick off so a late home for many of you, please be assured we are doing what we can to try to ease this as much as possible and will keep you updated on all developments.
Best regards
JP
Don’t miss David Potter and Sandman’s take on last night, both links below…
READ THIS FROM DAVID POTTER…Celtic 0-2 RB Leipzig: This was a painful one, it boiled down to not taking chances
READ THIS…Sandman’s Definitive Ratings: Celtic v Leipziggy Stardust
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