Brighton&Hove Albion football clubs are currently based at the American Express Community Stadium, commonly referred to as ‘The Amex’. Together with local authorities, the club has established a Travel Management Plan in order to encourage fans, staff, visitors and other users of the stadium to use walking, cycling and public transport as alternatives to travelling by private car.

Though the priority for Brighton&Hove Albion is sustainable transport, and a significant proportion of this consists of journeys via public transport, by its very nature the use of public transport is a form of multi-modal travel as it has an implicit ‘active component’. This strategy brings fruitful results: the number of people using multi-modal travel to the stadium (walking or cycling in combination with public transport) accounted for more than 50% of the total attendance, approximately 12,800 people per match during 2015/16.

Various measures have been taken to ensure that fans have a comfortable and active (!) trip without using their cars:

• Official parking around the stadium and local sites is limited and accounts for just 15% of the total attendance (in comparison to 80% in most of the other stadiums in the UK).
• The club has 172 covered and secure cycle racks with a further 46 within the newly landscaped street.
• The main road to the Amex from Brighton city centre has a dedicated and well-signposted cycle lane.
• On-site signage directs cyclists to cycle locking facilities.
• Free public transport for both home and away supporters is offered as part of their match day league ticket.
• Fans receive the travel guide that provides information for those who wish to walk or cycle to the Amex. In addition, live social media updates on a match day also inform fans of travel options. The travel guide is emailed to all match attendees in a pre-match brief.

As long as existing Travel Management Strategy proves to be very successful in encouraging supporters to travel by sustainable means, and whether possible, use active means of transport, the Club aims at maintaining a current balance, while other stadiums worldwide could learn from this great example!