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Nobody likes waiting for public transport, least of all when you're in a rush to get somewhere.
Least of all when you've had a couple of drinks.
Least of all when your rugby team's just been hammered by 30 points and you're pressed up in a mob of 5000 sweaty fans all wanting to go to the same place at once.
Unfortunately though, that's the vicious cocktail of public angst which seems to boil up every time Eden Park hosts a sports match.
On Saturday, people coming and going from the Crusaders vs Blues Super 15 match trialled the free trains going to and from the ground.
Many of them weren't happy with the wait times. There was a similar response from Joe Stadium-goer at last year's rugby league double header, when the Rugby World Cup traffic management plan was trialled for the first time.
On that occasion, we sat outside the Kingsland Rail station after the game and watched as the crowds squeezed into carriages. People were furious... thousands of them lined the street yelling and moaning and working themselves into unreasonable states of aggressive frustration.
But it's funny, the people who don't get too upset about waiting are the people who've come from overseas, or who've actually attended sports matches at international venues.
At the double header, for all the huffing and puffing, the vast majority of crowds were gone just 35 minutes after the match. Say what you will about the waiting, but really, that's pretty bloody good.
About this time last year I went to a sold-out football match at Barcelona's magnificent Camp Nou stadium. It was me, my friend Dayle and 92,000 passionate Spaniards. That's 30,000 more than Eden Park at capacity.
The stadium is served by a series of different subway stations with regular trains. But you have to walk. By 35 minutes after the game Dayle and I weren't home. We weren't even in a bubbling queue. In fact, 25 minutes after the match we hadn't even reached the subway station.
The reality of the situation is that Eden Park is in the middle of suburbia. The roads that surround it are built for houses, not international stadiums. They're not very wide.
And there aren't dozens of different railway stations outside... Kingsland is just across the road, so it takes the brunt of the masses. Believe it or not there are only so many train carriages they can have in the station at once.
There's no doubt traffic controllers at Eden Park have a stack of things to improve upon by September's tournament.
From my perspective, they really need to find better ways to distribute and contain people waiting for the trains post-match. The more people who mass together on the road, the less it feels like the queues are moving, the faster the frustration builds. If you keep people moving, you keep them happy.
But fans also need to be just a little bit patient. Just a little bit.
Read more news and sport opinion.
What do you think about the process of getting in and out of Eden Park? Have your say on the messageboard below.
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Post new commentwattclan said on 2011-02-21 @ 19:16 NZDT: Report abusive post
I caught the free bus from the North Shore bus stations and was very impressed. We had heaps of parking at Smales Farm the bus trip took 25 minutes and dropped us right outside the stadium. Coming home the trip was just as great. Awesome to have someone else dealing with the traffic. The biggest problem I noticed was the people walking along Sandringham road and steeping out in front of cars and buses!!