Hi Ollie, great to see you on the forum, welcome!

Please feel free to use this as much as you want, if there's any messaging from the club, any points to address etc, everyone is welcome. We have a couple of former players registered on here and it really is the more the merrier!

I could waffle on for ages on this subject (and almost certainly will!)...

Personally I use the supporter coaches for about half the away games (or maybe slightly more than half) on average.

I acknowledge they are subsidised, which is brilliant. I'd use them a lot less if they weren't (and ran at the true cost, which is high) to be honest.

I particularly like them for evening games, where I don't want to be driving home at night in the dark from unfamiliar places (and either getting lost or just taking wrong turns!)

The times where I don't use them are for when I want to actually see the places I visit. So for Salisbury I made a weekend of it and stayed over, seeing the Cathedral and other sights on the Saturday morning, local hotel Saturday night and visited Stonhenge the next day whilst still local. I will probably do similar for Bath, as I didn't see everything I wanted to last time we played there.

There isn't much the club can offer in such situations - I do enjoy doing the tourist thing, it's a great way to combine supporting my team and enjoying all that this country has to offer. It could be possible, for example with Gateshead away to stop off at The Angel of the North so that people can take photos for 20-30 minutes (or just have a fag break) but I could imagine half the coach would say lets just get to the ground so they can have longer in the pub before the match?!!

I guess the main question/issue about what would get more people on the coaches is the price. And I acknowledge the club is already subsidising the price. AND there have been numerous occasions where Marc has generously done gestures like free Burger King on the way home, free chips and gravy at Altrincham (my idea that one, most spent their money in the pub lol). 

I think we now have a solid 200 in the away end pretty much everywhere. Lets say that is at least 150 from Dorking (or at least East Surrey including Reigate and surrounding areas) then how are others getting there?

Dorking isn't particularly blessed with high speed rail services - only Aldershot, Woking and Farnborough stick in my mind as games where big numbers opted for trains. Coaches really are more convenient than trains for most places we visit.

Would people want an additional pick up point? Start in Reigate? Or pick up somewhere in Leatherhead before we join the M25?

I very much think that when most appropriate, minibuses should be used, if games are near and the place is easy to get to with lifts, trains etc, then I don't want the club to be losing a grand per game just for the sake of 30 people on a coach when 16 of those could be in a minibus and the rest could still make it under their own steam. There are of course pain in the backside places. I think Chesham would have taken over 2 hours by rail, with changes too.

It seems most likely that car is the main competitor for how people travel away? Can the coach compete with 3 or 4 people sharing a car journey, as those in the car would chip in less per person than the coach fare, and it's not fair on the club to make it even cheaper! A whole family in a car means just the cost of the petrol, stop where you want and keep all your coats in the boot for different weather outcomes, have what you want on the radio etc. 

I don't know what more the club could do on the price of the coach other than having some sort of coach travellers loyalty scheme? Buy so many trips at once, get money off? (But then you can guarantee many regulars will say that they can only do 3 of the 4 trips in such an offer, so miss out). Or have something like a Costa loyalty card? 

It could get overcomplicated too. Travel 10 times and get a free scarf or something, but what a faff for the club to administer.

I do know that the coaches at DWFC are a bargain. Palace coach prices for comparison - Doncaster £55, Man Utd £55, Newcastle £60, Leicester £35, Bournemouth £35, Brighton £30, Ipswich £35, Fulham £25 (and that's from Selhurst so not far at all!).

Hopefully lots of supporters join in with this discussion. I know a lot of the regulars might have ideas and I will encourage them to share their thoughts. It's in our interests to have full coaches running. I hugely appreciate the coaches the club does, without it, many trips would have been a complete pain to get to, and also the cost for many would have been prohibitive.

I also wonder if the various surveys the club has done have revealed much?

I live in Horley, so I stopped using the coaches this season as it wasn't cost/time effective for me as I need 30 mins to drive to Dorking and then pay for parking. An extra hour for the journey and the £5 parking didn't make it so viable anymore. 

Also, bringing my 14 year old makes it £70 a pop, so that was definitely a factor too. Maybe a cheaper U18 fare might help with numbers? 

I think it's fantastic value for anyone in the Dorking area though, especially if you're just passing for your own fare.

having spoken to a few people regarding coach travel ,if they are bringing the kids ,it works out a very expensive day out,which puts them off ,i know yhe coach doesn't come cheap to hire ,but maybe an under 18s of a family bundle

Matthew - I could advise of a few roads 5 mins walk away where you could park on street for free if it helps (unless somehow the club can provide free parking in the club car park when you go on trips?). That said, the B team usually play at home or Surrey FA hire the pitch when we are playing away so that may not be possible. Of course the other points raised stand too.

It is brilliant the club does away coaches, many clubs at our level just don't do them, and that's part of the reason why so many clubs in NLS take about 70 on average to away games. Dorking have worked really hard to grow the support, all the video updates Marc does to make fans feel valued and communicated with, the cheap travel is another strand of that, as well as Marc always repping the fans that have travelled and saying how amazing they are (which is true, the nonstop singing and drumming, the flags).

And Dorking are lucky to have such a solid away following, especially after relegation and going to *less fantastic* grounds than in the National League (mostly proper stadiums). It goes hand in hand with very fair pricing. We don't want to be taking 20-30 away at the awkward places to get to like Boreham Wood (despite all the success they have had). That is where the hard work nurturing the support, sometimes doing a cheap trip, or buying a round of food after a 0-6 away defeat pays off. Two way respect between fans and club, and loyalty is retained.

The coaches are good, you get to games in loads of time, never late, usually polenty of time for a drink beforehand either in the ground or at a nearby pub. The fans that go on it are all decent people too, no knobheads(!)

Some sort of loyalty scheme or first priority for regulars might work, not sure how you define regulars. Maybe season ticket holders get a feeling of being exclusive by getting a priority booking window. Is there a fans committee at all? They might have ideas what they want to see as they use it the most. I liked it when all the trips were online a fair way ahead at once, you could plan in advance. And the club could do offers, 6 seats in your online basket, save a couple of quid per trip. There are lots of teenagers on the coach, what can be done for them, without it being anything inappropriate like alcohol related. Raffle a place on the team coach per trip?

Just keep up with the nice surprises. Easter egg for any kids on board. Santa's sack of mars/twix bars passed round for the trip before Christmas? 

Great threat - and thanks for getting this one started Ollie.

It's a tricky one - the coaches are clearly well loved by those that go, and it really does help ensure the merry band of loyal supporters are always there to start the noise, so it's critical imo.

From my point of view, living in Shalford, I tend to almost always drive, especially as I usually pick my son up from his shift in Tesco's around 1pm and make a mad dash from there. And now I'm taking Oscar (our new commentor and my son's mate) back home after it works quite well.

Anyway, that said, other pick up points might work, and I would likely use one in Guildford if my circumstances were different. 

Of course next season it might be very different (fingers crossed) with many more northern trips which are a pain by car - so we could actually see coach numbers rise. Maybe that might be a good time to look at a couple of pick up points?

The numbers using them are pretty steady, 30, or maybe 35 almost every trip it doesn't make a difference if it's nearby at Barnet or far away at Torquay

There was a strange game at Alty last season (when it was eventually played) where there was no coach, and almost none of the 'away coach' regulars got to go as a result. Almost no singing or vocal support at all there. Thats why you need to run a coach, its the noisy teenagers and old regulars that make the noise. The regulars probably aren't the richest* a lot don't own cars or can't drive yet 

*except if it comes to buying cans of drink 😉 

Lots of good points already in this thread so I won't add much but my thoughts would be:

• I recently moved to Guildford so I only use the coaches now for longer journeys (Truro, Torquay, etc). Do we really need proper coaches for places like Farnborough, Hampton, etc? Most places are quite easy to get to using public transport or driving so the club could probably save some money by not putting on coaches for the really local ones and possibly just run the minibus instead
• Agreed that a cheaper rate for U18s might be a good shout as it can be expensive for families
• Additional pick-up locations would be good but might not be relevant depending on the destination (e.g. a Guildford pick-up would not make sense for a visit to Maidstone, etc)
• I think if we were to get promoted back to the NL then you would see full coaches most weeks. You could probably get away with charging £30-35 as well and it would still be much better value than getting a train

Thanks Tom 👍 

Back in the Bostik League days, the coach used to do a pick up at the old Westhumble ground. It allowed people to park for free all day in that grounds carpark. Personally I wouldn't leave my car there for hours, but some used to. It was a bit of a pain the coach getting wheels up on the grass verge of the A24 lol

Could be an option though?

I agree with the general support for the cut price coaches. They are a really sensible investment for the club - getting the teenagers along for a great awayday and giving the team the most vocal support in the division. If anything could be improved, to fill the coaches, maybe it is giving the Under-18s cut price seats on the coach, or offering multi-purchase deals, as has been suggested.  For the shorter trips, if numbers are low, maybe a minibus or two would be cheaper. We did that for Southend a couple of years ago when the coach was full. 

But thanks for the chat Ollie.  I see the coach is full for Welling, so maybe that is answer - stay top of the league and it will be full! 

Thank you everyone for taking their time to provide feedback.

Thanks for the opportunity to give feedback and ideas! 

Last season the Dorking supporters coach to Gateshead was generously subsidised by our Supporters Trust and was £25 a person (would have been £35)

I have just seen that Sutton United's supporters club coach to Gateshead tomorrow (Tues) is a whopping £100 per person!!!

Not unreasonably the Sutton players are giving everyone on that coach a free match ticket

We are very lucky indeed.

Sorry, completely missed this one 

Most things have probably been mentioned, I have only used the coach once, but it is a great service. 

Couple of improvements a pick up at Dorking train station would help - Leatherhead would be amazing!

The real issue is a lot of local games mid-week just over an hour - Maidstone etc my last train back to Epsom is 11.15 (from Dorking) so it makes times tight. A Leatherhead drop would mean I could get a cab home (or even walk). 

But it a great service and as for the odd Marc bonus' burger king etc - it is what makes the club great!