Hampden Turnstiles : Missing kick off due to crowds. Some simple maths.

[Haggis_trap]

Once again the turnstiles at Hampden Park proved to be insufficient on Tuesday evening.

We arrived at Hampden at 19.25.  
Traveling from Edinburgh, post-work, means we couldnt have got their much earlier.
However : we didn't get into the ground until ~19.53 !!  Almost 30 mins spent in massive queue outside the stadium.
My eldest son, age 9, was devastated to miss both the anthems and kick-off.
It is just not good enough in this day and age.

Some simple maths:
- The West Stand holds ~12K people (please correct me if this figure is wrong).
- There are a total of 29 turnstiles for the West Stand.
- From observation it takes 15-20 seconds per person to self scan their ticket
- Therefore ~ 116 people can enter Hampden per minute
- i.e It will take over 90 minutes to get capacity crowd into the west stand.

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/10148/blue-hampden-map.pdf

Here is a photo of the thousands of fans still stuck outside the ground at kick-off.
The SFA and Police really need to sort this out....  Many more turnstiles are undeniably required!!
At the very least a steward on each gate to assist with scanning would make a huge difference.
One drunken or fumbling idiot can hold the queue up for everyone.

Photo below was taken 5 minutes after kickoff.  Large queues still remaining at every single gate.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Haggis_trap

[kumnio]

Think it took me 20-25 minutes to get into the North Stand, missed the national anthems, got in just in time for the minutes silence. Pretty much usual these days.

[Haggis_trap]

21 minutes ago, kumnio said:

Think it took me 20-25 minutes to get into the North Stand, missed the national anthems, got in just in time for the minutes silence. Pretty much usual these days.

Aye - it is a shambles.
Basically need to be at Hampden 45 mins before kick-off to be sure of making the anthems.

There simply aren't enough turnstiles to deal with the volume of people.
The problems got worse when they introduced the self scanning e-tickets.
Effective capacity of each turnstile is about 3 people / minute !!

[Bzzzz]

Same, we got to the West Stand end about 19:10 and missed the anthems. I just can't understand how it takes some people so long to stick a ticket in a scanner. When I got to the scanner it took seconds. This ALWAYS happens tho which is why we got there nice and early. Still annoyed about that. 

The SFA needs to tell people to print their damn tickets. 

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Bzzzz

[Orraloon]

2 hours ago, Bzzzz said:

Same, we got to the West Stand end about 19:10 and missed the anthems. I just can't understand how it takes some people so long to stick a ticket in a scanner. When I got to the scanner it took seconds. This ALWAYS happens tho which is why we got there nice and early. Still annoyed about that. 

The SFA needs to tell people to print their damn tickets. 

 

Aye, pished up folk with fat fingers fukin about trying to get their phones to work. It's a nightmare. Just print off your ticket FFS. They can use their phone as a back up in case they lose the ticket, but the scanners never seem to have a problem with the printed tickets, it always seems to be folk using their phones that are causing the chaos. 

[Haggis_trap]

4 hours ago, Orraloon said:

Aye, pished up folk with fat fingers fukin about trying to get their phones to work. It's a nightmare. Just print off your ticket FFS. They can use their phone as a back up in case they lose the ticket, but the scanners never seem to have a problem with the printed tickets, it always seems to be folk using their phones that are causing the chaos. 

Yup - plus all the pished up folk inevitably arrive 15mins before kick off...

Surely there is a better system than this though?
Something for the supporters clubs to raise with SFA & Hampden.

[bonzo]

It took us about half an hour to get in the North, still made it in at 7.35.  There was some erse trying to push in behind me without a ticket, I shoved him back out, he tried the same with the next guy(with the same result) don't know what happened after that. 

[aaid]

What I've always noticed with the North Stand - I always approached from the Cathcart Road side but think its similar to from the other side - is that there's always massive queues at the first set of turnstiles,  if you just walk down to the turnstiles that are at the halfway line the queues are much shorter.  Once you're inside you can easily walk along the concourse to where your seat is.

[Craig Fae Hamilton]

I was in the West stand. Ditto, got there 25 Minutes early, missed Anthems, Silence and 1st 5 Minutes.

There was no shorter Queue. Plus I joined a Q that did not seem to be moving much, swapped after a couple of minutes. It helped only very slightly, see above.

Biggest problem is people having a problem with the QR code. When that happens an entire Q could be held up for a few MINUTES, not Seconds.

Auto Turn-Stiles may be cheaper than a Manned Turn Stile, but for efficiency of entry, they absolutely suck!

[AlfieMoon]

Ticket scanners take far too long to reset to allow the next person through.
 

Probably partly due to the turnstyle itself being very old/clunky and not easily pushed through. 
 

They tickets should also be sorted so that they are issued in Google / Apple wallet so it is a pre-set screen size that doesn’t require manual manipulation. 
 

All these factors slow down entry. At least the security staff seemed to be communicating at the gate to try and make the ticket scanning go better. 

[Shaundy]

I remember a time a few years ago when I had a ticket and got in in a matter of maybe ten seconds. Recently I have been telt by the helpless helpline at the SSC that I should print out my own ticket and or use my device at the turnpike. After explaining that I did not possess a printer or device I was helpfully telt/ asked if there was anything else they could help me with. Bless

[Shaundy]

I did ask if they didn’t possibly have a record at the turnstiles that I had indeed purchased a ticket. I would obviously be in possession of my no longer photo I’d ssc card. But that would be useful, technology working for folk . So it was that the lass at the end of the line having not helped me with anything stated again. Was there anything she could help me with . Thinking about it now it may have been that she was just waiting for me to say I didn’t think there would be anything she could possibly help me with and then she’ll say “now you get it”

[RDFH64]

On 9/16/2023 at 12:34 PM, Craig Fae Hamilton said:

I was in the West stand. Ditto, got there 25 Minutes early, missed Anthems, Silence and 1st 5 Minutes.

There was no shorter Queue. Plus I joined a Q that did not seem to be moving much, swapped after a couple of minutes. It helped only very slightly, see above.

Biggest problem is people having a problem with the QR code. When that happens an entire Q could be held up for a few MINUTES, not Seconds.

Auto Turn-Stiles may be cheaper than a Manned Turn Stile, but for efficiency of entry, they absolutely suck!

But you can't slip the automatic turnstiles a few quid to get in 😉

[Rich NATA]

On 9/15/2023 at 1:29 PM, Bzzzz said:

The SFA needs to tell people to print their damn tickets.

You don't need to tell me.

I'm forever having the piss taken out of me for doing so... Ya luddite, technophobe, etc...

Aye, but I don't fuck about at the turnstile 

[Squirrelhumper]

The main issue is the idiots using the tickets, not the number of turnstiles or QR codes. 

[Bzzzz]

18 hours ago, Rich NATA said:

You don't need to tell me.

I'm forever having the piss taken out of me for doing so... Ya luddite, technophobe, etc...

Aye, but I don't fuck about at the turnstile 

Same, I've NEVER had a problem at a turnstile at Hampden and I'm no the brightest so how the fuck fowk cannae manage it is beyond me... 

[Exiled ICT]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:41 PM, AlfieMoon said:

Ticket scanners take far too long to reset to allow the next person through.
 

Probably partly due to the turnstyle itself being very old/clunky and not easily pushed through. 
 

They tickets should also be sorted so that they are issued in Google / Apple wallet so it is a pre-set screen size that doesn’t require manual manipulation. 
 

All these factors slow down entry. At least the security staff seemed to be communicating at the gate to try and make the ticket scanning go better. 

This.

Agree that a large part of the issue is the individuals using them, but the (event on the phone) blurry QR code that requires zooming in to work at the turnstiles doesn't help. I print my tickets out each time and I'm the biggest proponent of Apple Wallet for these things going.

If Highland League clubs can get Apple wallet working for tickets, then there's nothing stopping the SFA creating/commissioning an SSC app which can store tickets, details, ticket sales etc. and embrace push notifications for ticket schedules, news etc.

A push notification telling you when your alloted time to purchase away tickets is straightforward if you're logged in and it will know how many points you have etc.

[Bzzzz]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:29 PM, Exiled ICT said:

This.

Agree that a large part of the issue is the individuals using them, but the (event on the phone) blurry QR code that requires zooming in to work at the turnstiles doesn't help. I print my tickets out each time and I'm the biggest proponent of Apple Wallet for these things going.

If Highland League clubs can get Apple wallet working for tickets, then there's nothing stopping the SFA creating/commissioning an SSC app which can store tickets, details, ticket sales etc. and embrace push notifications for ticket schedules, news etc.

A push notification telling you when your alloted time to purchase away tickets is straightforward if you're logged in and it will know how many points you have etc.

Exactly. It seems to work EVERYWHERE else... 

[GroundsKeeper]

There is an art to using your phone for pdf tickets.

You must

1. choose the right ticket

2. make sure no one has scanned it before you

3. Correct size, by pinching screen

4. Correct brightness

Combine this with alcohol and the queues jam up quite quickly.

My advise is to get to turn styles at least 1 hour before KO. But if you're travelling a fair distance and just done a full shift you get there when you get there.

 

Personally I would like to see old school printed tickets with barcodes. I t will never happen though as it would cost money and electronic is cheaper