|
I can't help noticing how the free side street parking is dissapearing at a very quick rate. A short while ago it was possible to park in a side street close to town and wander in, do a bit of banking or the like for an hour and go home. In Eastbourne for example years ago you had a choice of free parking areas, now even the seafront length has parking meters, even the Sussex Downs laybys have meters. Now this is a rant coming, I.ve done my bit for Queen and country, paid my taxes and been lawabiding yet I have to pay to enjoy the countryside seemingly eveywhere now. Add to that they charge 20p for the loo! Went to Reading the other week and the car park was quite expensive,needless to say Reading is off the place to shop list now and Eastbourne is off the day trip list.
|
|
Think yourselve lucky imagine having to pay to park in places like Bradford at least at Eastbourne you can take the ozone but I suppose Bradford is worth visiting just to see how a town centre can't be built.
|
|
|
Went to Reading the other week and the car park was quite expensive needless to say Reading is off the place to shop list now
Well sorry to say that Reading has always had sky high parking charges, thats what happens to a Town whose council own the bus service, they try and price every other form of transport out. Quite apart from the fact that Reading is now the pits, and I am allowed to say that having been born there and spent 28 yrs living in the poxy place before I finally saw sense and moved out!!!
|
CPZs Controlled Parking Zones are my rant.... if the road is big enough, wide enough etc to park in...LET PEOPLE DO IT.....it has to be some bigger subtle Utopian wish to get everyone out of their cars......I wish they'd stop.....I'M NOT GOING TO COMPLY... and i refuse point blank to shop anywhere where i can't park.
safe in the knowledge that by far the majority of those who engineer these things, swan around in cars themselves, if not chauffered......although i'd concede that one of the prime architects Red Ken does use public transport a lot himself
|
|
More and more of the 2-3 hour free parking zones around Uni are becoming metered now. Makes it a real nuisance. If they'd like to run a bus to my front door I'd gladly use it.
|
I'm with Westpig on CPZs.
If they are to deter commuters from parking near stations (to use public transport!) they only need apply for part of the day. But they mostly apply all day long and inconvenience residents, their visitors and business people just trying to earn an honest crust.
The thing that really winds me up is when I see Local Authority cars or contractors with 'All Zone' permits. One rule for them, another rule for the rest of us!
|
|
|
|
Why should the bus come to you? Why can't you walk to the bus?
|
Why should the bus come to you?
To match the convenience offered by the car, and thus, give me the incentive to use it.
Why can't you walk to the bus?
I cannot motivate myself to walk 2 miles to a bus stop to stand in the cold for 20 minutes whilst the car remains parked on the drive.
|
I live in Eastbourne and can tell you that there has been some fierce opposition to parking controlled zones here. So much so, that the new zones are a lot smaller than they originally were planned to be.
At the moment you can park in the 2hr limits in and around the town centre and get away with parking all day for free. I've done it and I know several other people who do every day. I think we have 2 traffic wardens who patrol the whole town.
This will change with the parking zones as it will be handed to a private company who obviously be out to make a profit.
Once the parking scheme is implemented, you'll still be able to park for free in Eastbourne, all day a 10-15 minute walk from the town centre so I don't see it being a huge issue.
If, for example, you go to Brighton, you've no hope of parking anywhere like that close all day, for free. Last time I went to Brighton the multi storeys were charging 75p per 15mins up to a maximum of £14.
This might seem like a lot to pay to park BUT getting return train fare using a Network Railcard (a third off train fare) from Eastbourne to Brighton costs £7.50 per ticket. Two of us went to Brighton for the day and a concert in the evening. Late trains are very hit and miss so split the £14 and park all day, no hassle at the end of the night and no rushing for the last train.
Chris
|
Why should parking be free? Someone owns the land, has to pay for maintenance of it, and is entitled to get an income from it. Would you let anyone park free on land you owned? Well, would you?
--
L\'escargot.
|
I see it that the government either needs to improve public transport or provide free or low cost parking.
Don't we pay enough taxes from fuel, road tax, insurance, VAT etc when we drive, that some of this can be put back into improving these essential services.
Chris
|
After a judge demands mandatory DNA sample for all people, I foresee a time is coming when they will fit a small transmitter in your chest. It will measure the oxygen you inhale during a day and will set up a direct debit to deduct the money from your account. It will be called Lifestyle Environmental Tax. It will also measure the CO2 you emit in atomosphere (thru your lungs) and will give you concession if you emit less CO2.
|
I've never had a problem wth purpose-built car parks, where charges recoup the cost. But having to pay to patk on the road is either cynical cash-raising or a penalty for mot using public transport. Whichever, it's fleecing the motorist - endemic in all aspects of driving and car ownership.
On the continent (here I go again), parking is usually free. Bliss.
|
|
|
Because we already pay a hefty council tax. So, it's never free parking anyway!
|
|
|
Why should parking be free? Someone owns the land has to pay for maintenance of it and is entitled to get an income from it. Would you let anyone park free on land you owned? Well would you?
We pay for the maintenance of the land - ie, roads - through our road tax and huge amounts of fuel tax. On street parking should be very cheap, but with restrictions to stop people taking the mick.
|
Durham council did this in the city centre. For decades you could park in a variety of back lanes and out of the way places.Now they're covered in parking meters (which blend in beatifully with the medieval cobbled streets :-) ).
And the end result - people park in exactly the same place. The council make a percentage and the NCP supremo buys a new yacht.
If we need parking control to allow resdential parking (which would apply in some areas of Durham) then simply make the area a residents only zone.
|
|
While I appreciate that some people will have to park in towns or cities and pay parking charges, does anyone else-like me- deliberately avoid going to places where they know they will have to pay to park? Or is it me thats just tight?
|
.... like me- deliberately avoid going to places where they know they will have to pay to park?
So long as you don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
--
L\'escargot.
|
Do other EU countries' residents need to pay similar amount of council tax?
Or do they have council tax at all?
AFAIK, even Northern Ireland doesn't have council tax.
|
"does anyone else-like me- deliberately avoid going to places where they know they will have to pay to park?
Yes - the only reason I go into Leicester these days (my nearest big town) is to go to the rugby - it's not just the parking cost but also the seemingly deliberate obstruction of traffic with strange traffic light sequences and definitely deliberate narrowing of roads by creating very wide central reservations which are of no use to cyclists or pedestrians but serve only to restrict traffic movement (St Margaret's Way for those who know Leicester)
--
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
|
