Car Parking charges

[40129]

IMO parking at central area stations should be relatively expensive to encourage people to use public transport whereas in outer suburban areas it should be cheaper/free to encourage use of the rail service. Ideally, charges at suburban parking areas should be inversely proportionate to how comprehensive local bus services are, i.e. free if this is poor

 

[jopsuk]

When it comes to car parking charges, I'm of a nakedly capitalist opinion (which is unusual for me). Simply put, charges should be as a high as the market will bear. Ideally, car parks should be operating at about 90% of capacity I'm told, as this is as about as high as it can be whilst still being easy to find a space.

Now, things are, I'll admit, different between a commuter park and ride type station car park and a city centre (non station) one.

 

[Starmill]

IMO parking at central area stations should be relatively expensive to encourage people to use public transport whereas in outer suburban areas it should be cheaper/free to encourage use of the rail service. Ideally, charges at suburban parking areas should be inversely proportionate to how comprehensive local bus services are, i.e. free if this is poor

The problem with this is that one of the reasons people drive to central stations is because they have earlier and later trains than smaller ones. I have this problem, despite living within reasonable walking distance of a suburban station in Manchester I cannot drive, so cannot access departures from Manchester Piccadilly as early as I would sometimes like, nor use trains back as late as I would like. And a taxi to the city centre is clearly not good value.

 

[Muzer]

I have the same issue with Swaythling, but fortunately I'm also in walking distance of Southampton Airport (Parkway) so I tend to use that if leaving really early or getting back really late.

 

[route:oxford]

When it comes to car parking charges, I'm of a nakedly capitalist opinion (which is unusual for me). Simply put, charges should be as a high as the market will bear. Ideally, car parks should be operating at about 90% of capacity I'm told, as this is as about as high as it can be whilst still being easy to find a space.

As with on-street parking.

I read an auction + multiplier suggestion for on-street parking in CPZs.

The idea is that you place a bid in a sealed auction for an on-street parking space. The parking places go to the highest bidders.

But once "won" the bid is subject to a multiplier.

So say you were to bid £100 and won an auction place. This bid would now be subject to a multiplier based upon the length of the vehicle in metres and the CO2 emissions.

So my Golf is 4199mm long and has a CO2 emissions of 99g/km

£100 x 4.199 x 0.99

So my final annual bill for on-street parking would be £415.70.

 

[Gathursty]

When I went on my station-bashing drive, it was only at Charing Cross (Glasgow) (Premier Inn), Stansted Airport, Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport where I paid. Out of those, the Premier Inn was £25 - £12 for staying at the Premier Inn all day and Heathrow was £10.70 IIRC because I went between the three terminal stations before jumping back in the car. If I was only 3 minutes quicker...

 

[PeterY]

In the good ol' days the stations long the WCML in Hertfordshire i.e. Hemel Hempstead used to be free Saturdays, Sunday, and Blank holidays but not now.

Lets rake in some more money from rail passengers:cry:

 

[CyrusWuff]

In the good ol' days the stations long the WCML in Hertfordshire i.e. Hemel Hempstead used to be free Saturdays, Sunday, and Blank holidays but not now.

Lets rake in some more money from rail passengers:cry:

The "official" reasoning, I suspect, will be that it's to discourage shoppers from using them to the detriment of rail users...

 

[ashworth]

If you live in a village, as I do, with only limited bus services to get to and from a station, high parking charges just make it not worthwhile travelling by train for many shorter journeys.

The other week I needed to go to York a distance of approx 70 miles from my home in Nottinghamshire. I looked at the options by rail from both Newark and Chesterfield and with a £10 parking charge at both stations plus the rail fare there was little competition.
Don't bother getting out of the car at the station just stay in the car up the A1 or M1 and use the York Park and Ride. There have been so many occasions recently for journeys of approx 50 miles where the £10 parking charge results in me choosing to drive the whole distance rather than just to the station.

If I was able to walk to and from the station, or get the bus, I would certainly prefer to get the train. However, once you have to get the car out to drive 15 or so miles to the station it is often easier and cheaper to stay in the car for the whole journey. If the parking was under £5 I may be tempted to use the train more often.

 

[alexjames]

Q-Park have a few in the West End of London within reasonable walking distance of Oxford Circus, Baker St etc which charge £36 per day. Chuck in the congestion charge and I think we have the winners.

 

[starrymarkb]

The "official" reasoning, I suspect, will be that it's to discourage shoppers from using them to the detriment of rail users...

As as happened at Exmouth. Parking there costs £5.10 per day off peak (used to be free). But that includes a return to Exeter St Davids. (so if you are a rail user it's £1 per day) It's much easier to find a space now as a lot of workers in the town used to park free in the station and walk to work from there. Now it's cheaper for them to use the neighbouring council Long Stay if not traveling by rail. I understand Season ticket holders get a similar discount but it has to be issued from the ticket office as the machines in the car park just do day returns.

 

[grantham8]

Well very jealous of Oxford ---what is public transport ? park and ride? none available in Lincolnshire.

Dirty tricks abound with carparking ---a local entrepreneur created parking next to the NR/GNER/EastCoast park (don't know who owned the station park at that time) .. His park never opened in competition because the
TOC took a lease on it and promptly closed it . It is now area of unused tarmac. Result is that the surrounding residential streets are crammed from 07.30-19.30 by commuters thus leaving nowhere for residents to park . As they are narrow streets a few wing mirrors go missing . Shame.

Also in the EC park do not park on white lines---£50fine, or over the yellow hashings -£50, or display wrong ticket -£50. OK all the drivers fault .

Daily charge was £11/weekday but cheaper at weekends.

 

[route:oxford]

Also in the EC park do not park on white lines---£50fine, or over the yellow hashings -£50, or display wrong ticket -£50. OK all the drivers fault .

Are the parking spaces wide enough?

There was an issue in Diddyland back in 2011 that was widely reported.

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/yourtown/didcot/9357715.A_tight_squeeze/

 

[radamfi]

Even if no official Park and Ride exists, it is usually possible to park near the edge of town near a regular bus route to the town centre. That might be worth considering if you want to avoid high parking charges or having to walk from the outside of the Controlled Parking Zone.

 

[edwin_m]

If you live in a village, as I do, with only limited bus services to get to and from a station, high parking charges just make it not worthwhile travelling by train for many shorter journeys.

The other week I needed to go to York a distance of approx 70 miles from my home in Nottinghamshire. I looked at the options by rail from both Newark and Chesterfield and with a £10 parking charge at both stations plus the rail fare there was little competition.
Don't bother getting out of the car at the station just stay in the car up the A1 or M1 and use the York Park and Ride. There have been so many occasions recently for journeys of approx 50 miles where the £10 parking charge results in me choosing to drive the whole distance rather than just to the station.

If I was able to walk to and from the station, or get the bus, I would certainly prefer to get the train. However, once you have to get the car out to drive 15 or so miles to the station it is often easier and cheaper to stay in the car for the whole journey. If the parking was under £5 I may be tempted to use the train more often.

This illustrates how difficult it is to manage station parking.

From a public policy point of view, if it was cheap then lots more people would be tempted to use it, probably for non-railway purposes and perhaps for short distances, and it would often be impossible for genuine travellers to get a space. Also people driving into a town to park at the station are contributing to traffic congestion but not to the local economy, unlike those travelling to work or shops in the town.

From the TOC point of view the intercity operators will charge the most they can get away with, as long as the car park is full most of the time, which means they aren't driving away (sorry) ticket revenue. This is usually the case at Intercity stations with a good service to London.

As someone who has a decent bus service to the station and nearly always uses it, I see the point about the deterrent effect of parking charges to those who have no choice. But then again I would rather resent it if I felt I was subsidising those who had a choice and opted to drive to the station, or regular train users to chose to live somewhere where they had to do so (note I am not accusing any other poster of doing this).

Perhaps the answer for ashworth is to accept a longer journey and a change of train to avoid excessive parking charges? For example parking is £2.50 per day at Alfreton and £2 at Worksop, and probably free at some Robin Hood Line stations. I read somewhere that providing and maintaining parking costs about £400 per space per year, so those sorts of fees are broadly covering costs as there are season and other discounts and the space will sometimes be empty.

Incidentally I had to park at Birmingham Airport yesterday and paid £27 for a day with advance booking a couple of days ahead. I'm aware I could have found a cheaper option but as I needed to be there at silly o'clock (too early for first train from Nottingham) and I could claim it back I considered it was the best thing to do. But that rate is way higher than anything quoted on here for a railway station outside central London.

 

[Kite159]

On a weekday the car-park at Grateley is pretty much full by the time the 7:59 departs, although even a massive car-park probably won't stop some of the commuters from parking on the side of the road just outside the CPZ (although the extension of the CPZ towards the village hall might). Make more car-parking available and it will soon fill up, although they have run out of space around Grateley station, only way will probably be buying up land to the east of the current car-parks on the P1 side.

I recall a few years ago, Salisbury station you paid a £2 supplement to the daily rate which was refunded at the ticket-office if you were travelling by train, annoyed a lot of the season ticket holders who were forced to queue up to get the £2 back when they could have been buying cups of coffee and sitting on the train waiting for it to depart.

 

[PHILIPE]

Some two or three years ago, a new Operator took over responsibility for operating the Car Park at Exeter Central. It was discovered that the patrolling wardens lay in wait while a driver parked and whist driver walked to the Machine to purchase a ticket slapped a ticket on !!!. That was the beginning of the end of this Company there !!!

 

[starrymarkb]

Some two or three years ago, a new Operator took over responsibility for operating the Car Park at Exeter Central. It was discovered that the patrolling wardens lay in wait while a driver parked and whist driver walked to the Machine to purchase a ticket slapped a ticket on !!!. That was the beginning of the end of this Company there !!!

The Infamous Premier Park UK or Premier Parking Services? Both the same company but in the College they divided the car park in two with one half covered by each 'company'. Buy from the machine in the wrong half and a it'll be a £100 clamp release fee.

Back when they had roadside meters in Central Station Crescent they clamped me at 21:59 (free parking from 22:00) despite me having paid for parking until 22:10 - A complaint was met with "We can clamp who we like and it doesn't matter if they have paid or not" - Needless to say I never parked in the station again.

 

[PHILIPE]

The Infamous Premier Park UK or Premier Parking Services? Both the same company but in the College they divided the car park in two with one half covered by each 'company'. Buy from the machine in the wrong half and a it'll be a £100 clamp release fee.

Back when they had roadside meters in Central Station Crescent they clamped me at 21:59 (free parking from 22:00) despite me having paid for parking until 22:10 - A complaint was met with "We can clamp who we like and it doesn't matter if they have paid or not" - Needless to say I never parked in the station again.

Can't quote the name of the Company now but could well have been this (or both) Company. They both sound like candidates for the Rogues Gallery.

 

[richw]

There was a private parking company round here issuing tickets on land it didn't have authority for over a month.

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Parking...h-permission/story-17574681-detail/story.html

PEOPLE hit with parking fines in one Falmouth car park are being urged not to pay – by its owner.

Discovery Quay Car Park is at the centre of a row between its owner, New Cornwall Development, and Armtrac Security Services.

New Cornwall Development claims Armtrac has been issuing £60 fines to drivers without permission for more than a month.

Motorists initially complained about being fined by Armtrac while the ticketing machine was broken.


Police

It followed similar complaints when the company was forced to admit a worker had wrongly fined motorists in Tabernacle Street car park in Truro, who may be entitled to a refund, after the police got involved.

Terry Barnes, director of New Cornwall Development, which owns the site near Events Square, Falmouth, said drivers should ignore the fines.

He contacted Armtrac after it emerged motorists were being fined up to £60 for not displaying a parking ticket.

He told the West Briton the machine went down last week and was being fixed.

But after checking his records, he confirmed that it had ended its contract with Armtrac on November 11.

He added: "It is out of order and Armtrac should not be ticketing people. Any fines issued on these days (while the machine was broken) should be ignored. It had no authority to issue fines after November 11."

Mr Barnes said he would take immediate action, asking Armtrac to "waive the fines" from the site, which is controversially earmarked for a new Premier Inn.

He also said he would go to court with any motorists threatened with legal action as a result of non-payment of fines received since November 11.

Off-duty Falmouth PC Steve Hawkins was one of at least four disgruntled motorists to receive a parking penalty while using the car park on Monday afternoon.

He said: "It's a small but popular car park because it charges 70p per hour. I parked there but couldn't get a ticket because the machine was out of order.

"We explained to Armtrac's patrol woman that we couldn't buy a ticket, but she said that she was just doing her job."

Mr Hawkins said he was pleased the fine was being cancelled, although he believed many motorists may have already paid up.

Appeal

He added: "The fine says that you have 14 days to appeal, although the small print says legally you have 28 days in which to plead your case – the fine then goes up to £100.

"It's a lot of money and people often pay without appealing, fearing it will keep going up."

Kris Kinson, director of Armtrac Security Services, based in Penzance, said his firm had reported the faulty machine to the landowner on several occasions.

Speaking before Mr Barnes asked for the fines to be waived, Mr Kinson said: "All we can do is keep reporting it. Our patrols are sparse, but we still have a job to do."

Armtrac was unavailable for comment after the landowner revealed he had ended his contract.

Armtrac issued me a ticket in 2007 and I refused to pay as it was unlawfully issued. They refused to accept this, but just stopped contacting me when I agreed to go to court and they found I had a solicitor on my side.The solicitor was offering to represent me for free!