BBC Look East this evening reveals that Cambridgeshire County Council is introducing parking charges at the Park & Ride sites at St Ives and Longstanton.
Agenda for the relevant committee (Economy and Environment Committee) can be viewed here http://www2.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/CommitteeMinutes/Committees/AgendaItem.aspx?agendaItemID=10571
The story is also covered by today's Hunts Post (12 November, page 3). Charges are said to be between 50p and £2 per day and will start in April 2015 and are expected to bring in revenue of £120,000 a year. They also plan to introduce double yellow lines on roads near the park & ride sites to prevent motorists parking there. The article states that the St Ives and Longstanton Park & Ride sites are estimated to cost the County Council £508,00 to run in 2014/15. Concessionary fares cost the County Council almost £1 million in 2013/14.
http://www.huntspost.co.uk/home/e-edition
Where will Mick George employees park?
ReplyDeleteHopefully in a staff carpark. Surely the council doesn't let private companies use the car park?
DeleteWell, at the moment parking there is free, so people working at Mick George can use it. And plenty of people use the park & ride and walk the 3 minutes to Waitrose or the 5 minutes to the town centre.
DeleteSuch a shame, I won't be parking there anymore to go to town.
ReplyDeleteSo not only do you not always get a seat, but you have to pay to park there as well.
I just can't get over how much a kick in the teeth it is for people wanting to avoid the A14 and do the right thing by taking public transport.
exactly - and when you're trying to get into Cambridge at peak time, the chances are the buses will drive straight past you full, making you late! This service has the potential to be amazing, but it needs more double deckers, more regular buses, and free parking - the bus tickets are expensive enough already!
DeleteIf you read the "Related Document" on the agenda, you will find that:
ReplyDelete"In terms of the equipment and ticket machines it is proposed to use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology and, the existing contract that is being used for the Cambridge Park and Ride sites. However as there are a much greater range of bus journeys and fares available on the Busway it is proposed to install separate machines for the parking charges and retain the existing machines for bus tickets. This will separate the two transactions."
The introduction of these machines at the Cambridge P&R sites resulted in lengthy queues and many complaints about them being too complex to use. The council responded by publishing a video explaining how to use them!
It will probably be quicker to cycle all the way than to park, pay for parking, buy a bus ticket, and go by bus.