Parking charges in Woking seem to go up and up under the Tories
by admin on 16 August, 2009
Woking Borough Council has just announced a new rate of parking for people parking all day.Reducing the price from £8 to £5 in all town centre car parks.This is good news, but is it enough?To see the press release click here WBC car parking charges press release
However, it seems to me that parking charges in Woking go up and up. Has it got the point when they can not go up any more? I understand that revenue from parking may even be falling.
I hear more people than ever before opt to get a lift into Woking and to be picked up again by relatives, doubling journeys and damaging the environment. I also worry that given that the new payment machines in the car parks do not take 5p coins, rises in parking charges will be rounded up to the nearest 10p each time.
I wonder if in Woking parking charges should be linked to cost of providing parking services and public transport and that the money raised should not be spent on other things. In Woking this would probably mean a threat to services that are paid for by the profit from parking. I would not want this to happen, but what about restricting any additional income from rises in parking charges to be ring fenced to only be spent on improvements in parking facilities and better public transport. This might dissuade councillors from the damaging effect of raising parking charges that current rises are having on our local economy and environment. If something is not done, the predictions that councils will seek big rises in car parking charges to fill black holes in funding such as in this newspaper report might come true in Woking.
I would add that since a season ticket at Woking car park is dependent on the CO2 emissions, I suggest they pull down some of their car parks because no-one can afford to park there. I agree that it is cheaper to have a relative give you a lift in and out twice and thus burning more fuel than if you did one journey and then parked the car! Personally, I would park in the Victoria Car Park and walk to the station, but now that I have a lift, I am going all the way to the station from the Chertsey Road. Makes little sense.
I would add that since a season ticket at Woking car park is dependent on the CO2 emissions, I suggest they pull down some of their car parks because no-one can afford to park there. I agree that it is cheaper to have a relative give you a lift in and out twice and thus burning more fuel than if you did one journey and then parked the car! Personally, I would park in the Victoria Car Park and walk to the station, but now that I have a lift, I am going all the way to the station from the Chertsey Road. Makes little sense.