To think that there are too many parked cars on the roads these days?

[JammyRedRooo]

Its absolutely ridiculous in my area. Whole swathes of road are basically one lane only due to the amount of parked cars. It makes visibility when driving really difficult.

Half of the houses have empty drives as well!

You can't turn into my cul de sac on the correct side of the road because of the row of parked cars all the way up to the junction, it's just so dangerous.

I know you pay a premium for a house with parking, or households often have more cars than spaces but I find it so infuriating and unsafe.

Anyone else?

@goawaystormy

What do you propose?

The Japanese system seems to work.

To register a car, or when changing address, you need to prove to the local police that you have a parking space for it.

So essentially, poor people shouldn't be allowed to have a car? If you aren't rich enough to have a house with a drive you shouldn't be allowed to have a car? And therefore are limited in both job and travel opportunities, thus perpetuating the cycle of inequality. If you're too poor for a house with a drive you have to spend more money than you'd spend on a car on extortionate trains, buses etc.

I wonder how the Japanese make that bit work? I am genuinely curious. As in, some people potentially priced out of car ownership.

@Lockheart how would reducing car usage help with parked cars, if the issue is people don't have off road parking?

And yet housing estates are still being built with single lane roads and no driveways.

[quote BABAHOTEL]@Lockheart how would reducing car usage help with parked cars, if the issue is people don't have off road parking? [/quote]
Because fewer people would own cars...?

Our street is about to have residents parking permits set up primarily because of selfish twats who have drives, but don't use them for their cars. I can't wait.

Only three of the twelve houses don't have a drive. All of the drives can fit at least two cars on. There are 12 marked spaces on the street, then some unlined areas that twatty people park on.

There are three houses that park multiple cars on the street because they use their drives for something else. Including one - which has been the catalyst for the permits that has a drive that could fit 6/7 cats that they've turned into a basketball court for their teens so they park 5 cars and a van on the street.

Another house is let out by a selfish twat landlord who uses the drive when he's shopping or getting the train so his three tenants all have to park on street.

To be fair to the third house they mostly park on street because of the selfish parking of the first house I mentioned - they've been blocked onto their drive a few times so now have to park on the street when they know they need to go out.

If you don't have adrive then it's fair enough to park on the street - people have to. If folks have drives and just don't bother to use them then the're selfish twats.

@Lockheart but reducing would still mean they need a car, they'd have to stop completely to reduce the cars on the road!

[quote BABAHOTEL]@Lockheart but reducing would still mean they need a car, they'd have to stop completely to reduce the cars on the road! [/quote]
No, because they could use things like car clubs and/or hire cars.

I wonder how the Japanese make that bit work? I am genuinely curious. As in, some people potentially priced out of car ownership.

all sorts of people in the UK are priced out of car ownership. They are also priced out of Maserati ownership, diamond tiara ownership and all sorts of other things.

What needs to improve is public transport.

@etulosba

What do you propose?

The Japanese system seems to work.

To register a car, or when changing address, you need to prove to the local police that you have a parking space for it.

I believe that in Japan the train drivers get their wages docked if the train runs late. I suspect that they have a very efficient and reliable rail network. Unlike in this country where trains are cancelled all the time so no guarantee you can get to your destination. DS booked train tickets last week to go on a city break. Within a day of booking he had an email to say his 1st train was cancelled and the bus replacement wouldn't get him to the main station in time for his connection. So I had a 42 mile round trip to take him to the main station so he could catch the 2nd train as planned. Only a few weeks ago DH was coming back from a meeting in London. He got as far as the main station only to find his connecting train was cancelled so I had to go and collect him. Our rail service is a joke and we won't be giving up our cars until it's sorted which will be never. Fortunately we have 3 parking spaces on our drive for our 3 cars (3 adult household)

@Brefugee

I wonder how the Japanese make that bit work? I am genuinely curious. As in, some people potentially priced out of car ownership.

all sorts of people in the UK are priced out of car ownership. They are also priced out of Maserati ownership, diamond tiara ownership and all sorts of other things.

What needs to improve is public transport.

I get that bit (the unjust deprivation of the diamond tiara!). What I’m curious about is this:

If it’s expensive to own or rent space to park a car in Japan, and why wouldn’t it be since they, like us, are a densely populated small island, AND if you have to prove that you have such space available in order to buy a car, AND Japanese people use cars in a similar way to British people, for commuting etc., how do they deal with objections like those raised by a PP?

Which were, that it would be perceived as unfair for people who can’t afford to buy a house with a drive, or a parking space in Osaka, or whatever, to not be permitted to own a car with the limitations that come with it, I.e. less choice of jobs if you can’t drive, expensive public transport.

I am genuinely curious. I think that the Japanese have got the right idea, but I wonder how they sold it to their citizens? Maybe the Japanese just live their lives differently to us and e.g. commuting by car or doing a big shop at an out of town supermarket just isn’t a thing for them.

It's tricky. And very easy to propose solutions that only negatively impact other people!

We live in a Victorian terrace with no drive, so we park on the street. We can both walk to work in the city centre. If we moved in order to buy a house with a drive, we'd have to move further out, and would have to use our car more to get to work and other places. So on balance it seems better to stay where we are, park on the road but use our car less.

I'm not sure what will happen on terraced roads like ours when electric cars come in. I like the idea but not sure what we'll do about charging them.

@HomeHomeInTheRange

OP Mine isnt on the road it's on my drive

Every drive with a dropped kerb that has to be kept clear effectively takes up a parking space.

Thank you, you are the third person to make this point and I've responded up thread 🤷🏼‍♀️

Also, me having a drive and 'taking' a parking space from someone is reducing the problem I'm talking about in the first place! If nobody had drives it would be even worse

doing a big shop at an out of town supermarket just isn’t a thing for them.

I think they have supermarkets deliver the shopping, which is something you can have done here in the UK if you choose

What needs to improve is public transport.

this will not improve until the demand for public transport increases and the price is lower than taking a car

if I want to visit a friend for coffee, I can walk down the road and hop on a bus which run every 15 minutes. It'll take about 40 minutes to get to the bottom of her road and I will pay in the region of £5 for a one of ticket (tickets are very much cheaper at £16.50 for the week)

I can cycle across town, this will take me around 20 minutes and 80% on pavement shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists, canal if I choose and across a park if I want to go that way. Its free

Or I could hop in the car, it will take me 15/20 minutes the same as the bike and cost me for the petrol and she has a drive so no issue with parking either

If it was raining id not take the bus as its too much money to spend and there is something wrong if the price of a bus ticket is more expensive than a car journey. How can private car ownership and fuel be cheaper than a bus ride?

I could get the train to visit my daughter, but its £50 for the train ticket and then £7 for the public transport to the end of her road (id walk to the station this end as its only one mile)

If I get in my car the return journey is £26 door to door opposed to £64 its a journey of 112 miles by car and takes 2 hours, by train its 2 hours and then another 30 minutes on public transport

yet people complain about the price of fuel?

I completely agree, the roads are blighted by parked cars, not being used most of the time

Our neighbours park on the road and not on their drives so tourists can't park in front of their house. We have H lines and they often park between so only they can park there. We use our drive, it was one of the reasons we bought the house

It's annoying. Most of our street has drives with space for 3 cars, yet because of the parking situation people "reserve" the space outside their houses busy parking there.

@Momicrone

I completely agree, the roads are blighted by parked cars, not being used most of the time

I find all parked cars are not being used, it sort of stands to reason!

There is an area of Worcester where people have very large houses and such a big garden it could probably be defined as a park. A lot of those houses do not have driveways but park in the street. Why? Why do the people owning those houses feel that it is ok to let their car block traffic when it could easily not do that?

When you think about it, it's a strange expectation we have that we can store personal possessions on the road. We wouldn't leave our suitcases, spare chairs, or Christmas decorations on the road, or annex a little bit and stick a garden shed on there, but when it comes to our cars then suddenly we do treat the road like personal storage space and somehow we don't question it? I mean really, what's the difference with taking 6sqm of road to store your car vs taking 6sqm of road for a small trampoline or paddling pool?

@Lockheart

When you think about it, it's a strange expectation we have that we can store personal possessions on the road. We wouldn't leave our suitcases, spare chairs, or Christmas decorations on the road, or annex a little bit and stick a garden shed on there, but when it comes to our cars then suddenly we do treat the road like personal storage space and somehow we don't question it? I mean really, what's the difference with taking 6sqm of road to store your car vs taking 6sqm of road for a small trampoline or paddling pool?

Well I pay enough each year to use the road so I'm bloody well parking on it! I don't really have a lot of choice, I need my car to get to work and I can't afford to buy a house in this area with a driveway. No one needs a pool or trampoline

I used to work in property development and planning would be refused for developments with too much parking. The developer often wanted to put plenty in (knowing that it's a popular selling point) but the councils wanted higher density housing and fewer cars. Still no one seems to have worked out that fewer parking spaces is not the same thing as fewer cars.

Oh @DetailMouse that's so frustrating to hear! I gave up driving for 12 years when I lived and worked in a city and then a town centre. I had to learn again a few years ago when I wanted a career change. It opened up a world of opportunity for work that just wasn't available if I didn't have a car to drive.

@JammyRedRooo

Also, me having a drive and 'taking' a parking space from someone is reducing the problem I'm talking about in the first place! If nobody had drives it would be even worse

Agree. We can park one car on our drive and our neighbours can park 2-3 depending on size. The dropped kerb we share is one average car's length (we know because the neighbours family occasionally park there, with our permission!). So that's 3-4 spaces at the expense of one.

Well I pay enough each year to use the road so I'm bloody well parking on it!

How much council tax do you pay? And do you think other don’t pay council tax?