To think prices in car parks in city centres are too expensive now

[UsernameA1B2]

Parked in city centre today and was shocked at the prices.
£1 for 30 minites,
£2 for 1 hour,
£4 for 2 hours,
Isn't that a bit much? And surely it will damage the high street shops and restaurants that will be struggling already enough after pandemic and now the cost of living crisis.

Manchester City Centre prices are nuts.

The council spaces are reasonably priced but two hour limit.

NCP multi-stories are nearly £30 for a full day.

There are some cheaper car parks but they’re either slightly dodgy looking and/or a decent walk from the centre.

I'd support it if it worked. Unfortunately it seems to nudge people to out of town shopping centres and online ordering instead.

It’s more expensive to catch the bus in my city.

£3 quid into town, 3 quid our. If Dd is with me that’s another 3 quid. So £9.00.

l can park for 4 quid for 2 hours.

agree. In the seven years I’ve lived here, I’ve never been to our local town centre, or our nearest city centre - parking and the road layout just put people off. No rural transport either. The next town over has great free parking and easy road access - and it’s always busy from 8am to 8pm.

The car park I parked in, in Newcastle last week was free after 5, which is when I was there but I've attached the prices which are cheap
There are more expensive car parks but this is pretty central. Only moan is the entrance is a bit tight, car sensors beeped all the way round.

Cheap compared to Brighton

£1 for 2 hours in my local market town

£3 for 2 hours in Winchester (£6 for 4 hours)

£5 for 4 hours in Southampton City Centre.

Have I finally found something that's cheaper in the south?

Q park in Manchester is a maximum of £18 for 24 hours but an hourly rate of £2.60 if you enter 11-5pm.

YANBU. There's a carpark that is £6.40 for 2 hours, ie, £3.20 per hour. It's obscene. No other word for it.

Not enough people which means parking revenue goes down, council decides to increase charges to make up for it, which then turns people away, then it's round in circles from there. Local government stupidity is about on par with central government.

£20 for up to 4 hrs here in sunny Reading. maybe that's why Reading wasn't made a city at the 4th time of asking....!!!!????

We're told it's to discourage cars in the town centre. Fine sentiment.
But there are no buses and I live about 5 miles out so walking is a bit of a non-starter too.

The council is often in the local press saying it wants a thriving high st.

I sometimes wonder if the car parking people and the local commerce people actually ever talk to each other. I know they don't talk with the bus people

Durham County Council introduced free parking after 2pm during Covid restrictions, and this is still in force (if website is to be believed)

YANBU, car parking charges stop us from visiting our local city centre, they are extortionate. I don't believe parking should be free, but the prices should be capped.

Surely it's better if parking is sensible and the shops stay open paying rates to the council?

We don't go into our city centre, only retail parks and if we go to the local nearby towns we park in streets without charges

Councils wonder why shops are closing, encourage shoppers to come in with free parking!

We have to pay £4ph or £12 for the day.
We live a 5 min drive into town, we also live on a bus route. It takes 35 mins for the bus to get into town and costs more than petrol & parking for a family of five.

We also live 25 mins from Bluewater & 2 other shopping centres with free parking and inside shopping.

We are also in an area with loads of industrial estates that have shops & restaurants in them.

We are a few mins from Home Bargains, Next, The Range, M&S food, Waitrose, Farmfoods, Argos, Dunelm, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway, KFC and the cinema is in the same complex.

All free parking.

I'm assuming the councils that approved shopping centres/industrial estates and the shops within knew that they would affect the high street but still approved them.

At the moment we are all trying to save money. Why would I pay for parking or a bus when I have other options?

I'm assuming the councils that approved shopping centres/industrial estates and the shops within knew that they would affect the high street but still approved them

In a lot of cases it'll be different councils, iyswim. So the council who approve an out of town shopping centre aren't necessarily the same council presiding over the town centre/s that lose custom over it.

70p an hour in the nearest city to me. Totally free on Bank Holidays.

They tried doing 2 hours free at our local car park to encourage people back to the town. It made no difference to people coming to shop so they stopped it.

Well this is the ridiculousness of people claiming this is nudge economics regarding the environment because it makes people drive further to the bigger shopping area where parking is free (and often inaccessible to people without cars very easily)

Mmm. It doesn't really take into account that people have more options than pay high parking fees into town centres or get public transport into town centres. A couple of decades ago I could see the rationale, but it just doesn't survive the onset of online shopping.

That is ridiculously cheap. Market Town in Derbyshire and it cost me £4.50 for 2 hours the last time I went into town. I use the large retail parks or Meadowhall now as the range of shops is better and the parking is free.

Councils charging ridiculous amounts is why town centres are dying.

Car parking in Norfolk is still cheaper than using the bus or park and ride for us as a family of 4. Not used the bus in years as too expensive and can fail to turn up .

Local authorities need the money. Charges for driving a car are about the only way of getting it. Yes, it will damage the High Street but I'm not convinced that those who say that really care.

People have been damaging the High Street all by themselves by shopping online. That is their prerogative but spare me the fake tears.

What they really mean is: "I drove to the High Street for the first time today for two years and I was shocked at what I had to pay for the parking."

Do they actually get more revenue from increasing the parking charges though? I can well believe some do, those where the place is sufficiently attractive for enough people to be willing to pay. But they won't all, because there are also places where people simply stop going in, so councils end up with less than they'd have had if parking were cheaper.

And this is an issue that exists regardless of whether any of the people who raise it actually care or not. Whether people on this thread are bullshitting or not is immaterial, really. It's a valid question to ask, whoever happens to be doing the asking.

Someone upthread posted some parking charges in Newcastle that highlighted their ‘Alive after 5’ initiative of free parking. The whole purpose is to encourage people into the city centre in the evenings - going to the restaurants, the cinemas, the pubs (obviously with a designated driver), the theatres, etc.

A city centre or a high street isn’t just shops. In fact, it’s generally the things that you can’t do or get online that make a high street - the cafes/restaurants, the pubs, the various services that require you to attend in person.

Sometimes that needs help rather than hinderance.