To think Free Parking is the answer to revive our town centres?

[Jumell]

I’ve been thinking a bit about this lately.

Whenever I thought about going to the city centre where I used to live, to shop/browse etc - the main thing that would stop me going was the thought of paying for parking - I’d just think - ‘nah’ - and not bother going in.

i think that if the Govt took the initiative to scrap all charges from car parking companies - NCP/Councils etc etc in town centres / high streets - it would massively revive these shopping centres that we all knew and loved?

Our town centre isn't like you describe at all and our next big town centre has a great variety of shops, cafes and restaurants and currently looking very pretty and sparkly!

So petrol is free?

Where I live in the south of France all the big towns and Cities around us have free or very very cheap Park and Ride options which run until about 8pm.

Parking in smaller towns is either free or very very cheap.

People still prefer to drive miles to do their shopping in massive commercial centres instead of going into town centres (unless it's a touristic town).

Not sure that's everyones desire

Bicycle parking is free

Some of those drivers need to be encouraged out of their cars

More or less. 10 p a mile . Most journeys are under 3 miles so most people are paying maximum 60p to drive into town and back. Plus it feels free because you're not paying out there and then, having to find change or queue at a parking machine etc.

Free park and ride (free parking out of the centre and free regular reliable and clean buses into the centre with multiple in town stops) plus vastly increased fully accessible free blue badge parking in the centre might work.
Personally I'd rather the money was used to improve public transport (frequency, reliability and extended hours).

Free all day parking would be used by people working in the centre, usually office staff (which personally I don't think is a bad thing, but wouldn't get the shoppers and tourists you want to attract)

It would help if towns/cities stopped turning multistorey parking into uninhabitable student lets though.
(And it should be illegal to earmark one-bed-flats for students only - there are plenty of non-students needing one-bed-flats in a town/city centre.)

If there was suddenly free street parking, the I expect shoppers wouldn't be able to find a spot to park in, as it would all be taken by those who worked in the area (who would be getting there early to open up)

So owning a car incurs no costs?

You run the car with the costs already for other things, work, school runs etc so it’s just an accepted cost not a broken down per mile cost and if you’ve got it, and your paying those costs already than the petrol cost feels negligible vs finding £15 train fair or £6 round trip bus fair

I think the sensible thing would be for an hour or two free

Maybe free public transport but I don't think encouraging congestion is the answer to anything.

Yes, but then you'd need an enforcement regime. And they are usually funded from parking revenue.

If no parking revenue, what would you like your council to cut to pay for the enforcement?

I assumed that no parking revenue meant no limits to the parking as there would be nothing to spend on enforcement.

What would be the fate of residents' parking schemes - logically they'd be abolished at the same time?

Many towns are inundated with traffic already, I don't think we need any more. Park and ride could help, or a working bus network.

You’ve parking wardens for other offences. They also bring revenue in. You wouldn’t need to abolish resident parking if it’s only for a few hours.
there would still be parking revenue from those who choose to stay longer, first hour free would just encourage people in

I don’t think thats the entire solution but it would certainly help. In our town the retail park with free parking can be extremely busy whilst the high street a 10 minute walk up the hill is deserted.

Of course there are some people who would still prefer to walk round the shops and try on and maybe buy something. Unfortunately there isn't near enough of those to sustain shops now.

With due respect, there is zero chance that London is going to bring in freer or cheaper parking; it's a big crowded city that needs to build eyewatering amounts of housing, and there is no space for residents or outsiders to bung cars about everywhere. If anything the remaining car parks are going to steadily disappear under flats, as you'll see if you look at places like Cockfosters and Edgware.

If you live in a city like London, you need to accept using the subway and other public transport, biking etc., it's just part of the deal. For those who want cities with a suburbanized feel, big roads and loads of parking, there are other cities that offer that - you can live in Milton Keynes or Stevenage.

Park and ride systems are fine in a way, but involve a lot of faff - people have to drive to start off with, find a parking space, park, get a bus or tram or train ticket (or however the system works - the last park and ride I used was where the bus ticket which you purchased actually incorporated the cost of parking), wait for the bus/tram/whatever, get on it and ride into town, and then do the same in reverse.

They are a good way for all-day shopping and to make sure that rural and edge-of-town residents do have access to non-car-friendly city centers for when they need to do something essential there, but they are never going to result in large amounts of footfall or casual day-to-day usage. For that, you are best off just having lots of people actually living in the center of town.

Build loads of flats and town houses in the center of town (with heavy restrictions on car usage), while ensuring that the suburbanites do have access to shops and services by a) having park and ride systems b) continuing to maintain out-of-town shopping centers for these people. Don't rely on suburbanites "coming in to town" to revive town centers - they simply won't do it frequently enough, no matter what you do.

No. Town centers are congestion-prone, ultimately, because it's inevitable, because cars take up shitloads of space (both on the road and for parking), and there physically is not the space in town centers to accommodate it all. You can remove every pedestrianized space, every bus lane, every one-way system if you like. It will still be gridlock, and indeed worse gridlock, because even more people will be forced to drive.

The UK could build cities where everyone could drive and park as much as they like if it was prepared to demolish charming old British cities full of historic neighborhoods and nice old buildings, and replace them with big sprawling American or Milton Keynes-like cities, full of huge car parks, big wide roads everywhere, and concreting over loads of countryside in the process. There is zero sign that people in the UK are prepared to do this.

Build loads of flats and town houses in the center of town (with heavy restrictions on car usage

ive got that near me. They just park on the edges of it putting pressure on those residents and tradesman refuse to go there to do work.

My local council is making it harder and harder for people to park, especially for workers. This has resulted in them struggling to fill certain jobs and far more staff opting to wfh at every possible chance. I’ve seen cafes and food shops close due to lack of trade from workers. They let those with blue badges park anywhere, even in pedestrian areas which are supposed to be completely free from cars.
Then people moan that the town is full of barbers, nail salons and vape shops. Yet if I want to go into town public transport is not convenient. I would have to walk 2 miles to either the bus station or train station and quite frankly I’m not prepared to do that. The town is not good enough to warrant that. The only option is to drive and pay to park in very limited spaces, again, it isn’t that great so I choose to go elsewhere.
I often drive to where my mum lives, pick her up and park for free at her local railway station. Even though it’s a tiny station it is well serviced and reasonable so we hop on a train and go elsewhere. The drive to mums isn’t busy either as I can go alternative routes to avoid heavy traffic.

You ve just described my nearest large town, its been ruined and has not achieved what these idiots thought, buses, trains, P&R all very expensive and miles away, so people have long disruptive bus journeys.

But the worst was setting parking charges at the same rate 24/7, thereby killing off the night trade.

I know a retired city planner, he said the drive - pun intended - is always to force people out of cars onto bikes, buses etc, so planned congestion is the objective, even though he can see the damage, he still says its the right thing to do and people need "educating"

I'm all for pedestrianisation and tree lined streets BUT the access to these needs to be easy and cheap, however we just aren't there with public transport, so the car atm is the only way to get footfall into towns.

Carry on as we are and all towns will eventually die.

In what way do you think council has made it harder for people to store their cars in town, whilst they work or shop?