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September 15, 2006
If its working well, change it so it doesnt.
An exhausting week (away from the train issue) for your diarist ... just letting you know that I've far from forgotten the train issue.
I was in Melksham this lunchtime, by car.
A year ago, one hour's free parking was introduced in two car parks on the edge of town and it did a great deal of good to the town centre - people were popping in to town and able to park for a five minute bank run or to pick up bagettes and the local economy was hugely helped. The car parks selected meant that people didn't bring their cars right into the centre and cause more conjestion, with the central (and awkward) car park receiving the visitors who were staying for a few hours - so that was well occupied without leading to a major traffic jam.
A success story?
Yes, until someone in Trowbridge (where they control these things from) noticed that the total number of free parking spaces in the two car parks was more than they had budgeted for and by moving the free parking hour into town, and charging on the outskirts, their targetyed space budget could be reached. So on August 7th, it was all change. What's the result
* A lot of people driving into the very centre when they had been walking for the past year.
* An overcrowded central car park with people cruising and lookig for spaces
* Very quiet outer car parks.
In fact, it's probably much easier now for us to pop into Devizes to deposit a cheque - or at least we won't resent 40p for 5 minutes if we go there!
When something is working well, yes, look and see if t can be even better but why the **** kick a success story in the teeth just because of regional targets that do damage when applied locally. Of course, the same can be said for our train service, blooming at 35% per annum, but slashed back based on old figures from which there's an assumed growth rate on 1.7%.
Posted by gje at September 15, 2006 03:05 PM