Madeira Drive - Cost of Parking

[Garage_Doors]

According to the First Bus website, an all day "FirstDay" ticket for the Taunton area is £4.20.

Taunton Area | FirstDayBristol, Bath and the West | FirstGroup plc.

Not according to the advert on the back of the bus i was following in Taunton.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I'm sure it was 6pm last time I looked

It may have been.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

It seems to me that the charges on Madeira Drive are exploiting the first time visitor to Brighton, who will get caught unawares and pay up due to lack of knowledge of any other option. Much like the NCP Theatre car park on Church Street, that reeled in the unsuspecting user from out of town for a good while (but ended up having to change their evening tariff - a salutary lesson, I'd have thought.)

The problem is, the cost is SO outrageous that it can easily spoil someone's day or evening out and therefore their experience of Brighton, putting them off returning.

When Brighton is no longer a popular destination - they will change the parking structures.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Siena? Aberdeen? Norwich? Berlin? York? Oxford? Durham? And - obviously - Venice.

A number of ski-resorts have banned ban cars as well.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Have we got what cynics might see as an illegal cartel in Brighton?

On Monday it was announced that NCP parking charges were rising by around 25%, on Wednesday it emerged that parking on Madeira Drive could cost as much as 20 quid, now B&H buses increase their all day ticket to 4.40.

Coincidence, or pre-planned?

 

[The Large One]

Have we got what cynics might see as an illegal cartel in Brighton?

On Monday it was announced that NCP parking charges were rising by around 25%, on Wednesday it emerged that parking on Madeira Drive could cost as much as 20 quid, now B&H buses increase their all day ticket to 4.40.

Coincidence, or pre-planned?

Pre-planned. It's the start of the new financial year.

 

[Lush]

Pre-planned. It's the start of the new financial year.

And the start of the new financial year where the council decided not to increase the council tax - so there you go.

 

[Garage_Doors]

And the start of the new financial year where the council decided not to increase the council tax - so there you go.

Did they? is that for all of us in Brighton?

 

[Lush]

Did they? is that for all of us in Brighton?

BBC News - Brighton council tax rise defeated

 

[wehatepalace]

With reference to the new bus lanes and changes to the lewes road, what provisions are being made for deliveries ? It's an absolute mission trying to park an 18tn lorry on the Lewes road without getting a parking ticket, let alone an artic. Most of the loading bays usually have cars parked in them,and the traffic warden see trucks as easy pray as they know I can't just jump in and move it like a car driver.

 

[wehatepalace]

A number of ski-resorts have banned ban cars as well.

Ski resorts are a bit different though, I've skied all my life and never been to a ski resort the size of Brighton, and besides other than when you arrive and depart most of your time is spent skiing down the mountain.

 

[Garage_Doors]

BBC News - Brighton council tax rise defeated

Result. Thank you.

 

[Craig4004]

I fear the popularity of 'The Gym' down there has added to the reason of the increase of charges. I use that gym and loved the 'Free after 6pm' parking but now will have to re-think when I go. Bloody piss take in my opinion but shit happens eh.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

The thing I never understand with these parking prices is why you have to pay for a set period instead of it being £x per hour. I'd also like to ask someone why the hell those machines are incapable of giving change.

How they can charge people £20 per day is totally beyond me.

 

[Common as Mook]

The thing I never understand with these parking prices is why you have to pay for a set period instead of it being £x per hour. I'd also like to ask someone why the hell those machines are incapable of giving change.

How they can charge people £20 per day is totally beyond me.

Legalised robbery off the back of Green Dogma

 

[Garage_Doors]

I fear the popularity of 'The Gym' down there has added to the reason of the increase of charges. I use that gym and loved the 'Free after 6pm' parking but now will have to re-think when I go. Bloody piss take in my opinion but shit happens eh.

Is it no longer going to be free after 6pm then ?

 

[trueblue]

Yep. I went to a meeting at the Amex on Monday, where the Council unveiled plans for a vastly improved bus service along the Lewes Road. Increased capacity on the 25s, new services direct to Brighton Station, new buses, more frequent services, many new bus shelters in Coldean, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, bus lanes in both directions to speed up journey times, real time information signs at more bus stops, re-design of traffic signals and junctions (including the Vogue Gyratory), wider cycle lanes, new off-road cycle routes, better pedestrian crossings.

They've started work already, but it will be two years before the project is finished.

Oh good. More empty bus lanes that operate 24 hours instead of just during peak times, narrowing the roads to a point where there will surely be more head-on collisions on the rare occasions that the rest of the traffic's able to move. I'm not anti public transport - use it all the time - but if they're going to destroy the town for car drivers then at the very least they need to build some huge park and rides like Oxford. At least Roger French will be happy - his licence to print money just got even better.

As for the obsession with cycle lanes, did the councillors all get off their faces in Amsterdam or something and decide that's how Brighton should be? Unfortunately, in this city we have these things called 'hills' ... It's not going to happen. What they've done to The Drive is abhorrent. That road was magnificent.... a massive, wide avenue unobstructed down to the sea, one of those things that made Brighton and Hove special. Now it's a mess of parked cars, dangerous jutting out kerbs, random bollards and a cycle lane that in the times I travel (admittedly off peak) is always, always empty.

One of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen was on the buses recently - a poster, in cahoots with the Greens, opposing a new car park at the Royal Sussex. It claimed that everyone should be able to walk, cycle or get the bus. Are these people morons? It's a hospital. People are sick. My Dad, before he died, had to go there 3 times a week for over a year to have blood transfusions. Should I have bought him a bike or bundled him on to the bus? They are living in cloud cuckoo land.

 

[trueblue]

Oh and by the way, what about those parking machine in town where you have a charge for your parking and then the machine doesn't give change.

How any fair-minded person could possible install a £20 000 machine that then doesn't give change, so they can rake in extra £1 000's for a service that isn't delivered is shameful.

Yes. The same machines that in areas of London will give you time pro-rate to whatever money you put in. An absolute scam here.

 

[trueblue]

You are incorrect that my question is based on a suggestion that bus fares are set in a way that puts local people off using the service.
People don't choose to use the bus, they either use them or they don't if you have to use a bus, you have to use a bus. locals have to use them regardless of the cost hence why we get charged more.
The question is why is there two tariffs that you keep evading giving reasons of markets forces etc.
In truth, its an unfair system.
You keep quoting facts and figures to try and justify it.
"Doubling passenger numbers is clear evidence that the company is attracting more journeys by both residents and visitors"
So what? are you saying they must be right to charge residents more because more people are using buses?
Passengers are increasing because the number of people living in Brighton is increasing and we are being forced onto buses so its Inevitable they will increase.

Think is best left to rest as you are never going to see the unfairness of it and its certain not worth falling out over.

Absolutely. The bus company isn't a success because it's some sort of genius business concept. It's a success because most people have no bloody choice but to use it, regardless of their absolute rip-off fares for residents in town. I do everything I can to avoid bolstering their profits by walking everywhere but if it's absolutely freezing, hammering down with rain or I happen to have a suitcase in tow then have no choice.

If there are 2 of us, getting to the town centre costs just 50p more in a taxi. The prices, which have quadrupled in the last 8 years, are a joke.

 

[trueblue]

With reference to the new bus lanes and changes to the lewes road, what provisions are being made for deliveries ? It's an absolute mission trying to park an 18tn lorry on the Lewes road without getting a parking ticket, let alone an artic. Most of the loading bays usually have cars parked in them,and the traffic warden see trucks as easy pray as they know I can't just jump in and move it like a car driver.

You can't. Just get your filthy lorry out of our city. We don't care if we starve and the shops are empty. You, my friend, are the spawn of the devil. Unless you paint it to look like a bus and drive recklessly at pedestrians - then you should be ok.