parking in brighton

[Bakesy]

Give your doctor a brown envelope full of cash and you'll get one of those blue badges, you can then park wherever you like for free.

 

[Clothes Peg]

Give your doctor a brown envelope full of cash and you'll get one of those blue badges, you can then park wherever you like for free.

Not quite 'wherever you like' and not always free unfortunately. Plus the spaces are frequently filled with people without badges

I can't comment on the ease at which doctors can be bribed.

 

[Brovion]

I, on the other hand, take the polar opposite view. The policy of discouraging private cars into the city has been a slow-burner. When it was first introduced around six or seven years ago, it was very unpopular. However, after a while, it became clear - at least to the majority of locals - that driving into the city was a pain in the arse, and therefore not to be attempted.

After six or seven years, while the roads are still busy, they are much better than they were back then. It did help that the bus services were improved and the fares formalised (though the fact that they have since risen from £1 to £1.50 is unhelpful, sadly), and we saw an increase in bus usage.

One thing that does peturb me is the notion of building more car parking space - especially under the seafront squares (like Regency Square). It can ruin the tranquility of the square in question and actively encourages cars into the city. Call me a beardless green hippy if you will, but cars and narrow city streets never were best bedfellows.

Slow burner? That's one way of putting it. All the while it's known that there is the chance of getting a parking space people will drive into Brighton - it's the same mentality that makes people buy lottery tickets and the oil will run out before people stop doing it.

Also I disagree with your analysis, I think the roads are a lot worse than they were six or seven years a go. An awful lot worse. One of the reasons is that the problem of parking in central Brighton has slowly spread outwards. Up at Fiveways we used to live a happy, carefree existence but recently we've had a drastic curtailment of on-street parking. So much so that although I walk to work when I do have to use my car at evenings and weekends when I come home I now have to spend 5/10 minutes circling the Fiveways area trying to find somewhere to park that isn't now Loading Only, cycle lane or double-yellow line. Five years ago I didn't have to waste fuel in this way. Come to that five months ago I didn't have to either as it's all been done recently.

Despite what you might think I'm not some petrolhead wedded to my car. As I mentioned I walk to work every day, and providing we haven't got to do any shopping we (family of four) go into town by bus - but it's bloody expensive and driving is cheaper so often we put up with the inconvienence. Why are the buses now so expensive? Well I'll tell you. It's because Brighton Bus Company (or whatever it's called) does NOT exist to provide a bus service to the people of Brighton - it exists to make a profit for its shareholders. Until public transport is publically-owned they will always come up with some excuse to keep on fleecing the public - and Brighton Council are helping them rob us!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

All true. But how much of the money that NCP rake in is spent on public transport?

£5.8 million in the current year.




How parking surplus is spent

Brighton & Hove City Council plans to invest nearly £10m of parking enforcement money into transport and highways over the next financial year.

The council estimates it will receive over £5.8m surplus from parking enforcement in 2007/08.

This money, plus other government funding, will be ploughed straight back into city highway and public transport projects.

Over the next year, the council will put £6.9m towards public transport. It plans to spend over £5.6m on concessionary bus fares for people over 60 and the disabled and £882,000 on subsidising non-commercially viable bus routes across the city.

The council estimates that £2.9m will go to fund the on-going costs of borrowing money from central government to pay for the projects in the council’s local transport plan.

The rest will go towards improving roads, pavements, cycle paths, planting trees and laying out grass verges, installing road safety measures, street lighting and much more.

The figures come from a report put together by Brighton & Hove City Council’s sustainable transport team, giving environment councillors an overview of how money from parking enforcement is spent. It will go to councillors at the next environment committee on 7 June.

The report also gives details of the previous two years’ spending. In 2005/06 the council had a surplus of £4.6m from parking enforcement, spending £2.95m on public transport and £2.1m on the local transport plan with the remainder going towards highway improvements.

In 2006/07 the parking surplus was approximately £4.7m, and this contributed to wards a £6.3m spend on public transport, a further £2.5m on the local transport plan and the rest on highway improvements.

The number of tickets issued has fallen from 161,783 in 2005/06 to 149,955 in 2006/07 and is estimated to remain at about the same level in 2007/08. The reduction is due to a number of factors, including the introduction of the central Brighton parking scheme and the ongoing rise in bus use and other forms of sustainable transport.

Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, chairman of the environment committee, said: “It’s important that the council is upfront about how it spends surplus parking income, because people want to know how the money is being allocated.

“Parking surplus goes towards a range of projects that benefit road users, pedestrians, bus users and cyclists. Without it many of the city’s bus routes would not be running and people are always calling for new bus routes.”

 

[dougdeep]

I park by the Brewery Tap and jump on a number 5.