[Brighton] The New Brighton Station taxi rank

[pb21]

Presumably the only reason taxi drivers don't like it is as they think that fewer people will get taxis?

 

[southstandandy]

I assumed he was talking about elderly people, people with disabilities or young kids, people with luggage, tourists, people with little time, etc. Seems a crazy Idea to me.

Happened to us yesterday. I take my disabled father into Brighton to see some of his old friends once a month who live in Regency square and we always get a cab from the station as he has mobility issues. Got a taxi ok yesterday but instead of the usual £6 or thereabouts it had suddenly jumped to £11.20. Took 10mins longer to get there too, but at least my dad can afford it. The driver we had didn't seem too happy about the changes and I suppose as customers we will just have to accept paying more for our journeys in future.

 

[mothy]

Why can’t you walk from the station, it’s only a short walk and now quicker than getting a taxi.

I could easily. However people with mobility issues or visitors arriving with stacks of luggage may not be able to. The new model is way better for me- looks nicer & much less pollution for me as I walk through. & there will be more options for me to spend my money on, or somewhere to park my bike.

Fyi- I normally walk into town or cycle from my house. When it's raining I'll catch the train (1 stop) - as it's free for me (I've Already paid for it with an annual season ticket)

 

[mothy]

I assumed he was talking about elderly people, people with disabilities or young kids, people with luggage, tourists, people with little time, etc. Seems a crazy Idea to me.

I was. Unusually, I wasn't just thinking about myself

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Brighton is a wreck of a place as far as transportation is concerned.

diesel taxis should just be banned, horrible things. electric, superclean petrol hybrid or bikes/scooters, there's no need for diesel in towns. its only more efficient for motorway cruising anyway, and stinky nasty stuff at best.

Bristol is set to lead the way by banning privately-owned diesel cars from the city centre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-50292596

Hopefully Brighton will shortly follow Bristol's example.

 

[Bold Seagull]

It's only permanently gridlocked because every man and his car are given completely free rein to swan around that part of town. Hopefully a situation that won't be allowed to continue for very much longer.

Bristol is set to lead the way by banning privately-owned diesel cars from the city centre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-50292596

Hopefully Brighton will shortly follow Bristol's example.

Good points Tom.

At some point the city, and urban centers around the country need to realise there isn't a divine right for everyone to be able to drive everywhere in a car. Needs a sea change of thinking, and needs to be transformed culturally from a mindset of believing it is a right to drive everywhere, to a mindset of accepting you cannot.

 

[Mannakin]

Good points Tom.

At some point the city, and urban centers around the country need to realise there isn't a divine right for everyone to be able to drive everywhere in a car. Needs a sea change of thinking, and needs to be transformed culturally from a mindset of believing it is a right to drive everywhere, to a mindset of accepting you cannot.

How do you think this would affect shopping in the town center? LOTS of people drive to shop in town. I think that banning cars would decimate the shops.

 

[blue-shifted]

Good points Tom.

At some point the city, and urban centers around the country need to realise there isn't a divine right for everyone to be able to drive everywhere in a car. Needs a sea change of thinking, and needs to be transformed culturally from a mindset of believing it is a right to drive everywhere, to a mindset of accepting you cannot.

And I don’t think it should be too hard.

Suppose you were planning a day out in London, seeing a few attractions, Trafalgar Square etc, you wouldn’t contemplate taking a car and trying to get a space in central London. You would accept that public transport is the way to achieve this.

It’s only a small leap then for other cities to gain the same reputation.

True, we need to improve public transport, as London has done. But freeing up the front of the station for buses to move move freely will help.

I’ll guess that 50% of taxis in the daytime are visitors to the town, maybe not all speak English, who would happily take a bus but have no idea where the buses are going, (probably, because they have Downs Park, or the Marina on the front) or what ticket to buy, or would walk if we made it clearer it was easy to do so.

 

[beorhthelm]

How do you think this would affect shopping in the town center? LOTS of people drive to shop in town. I think that banning cars would decimate the shops.

buy everything on line, simples.

 

[blue-shifted]

The front of the station, (like most of the rest of the city), now needs a proper hosedown and a lick of paint.

It could now be quite a nice public space, pop up foodstalls, a bit of music, possibly some public art (not tagging).

 

[blue-shifted]

How do you think this would affect shopping in the town center? LOTS of people drive to shop in town. I think that banning cars would decimate the shops.

Not many drive to Oxford Street

 

[Stat Brother]

How do you think this would affect shopping in the town center? LOTS of people drive to shop in town. I think that banning cars would decimate the shops.

Just provide one study that proves that, just one that's all :-

[tweet]1194348162108067842[/tweet]

 

[Gwylan]

How do you think this would affect shopping in the town center? LOTS of people drive to shop in town. I think that banning cars would decimate the shops.

Quite the reverse. There have been many cities that have banned cars from their centres and every one has seen a boost in retail trade.

See here

"Pedestrianisation can bring additional social benefits to urban centres – including (perhaps counter to expectations) boosts in economic activity. Studies from the UK found an increase in trading of up to 40% across a number of pedestrianised sites. Similarly, in New York, there was a 49% drop in commercial vacancies in pedestrianised zones. Pedestrianisation of a busy city centre street in Mexico City resulted in a 30% increase in commercial activity ..."

or here

" In November 2015 the results were in, reverberating Copenhagen’s own experiences.
Namely pedestrians and those on bicycles yield ca 50% of retailer revenues in larger city centres and 25% in
smaller ones. Cyclists visit shops more often than those travelling by car. In centre areas the bicycle is the
preferred means of transportation."

Regardless of any other reasons, the council should think about a traffic ban purely to help city centre shops.

 

[Uter]

The problems caused by the taxi rank at the front of the station had got pretty bad over the last few years.

To my mind the main ones were:

Buses frequently unable to pull out because of taxis waiting to turn into the forecourt blocking their exit.
Pedestrians having to walk around taxis blocking the pedestrian crossing.
Noise, pollution and congestion caused by taxis ranking in Surrey street.

Personally I am glad it's moved, but I have some sympathy for taxi drivers and those customers who have no other realistic option.

In some ways this is down to the council failing to see through any of the various proposed schemes to move the rank in recent years. I think there were proposals to move it to Frederick Place and Terminus Road, and possibly others, which came to nothing. The council seemed to cave in at the slightest opposition. No scheme was ever going to be ideal as there will always be winners and losers, but that was no reason for inaction.

Southern have given up on them and taken action themselves.

 

[Bold Seagull]

How do you think this would affect shopping in the town center? LOTS of people drive to shop in town. I think that banning cars would decimate the shops.

But actually the evidence is the reverse is true. In Utrecht it got to the point of retailers overwhelmingly voting to get ride of areas of parking so that new cycle paths and ranks could be created. They keep cars out of the centre using park and ride areas, so people just cycle or bus into the centre. Retail thrives because pedestrians aren't battling with vehicles.

 

[zefarelly]

If I go to Brighton, I take the train or ride a scooter/bike. Whilst I may occasionally use a car if large heavy loads are involved, I can't think of anything big I'd buy in Brighton . . . . last thing I bought in GAK was delivered from their warehouse.direct.

If we gig in London its 50/50 whether we drive as a band or take the train. so many venues have back line there's no need to lug a van load of gear about.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Time to bring back the Tuk Tuks to get the tourists down to the seafront IMO.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Quite the reverse. There have been many cities that have banned cars from their centres and every one has seen a boost in retail trade.

See here

"Pedestrianisation can bring additional social benefits to urban centres – including (perhaps counter to expectations) boosts in economic activity. Studies from the UK found an increase in trading of up to 40% across a number of pedestrianised sites. Similarly, in New York, there was a 49% drop in commercial vacancies in pedestrianised zones. Pedestrianisation of a busy city centre street in Mexico City resulted in a 30% increase in commercial activity ..."

or here

" In November 2015 the results were in, reverberating Copenhagen’s own experiences.
Namely pedestrians and those on bicycles yield ca 50% of retailer revenues in larger city centres and 25% in
smaller ones. Cyclists visit shops more often than those travelling by car. In centre areas the bicycle is the
preferred means of transportation."

Regardless of any other reasons, the council should think about a traffic ban purely to help city centre shops.

Some more progressive countries realised quite early that the car would eventually bring with it issues that couldn't be resolved with simply expanding roads and parking. The Dutch half way through the 70s projected the growth to it's natural conclusion and started it's transformation projects fairly early so that culturally they are more accepting of transformations they have made to city centres, so that economically they see benefits in retail and productivity through ease of commuting. It is not unusual for Northern European cities to have 50% of commutes done by bike, and over 80% done by either public transport, bike or walking.

Brighton centre could be transformed into a great European style pizza and avenues stretching from the station to the sea front, chairs and tables spilling out around a pedestrianised Clock Tower and Churchill Square. Retail would be boasted and you could start to have markets and other offerings that online shopping simply cannot offer. Can the mentality of 'where will I park my car' be transformed?

 

[Gwylan]

Brighton centre could be transformed into a great European style pizza

And nothing would top that ...

 

[Stat Brother]

Last Saturday I had to take Jnr to his referee course at a place called Rottingdean

Coming back along the coast I thought I'd pop into Churchill Sq to pick up a birthday present.
I turned into the NCP only to see it was £6 an hour

Jesus wept, how the hell do people think no cars would make city centres less attractive?