Parking in Worcester: All the signs are there

9:29am Tuesday 4th September 2012 in News By Tom Edwards

Parking in Worcester: All the signs are there Parking in Worcester: All the signs are there

NEW electronic parking signs are to be put up around Worcester to help solve the city’s congestion problems.

A range of other new measures to ease disputes over street parking, reduce traffic and help drivers find spaces more easily have also been agreed by council chiefs.

A series of new message boards at key locations around the city will alert driver to where car parks are and how many spaces are empty in each one.

The idea of using ‘variable message boards’ has already been introduced in other cities across the country, including Birmingham.

Worcester City Council has agreed to launch the project with the county council, with both working together to decide the best locations.

A funding package is being put together and transport chiefs hope to get signs in place by March next year.

A long list of other parking measures have been agreed by the city council, including exploring a new car share scheme for council staff, and starting talks that could see James Close and St Clement’s Close in St John’s adopted by Worcester Community Housing as residents parking-only.

The council has also agreed to team up with County Hall to share any future reviews of parking in Worcester and think of new ways to promote public transport.

Bosses have also agreed to continue to use enforcement in the belief wardens can do as much as any new policy to ensure drivers park in the right places.

The city council’s scrutiny committee, which has been reviewing parking problems in Worcester, came up with the ideas.

Councillor Joy Squires, who chairs the committee, said: “It’s great that what has been suggested has been accepted. What we now need to do is monitor it to ensure it’s progressing.”

Councillor Neil Laurenson, from the Green Party, said: “I’ve had residents contact me with concerns over parking. There’s no doubt it’s an issue.”

Councillor Marc Bayliss, deputy leader of the city council and cabinet member for economic prosperity, said: “The scrutiny committee did some useful work and the cabinet responded favourably. It goes to show we do listen.”

Comments(27)

dulon says...
11:31am Tue 4 Sep 12

Does this amazing new creation resolve the overwhelming taxi issue ?
Perhaps the 'scrutiny committee ' and 'cabinet'would like to address the parking issues surrounding the taxis in worcs town centre following this tremendous accomplishment !

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daned says...
11:41am Tue 4 Sep 12

dulon wrote:
Does this amazing new creation resolve the overwhelming taxi issue ?
Perhaps the 'scrutiny committee ' and 'cabinet'would like to address the parking issues surrounding the taxis in worcs town centre following this tremendous accomplishment !
The council will do nothing as most of the taxi drivers belong to an "ethnic community".

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skychip says...
12:03pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Perhaps County Hall management could encourage their staff to use public transport on the days they are not allowed to park on the Campus. Considering there were supposed to be a vast amount of people being made redundant at County Hall there are more cars than ever parked on the highway.

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More Tea Vicar says...
12:34pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Sounds like a good idea in principle, but knowing our council, I'd be interested to see the detail.

I love the idea of them proposing to improve public transport. These are the same clowns who are responsible for the useless cycle paths, the Newtown Road farce, cutting the services back, and the virtually unusable Bilford Park and Ride.

And the best thing our council could do to help with parking is ensure decent sized bays in all car parks, and most importantly, no or very low charges.

I am proud of Worcester, but I can't see why anyone thinks it's reasonable that parking is more expensive and difficult than in places like Bruges or the French Riviera.

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brooksider says...
12:42pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Is the lack of parking spaces in Council controlled car parks really causing Worcester's congestion problem?
Why waste money on expensive electronic management schemes when it would be more productive to improve our ineffective park and ride schemes and poor public transport routing.

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Jabbadad says...
1:38pm Tue 4 Sep 12

I am saddened when some carp on about Park & Ride probably never having used this service. The Woosh buses are owned by the County Council, or we tax payers, they are immaculately clean both inside and outside, they operate a frequent on time service with very pleasant staff, and with the parking are very affordable. Now does that sound anything like FIRST? And like the Bus passes that some envy they are designed to keep traffic out of the City Centre. There are some 8,000 bus passes issued, and hundreds per day use Woosh, (even considerate parents drop their school children off to save driving into town), if all these people drove into town we would really experience traffic chaos.
And of course the Taxis are mainly owned by the Asian community, who use whatever they can (votes etc) to better themselves. And any politician who denies the existence of the Asian vote is not being very truthful.

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More Tea Vicar says...
1:46pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Jabbadad wrote:
I am saddened when some carp on about Park & Ride probably never having used this service. The Woosh buses are owned by the County Council, or we tax payers, they are immaculately clean both inside and outside, they operate a frequent on time service with very pleasant staff, and with the parking are very affordable. Now does that sound anything like FIRST? And like the Bus passes that some envy they are designed to keep traffic out of the City Centre. There are some 8,000 bus passes issued, and hundreds per day use Woosh, (even considerate parents drop their school children off to save driving into town), if all these people drove into town we would really experience traffic chaos. And of course the Taxis are mainly owned by the Asian community, who use whatever they can (votes etc) to better themselves. And any politician who denies the existence of the Asian vote is not being very truthful.
I take your point about the Asian vote, and politicians using it. Funny, if a white English person tried doing that, the pc brigade would say

a - it's racist
and
b - there is no such thing as a white English/British community or population.

But I digress.

I have used the Park and Ride. I stopped. Because it's crap. The buses, car park, and most importantly, the staff, are great.

But the council geniuses have wrecked it. There are way too many stops and choke points, meaning the service is slow and unreliable. Compare and contrast with Cheltenham, for example.

Last time I used the Worcester one, I waited about 20 minutes in town for the bus back, and the ride took ages.

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Maggie Would says...
1:46pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Good heavens. I agree with Jabbadad. I'm off for a lie down and a rub down with a wet copy of The Sporting Life.

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Hwicce says...
2:00pm Tue 4 Sep 12

"Bosses have also agreed to continue to use enforcement in the belief wardens can do as much as any new policy to ensure drivers park in the right places."

Enforcement, WHAT ENFORCEMENT?

There's a whole list of people complaining that the Coucil don't bother with enforcement, these Councillors are just deluded if they think there is and decent enforcement going on.

Maybe they should get off the well-stuffed rears and come into the City centre sometime and them they'll see how effective they are at enforcement.

What complete tosh!

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More Tea Vicar says...
2:31pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Hwicce wrote:
"Bosses have also agreed to continue to use enforcement in the belief wardens can do as much as any new policy to ensure drivers park in the right places." Enforcement, WHAT ENFORCEMENT? There's a whole list of people complaining that the Coucil don't bother with enforcement, these Councillors are just deluded if they think there is and decent enforcement going on. Maybe they should get off the well-stuffed rears and come into the City centre sometime and them they'll see how effective they are at enforcement. What complete tosh!
I think the average council boss is utterly devoid of competence, commitment or conscience.

How anyone can take money from the pockets of their fellow citizen and do, at best, little of any use, and in general, an awful lot of harm,is beyond me.

Their normal response to any problem is

1 - we've done a great job solving it (when they haven't)

or

2 - not our fault. Government policy. We're just following orders. It's the public's fault blah blah blah.

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bigrat says...
3:41pm Tue 4 Sep 12

So the congestion is mainly caused by people trying to park??

If this is true, then how will the message boards stop the gridlock around the new Asda car park? Most of the drivers know they will find free spaces at Crowngate & NCP but still queue to get into Asda as they know it is far more expensive elsewhere in the city!

Living in Norton, the traffic going over the 'New' bridge is getting worse (not helped by the new lanes introdiced at the St Peter island where two lanes squeeze into one at the roundabout!) so I now almost always go through town to get to St Johns!

I just think that the money would be better spent on schemes to keep cars out of the city (more P&R, better ringways etc) rather than message boards telling drivers what they probably already know!

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Tinksey says...
4:39pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Don't waste money on flashy signs, which will really only help visitors to the city. If I want to go shopping or to the bank, I will park in the nearest car park to my home no matter whether a flashing sign is telling me there are spaces in another car park. As to congestion I would not take my car to town if the cost of travelling on a bus 'within the city' was much cheaper. If I travel to town on my own I am looking to pay approx £2-one way. If my visit to town is not going to be long its cheaper for me to pay car park (I have also the luxury to return home straight away and not wait for a bus). If I travel to town with a partner/child it will still be cheaper for me to pay car park (again the luxury of returning home straight away). If the cost of travelling on a bus was say £1 return then I would consider using a bus, even though I may have to wait for one. I feel sure other people would consider using the bus if the cost was cheaper. With regards to taxis - there are definately too many which add to the congestion in town (they do quite a bit of speeding around the streets and illegal parking) however I am sure the council will not reduce the number of licences issued because I am sure they bring in revenue.

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Tinksey says...
4:56pm Tue 4 Sep 12

County Hall has been mentioned. Do they have 'pay and display' parking there? If they don't then they should do, just like the hospital (where you have to pay extortionate rates) and everywhere else in the city. Why should County Hall staff not have to pay parking like everyone else. This would bring in some revenue. Better still turn it into a 'park and ride' car park and then other people could park there and carry on by bus to work in the city!

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keeneye says...
5:24pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Just like the story about the WCFC football ground - there are many conversations spoken in hushed whispers - local people know whats happening - or should I say - not happening - just like the recent cemetery saga - Perhaps certain folks are allowed to get away with things others might not. Its interesting to see what sort of characters approach some of the taxis, and dont actually get in the taxi A daring reference has already been made in this thread -and when the truth starts to surface this story will be shutdown.

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skychip says...
6:43pm Tue 4 Sep 12

County Hall employees don't pay to park but the Sixth Formers pay to park on their campus. If County Hall employees had to pay I know they would just park all around the local roads - much as they do now.

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Jabbadad says...
12:18am Wed 5 Sep 12

And our councilors and possibly the City Council Managing Director, have access to 24 hour Free car parkng at the Guildhall worth over £2,000 per year if compared with what they want to charge stallholders, what a nice undeclared perk.

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ideas4all says...
12:19am Wed 5 Sep 12

Y don't the council spend money on a electronic system to let taxi drivers know if there is space available on the rank cos there r plenty of signs already and everyone knows where the car parks r so it will b money not spent wisely

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TmP says...
6:41am Wed 5 Sep 12

I do not use my bus pass during the week as I cannot use it before 0930 and I want to be in and out of town as quickly as possible on the rare occasions I decide to shop in Worcester. If I am lucky I can park for 45 mins free which is usually enough for me otherwise I shop at out of town complexes much less hassell and no charges. And yes there appear on the occasions I do go to town a large amount of taxis choking up the streets no wonder people choose to shop elsewhere.

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More Tea Vicar says...
10:00am Wed 5 Sep 12

Jabbadad wrote:
And our councilors and possibly the City Council Managing Director, have access to 24 hour Free car parkng at the Guildhall worth over £2,000 per year if compared with what they want to charge stallholders, what a nice undeclared perk.
Do they? If true, it should be publicised.

I honestly don't think we have much 'corruption' in the standard sense of the word in the UK. Any country has some, of course, but we just don't compare to many others.

What we do have, however, is a kind of 'them and us' between the 'governing' and the 'governed'.

The governing, be it elected officials or local government officers, have a tendency to take salaries for non-jobs, and an utter aversion to taking any kind of responsibility.

This 'perk' you mention is quite a serious issue, in terms of the contrast it shows between the terrible service councillors and local government officers give us, with expensive, bad, parking, and the situation they enjoy for themselves.

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Jabbadad says...
11:39am Wed 5 Sep 12

They have always enjoyed free parking both at the Guildhall and County Hall, (where at the moment others don't have to pay!!!!!)

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mayall8808 says...
2:06pm Wed 5 Sep 12

The original definition of park and ride was to park at point A and ride to point B.
In Worcester the buses stop in between because its a big failure and they need to draw in paying passengers along the route, why do you need a normal service bus doing the same thing?

Park and Ride does not work in most places owing to each areas layout.

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keeneye says...
6:37pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Park and ride works for me ???

Keep the cabbies sweet there are enough of them to swing the vote in Worcester - they will dicide who will govern - its not about the parking.

Im okay with that - as they say in Wales "Its weird - en it "

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BlogIT says...
4:00pm Sun 9 Sep 12

"A series of new message boards at key locations around the city will alert driver to where car parks are and how many spaces are empty in each one."

How will the counter work exactly? The only Council owned Car Park capable of counting the available spaces is St Martins Gate. This facility was switched off years ago due to the expense of returning it to operational use. The rest of the car parks can not count vehicles in or out so how can spaces be counted?

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Jabbadad says...
5:06pm Sun 9 Sep 12

Technology has moved forwards at an alarming rate, so this should be now available, and be cost effective. Plus this information will save cars drifting around looking for spaces.
Perhaps they have a similar system in other towns, if so those responsible in Worcester should seek out this information.
It's called common sense, something politicians or politics seem to lack. Irrespectively They just follow the party line don't they?

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clubber2000 says...
2:01pm Mon 10 Sep 12

How about they try and enforce some of the road signs as well, take lowesmoore for example, no casrs inbetween 430-630 (i think) but always seem rammed with cars during that time

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Jabbadad says...
2:37pm Mon 10 Sep 12

keeneye, the cabbies are but a part of the community, and the vote is influenced by community leaders.
Over the years in Worcester there have been different communities that chose to live in close proximity to each other, for friendship, customs and religious reasons.
Catholic, Islamic and other communities have flourished strongly supported by their religious beliefs, and have been welcomed here.
When we look at the Brits that have emigrated they seek similar assurances / support from other fellow ex-pat Brits.
So yes there is, and has for many years been, the community vote, some politicians decline to admit it, and some recognise it and work with it.
We can see this locally and Nationally it's called polotics.

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Jabbadad says...
2:38pm Mon 10 Sep 12

Even called politics.

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