Paid Parking is it the right choice? "£26 a year to park "

Well after seeing the comment in the Press from Peter Roffey is paid parking the way forward?

I am not sure myself if it is,

In Jersey they have paid parking there, but has it made any real difference?

The town still seems to have just as much traffic flowing through it, and the multi-storey car parks fill up very quickly,

The trouble is Guernsey is a not a poor Island, and most workers will "Pay" even with a moan..

My opinion is to reduce the long stay 10 hour and 5 hour zones, and force long term parking out of town

But the town traders won't be keen on this.

So what is the best way forward?

I do not think there is a simple plan....

I've had my say in the Press so won't repeat my arguments here. I accept that many will disagree with me. The only point I would like to make is that the comparison with Jersey is invalid. They do not have a cheap - and from many parts of the island frequent - bus service - to serve as an alternative to comuting by car.

I think paid parking is a good idea

Paid parking would be another nail in your tourist industry's coffin.

I agree that is one of a few things that keeps Guernsey unique.

OK - one more post on this subject and then I will shut up and leave it to others. Kingcolemk - how many tourists use ten hour car parks which fill up by 8.30am? There is no proposal whatsoever to charge for short term [up to 2 hours] parking.

kingcolemk wrote:Paid parking would be another nail in your tourist industry's coffin.

Why ?

I have yet to meet any person in the world whos choice of holiday destination would be based on free or paid parking.

If by 'unique' you mean 'backward', then I agree.

Maybe Visit Guernsey could get an advert out on national telly

"quick get over to Guernsey before the implement paid parking - last chance to see!"

piffle

(why was my other post removed?)

St Saviour wrote:I agree that is one of a few things that keeps Guernsey unique.

Unique ? Free parking is available in many parts of the world.

Unique - . Being the only one of its kind:Without an equal or equivalent;

Chok Dee Ja wrote:

St Saviour wrote:I agree that is one of a few things that keeps Guernsey unique.

Unique ? Free parking is available in many parts of the world.

Unique - . Being the only one of its kind:Without an equal or equivalent;

Most of your visitors come from the UK and there are very very few places here where it is possible to park without paying. The feeling of freedom which being able to park in one of the many carparks around the coast and admire the views is wonderful.

Also, although the present proposal only talks about charging for long term parking in Town, once introduced, believe me, it will quickly spead Island wide.

Peterr wrote:I've had my say in the Press so won't repeat my arguments here. I accept that many will disagree with me. The only point I would like to make is that the comparison with Jersey is invalid. They do not have a cheap - and from many parts of the island frequent - bus service - to serve as an alternative to comuting by car.

not from all parts of the island though peter and certainly not early enough for my husband to get to work for 7.00am

kingcolemk wrote:

Chok Dee Ja wrote:

St Saviour wrote:I agree that is one of a few things that keeps Guernsey unique.

Unique ? Free parking is available in many parts of the world.

Unique - . Being the only one of its kind:Without an equal or equivalent;

Most of your visitors come from the UK and there are very very few places here where it is possible to park without paying. The feeling of freedom which being able to park in one of the many carparks around the coast and admire the views is wonderful.

Also, although the present proposal only talks about charging for long term parking in Town, once introduced, believe me, it will quickly spead Island wide.

I think that's a slightly ridiculous suggestion - do you honestly expect paid parking to be introduced at various coastal car parks? Forcing families to pay whilst they go the beach? Or tourists in headland car parks admiring the view? Or someone eating a bag of chips in their car at Cobo whilst the sea is raging? There's absolutely no chance of that happening.

I work in town and drive in most days, and I have no objection whatsoever to paid parking, it would give me the shove that I need to either get on my bike or catch the bus!

All that you describe is commonplace here in the UK. So don't you be so sure. As soon as your politicos think they might get away with it, it will happen.

THE chairman of the Chamber of Commerce retail sub-committee fears that paid parking in Town could be unfair on workers.
Tony Creasey’s comments were made after the Chamber’s president, Paul Luxon, said he agreed with the concept of paid parking and would favour whichever method of payment - lump sums or hourly charges - would be most cost effective.
‘What we are worried about is that the costs of the island’s transport system would be passed on to people who work in Town rather than elsewhere and perhaps be a bit discriminatory,’ said Mr Creasey.
It could also target lower earners, he said.
‘The burden could fall on the less well paid or those in less senior jobs who do not have parking provided for them by their employers,’ he said, but added that he had not had a chance to analyse the latest news about payment methods so could not comment further at present.
Mr Luxton said that paid parking should be intended to encourage islanders to use public transport, not to deter them from parking.

Exactly !!!!

GD wrote:‘The burden could fall on the less well paid or those in less senior jobs who do not have parking provided for them by their employers,’ he said, but added that he had not had a chance to analyse the latest news about payment methods so could not comment further at present.
Mr Luxton said that paid parking should be intended to encourage islanders to use public transport, not to deter them from parking.

So, if I understand this part of the comment correctly, the pereception here is that senior staff have parking provided. Are they paying additional tax as a "Benefit in kind"? I guess they should declare this on Tax returns, but who actually checks this?

I am in favour of paid parking as it is up to the individual to decide if they want to pay,or select from the alternatives that will include public transport, walking, jogging, cycling, car sharing etc. We will all have days that we need to use the car anyway, whether it is to collect the kids to take them to after school activities, go to the doctor or dentist, visit sick or elderly parents or friends - well, there will always be some reason to justify why you need to use your car, whether you have to pay for parking or not.

I only hope that some 'common sense' is applied and whatever is decided is fair and equitable to everyone. Pie in the sky?? I remain optimistic of a sensible outcome!

I would be disappointed if paid parking was Island wide, just restrict it to the Bridge and St PP.
You can incorporate certain schemes like cheaper coupon parking on the outskirts of the main parking areas which gives people the chance to drive in and park all day, that could apply to areas such as Candie, Vict' Road, George Street. This would give lowwer paid people the chance to drive if they so wished. Odeon car park which is convenient would be paid at the going rate same as the other main car parks.

I am defiantly not in support of paid parking , this is just another stealth tax . If they want to support those huge buses just put a penny a litre on fuel sorted no scratch card or expensive machines that distributes tickets at car parks or heaven forbid parking meters .

Last time we went to Jersey we went to some bay to look round we decided to take a wonder but it was a pay and display so i had to leave our friends with the car while went off to look for somewhere that sold scratch cards . Do we want that here no do it the easy way 1p per litre.

Scratch cards are rubbish, I agree.

Paid parking need not be implemented Islandwide. That would be plainly odd. It is the long term parking that hogs up land for no other benefit than the individual's convenience that should earn revenue. Shopping in town should be two hours free, there's no need for 'beauty spot' paid parking.

I suppose the best way would be to invest in some number plate recognition and text- or billable account-based technology. It's not like it would be difficult to implement in a few sites.

was it not suggested some time ago to put 2p a litre on fuel to pay for the bus strategy.mind you why should i as a guernsey taxpayer pay for bloney huge buses that i never use as they only pass by my house about every couple of hours.maybe the bus company should be ran by the company and not subsidised by the taxpayer.

Why should a penny be put on a litre of fuel stop paid parking. I thought the idea of paid parking was to reduce the amount of traffic coming into town. Why should some one who lives and works outside of town be penalised. Charge for parking in town/bridge and make those who use the parking pay for it, then they can decide if they want to catch the bus.

Ok Plimmeron you try catching a bus in the high parishes at 5.45 in the morning to get to work there is none (if you could i would) and before you say you can walk yer ok that would mean getting up at about 4.30 to get ready to go to work and not getting back until 6.30 ish .

I am in a position where i may need transport during the day for other tasking which cannot be achieved on a bus ,so you see it is not always as easy as it seams .

As has been said before there are many shop workers who are going to work to earn a bit extra so life is a little easier who have to run their children around straight from work to different events .

The 1p a litre imo is a better option lets face it we all have to park somewhere at some point , Get a decent bus service and then they can say you have other options.

do you also suggest the 1p a ltr be added to boat users aswell ?

paid parking is a fair system and needs to be introduced ASAP

Not necessarily i am sure there is a way garages can add a dye to marine fuel and it could be easily policed , however if we are talking about keeping the planet green (ie green tax) it should be right across the board.

Digger wrote:Ok Plimmeron you try catching a bus in the high parishes at 5.45 in the morning to get to work there is none (if you could i would) and before you say you can walk yer ok that would mean getting up at about 4.30 to get ready to go to work and not getting back until 6.30 ish .

I am in a position where i may need transport during the day for other tasking which cannot be achieved on a bus ,so you see it is not always as easy as it seams .

As has been said before there are many shop workers who are going to work to earn a bit extra so life is a little easier who have to run their children around straight from work to different events .

The 1p a litre imo is a better option lets face it we all have to park somewhere at some point , Get a decent bus service and then they can say you have other options.

I think my post did state that those who wish to use the paid parking would decide for themselves. Before I would suggest walking I would suggest "on yer bike". So in your circumstances you would use the paid parking, your choice (albeit out of necessity) some working mothers would choose to arrange their day differently, perhaps car share for the school run, how many do we see driving to school with just one child in the car. Car share to work would also be an option. Adding to the cost of petrol suits you but there is a vast majority of people it does not suit, who would therefore pay on petrol so you could park in town, doesn't seem fair to me.