Park and Ride at Batheaston - will it solve Wiltshires Ills?
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-07-06 23:25:56 - Graham Ellis
What's the point of having a Park and Ride on the outskirts or a large town of city?
I hadn't really given it too much thought until today, when I visited the West of England Partnership and listened to their Joint Local Transport Plan 3 presentation. They look after North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, BaNES and Bristol.
Travel plans need to consider a complete travel to work area - and not expire at political boundaries. There's no real need to consider people who live 12 miles west of Weston-super-mare; there are none, as that puts you in the middle of the Bristol Channel. But you do need to consider people who live 12 miles east (or south east) of Bath as they're in towns like Box, Corsham, Melksham, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon. We learned today that 26000 people commute into Bath and that 76% do so by private car; not all from the Wiltshire toens I have mentioned, but for sure a significant number.
What's the point of providing a park and ride at Batheaston for these people? Aren't you simply replacing one car park in the centre of the City with another on the outskirts, and adding in the complexity of a transfer system? And just for the saving of having people drive that last four miles? There's a lot of talk about choice, and people who don't or can't have a car but when you think about it, the park and ride does nothing for them, does it?
Let me offer you another approach. If you've got a car and want to go into Bath from Wiltshire, why not park it at home and ride from there? The need for exercise was highlighted today - and that's a walk to the bus stop, or a cycle ride. Perhaps feeder buses to the trains at Chippenham, Melksham or Bradford-on-Avon, of indeed feeder buses to other buses.
I presented this in "just a minute" (I'm a fast talker - I took less!) and I know that one Bath Residents chap was huffing and puffing - got up after me and said emphatically "I am in favour of the park and ride". Well actually so am I - but scaled down to provide for those it should provide for - the people from Wraxall and Biddestone and Gastard who don't support a regular bus, for example.
If we're going to cut Co2, let's cut it all the way. If we're going to cut private cars, let's cut them all the way too. Lisa and I have mentioned / thought of the possibility of reducing from a 2 car to a 1 car family. Not easy if she's got to run a business errand while I'm away, but I would certainly like to. I'm taking to more trips by public transport, but the carrot's not big enough yet ... and it doesn't matter how much you beat us with a stick, if we cannot do it by public tranport we can't take a juicy orange bite!