Yes! Let's confuse the bikers!
Jan. 8th, 2008 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ffuturesThe latest on Westminster's wonderful master plan to charge for parking motorbikes is that the charges will pay for "security measures" that will apparently include putting metal rails for attaching chains beside the parking bays and ...err.. that's it. Exactly what dozens of other local authorities have done without charge for many years.
To make the situation even more farcical, the scheme will be introduced in phases starting in "the west end" (exact area not defined) this April, and spreading out gradually. There is still no information on alternatives to paying via text messages, on charges for season tickets, etc. - except that at one point it was going to cost more than a one-year resident's permit for a car, £150 versus £120. This isn't on the web site currently, so they may not have finalised it yet.
About the most positive thing I can say about it is that there are now more parking spaces - they want to lure the suckers in before charging starts. At the moment these are just meter bays with the meter covered, no security rails etc.
Any pretence that this is anything other than a revenue-boosting scheme to replace the income from cars (most of Westminster is inside the congestion charging zone) can be ignored - this is not good for the environment, it is not going to reduce congestion. And if other local authorities join in, each with their separate parking fee, it will become ridiculously expensive to use a motorbike in London.
And before pedal cyclists get too smug, my guess is that you're next...
To make the situation even more farcical, the scheme will be introduced in phases starting in "the west end" (exact area not defined) this April, and spreading out gradually. There is still no information on alternatives to paying via text messages, on charges for season tickets, etc. - except that at one point it was going to cost more than a one-year resident's permit for a car, £150 versus £120. This isn't on the web site currently, so they may not have finalised it yet.
About the most positive thing I can say about it is that there are now more parking spaces - they want to lure the suckers in before charging starts. At the moment these are just meter bays with the meter covered, no security rails etc.
Any pretence that this is anything other than a revenue-boosting scheme to replace the income from cars (most of Westminster is inside the congestion charging zone) can be ignored - this is not good for the environment, it is not going to reduce congestion. And if other local authorities join in, each with their separate parking fee, it will become ridiculously expensive to use a motorbike in London.
And before pedal cyclists get too smug, my guess is that you're next...
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 01:38 am (UTC)