Cambridge Congestion Charges
Discussion
If you work in Cambridge or travel there regularly, you might want to sign up, for what its worth.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/NoCambridgeTolls/
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/NoCambridgeTolls/
I actually have a house in Cambridge, I hope they do have a congestion charge.
The traffic in Cambridge is beyond stupid and the roads have been unable to cope with the volume of traffic for some time now.
As much as I don't like all the students on bloody bikes either, maybe this congestion charge will force Cambridgeshire county concil to get some proper public transport.
The traffic in Cambridge is beyond stupid and the roads have been unable to cope with the volume of traffic for some time now.
As much as I don't like all the students on bloody bikes either, maybe this congestion charge will force Cambridgeshire county concil to get some proper public transport.
I was born in Cambridge and have spent a good deal of my life in and around Cambridge
I also hope they bring in congestion charging, by doing so they will kill the City centre shopping and maybe at long last they will realise that instead of keeping building new shopping centres within Cambridge and forcing cars onto certain roads by shutting off or restricting traffic on other roads that they should have built an out of town shopping centre?
But no, they continue to expand the medieval city centre shopping and force people onto public transport. Park and ride in Cambridge? Hopeless! and as for that great white elephant the guided bus route......
So come on Cambridge, lets put in congesting charging, then I guess more will do what I already do, go to Lakeside or Bluewater to shop, the petrol you use is easily offset by the free parking,more people doing this would go a long way to help the traffic problem in Cambridge. The city centre would die, but it wil die anyway if they bring in congestion charging
Perhaps if you want to get traffic out of Cambridge you need to get traffic off the road? With park and ride in Cambridge you get the opportunity to trade sitting in traffic in the comfort of your car to sitting in traffic in a dirty smelly bus, you are still using the road, yes I accept that there are more of you sitting in the bus and you have removed some of the cars from the road, but you are still on the road and you will never remove enough cars to allow buses to move about Cambridge with ease!!
Now if you want to do something really forward thinking, something completely revolutionary how about getting the traffic off the road, up into the air, build a monorail?
I also hope they bring in congestion charging, by doing so they will kill the City centre shopping and maybe at long last they will realise that instead of keeping building new shopping centres within Cambridge and forcing cars onto certain roads by shutting off or restricting traffic on other roads that they should have built an out of town shopping centre?
But no, they continue to expand the medieval city centre shopping and force people onto public transport. Park and ride in Cambridge? Hopeless! and as for that great white elephant the guided bus route......
So come on Cambridge, lets put in congesting charging, then I guess more will do what I already do, go to Lakeside or Bluewater to shop, the petrol you use is easily offset by the free parking,more people doing this would go a long way to help the traffic problem in Cambridge. The city centre would die, but it wil die anyway if they bring in congestion charging
Perhaps if you want to get traffic out of Cambridge you need to get traffic off the road? With park and ride in Cambridge you get the opportunity to trade sitting in traffic in the comfort of your car to sitting in traffic in a dirty smelly bus, you are still using the road, yes I accept that there are more of you sitting in the bus and you have removed some of the cars from the road, but you are still on the road and you will never remove enough cars to allow buses to move about Cambridge with ease!!
Now if you want to do something really forward thinking, something completely revolutionary how about getting the traffic off the road, up into the air, build a monorail?
DavidGTi said:
I actually have a house in Cambridge, I hope they do have a congestion charge.
The traffic in Cambridge is beyond stupid and the roads have been unable to cope with the volume of traffic for some time now.
As much as I don't like all the students on bloody bikes either, maybe this congestion charge will force Cambridgeshire county concil to get some proper public transport.
We live in Melbourn, my wife, like many other commuters, works in the science park. If you look at the proposed map you will see that every science park is included, this will mean that people who's livelihoods depend on the science parks will pay a congestion charge to enter, in some cases 500 yards. This will cost £5 a day or £1200 a year which means you will have to earn £1800 to pay for it.The traffic in Cambridge is beyond stupid and the roads have been unable to cope with the volume of traffic for some time now.
As much as I don't like all the students on bloody bikes either, maybe this congestion charge will force Cambridgeshire county concil to get some proper public transport.
Next time you are out and about Cambridge look at the Traffic light sequences and check the location of the bus stops. It should become apparent that these have been placed in such a way to maximise congestion (to give more leverage against personal transport) Can you remember the times before we had bus and cycle lanes? now we have queues backing out onto the A14 and M11, something that never used to happen. I agree the town is a mess, but this is largly down to local planning and badly engineered road policies. If they really wanted to sort it out they could:-
1. get rid of the double deck buses
2. move the bus station away from the busiest part of town
3. replace the park and ride with the smaller, cross town buses
4. get rid of the cycle lanes (they're dangerous and the cyclists don't use them anyway)
5. pull down the multi story car parks (if you don't want cars in your town why provide parking for em)
6. recalibrate the lights to be efficient
7. remove the bus lanes
8. enforce buses for the schools
I'll happily stop driving in town but I'll be damned if I ever penalise people who merely want to work in a science park and never, ever go near the 'busy town centre'
Unfortunately every Council is so far up its own arse the daylight disappeared long ago. Furthermore, every decision they make is 'politically correct', which *by definition* meane 'the wrong decision'.
I've seen it happen in Colchester - reduce speed limits from 40 to 30 (so cars spend longer on the road), reduce the number of lanes avaliable to cars (I can't think of a better way to create congestion), build thousands of houses to increase the population - and then wring their hands in despair at all the traffic they single-handedly created. It's truly pathetic and a tragedy that such fools end up in charge of us.
The Victorians made travel faster, easier and cheaper. Our masters delight in making it slower, harder and more expensive. But perhaps this is only to be expected - our population is too high and when their is no war to be fought, a Government turns on its own people instead.
I've seen it happen in Colchester - reduce speed limits from 40 to 30 (so cars spend longer on the road), reduce the number of lanes avaliable to cars (I can't think of a better way to create congestion), build thousands of houses to increase the population - and then wring their hands in despair at all the traffic they single-handedly created. It's truly pathetic and a tragedy that such fools end up in charge of us.
The Victorians made travel faster, easier and cheaper. Our masters delight in making it slower, harder and more expensive. But perhaps this is only to be expected - our population is too high and when their is no war to be fought, a Government turns on its own people instead.
Charging for access to the Milton Rd Science Park, or Cambridge Business Park is going to be unconscionable - considering they are NEXT DOOR to a Park and Ride site.
Looking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
Looking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
Anatol said:
Charging for access to the Milton Rd Science Park, or Cambridge Business Park is going to be unconscionable - considering they are NEXT DOOR to a Park and Ride site.
Looking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
Park and Ride is going to be moved to the other side of the A14.....convenientlyLooking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
Apache said:
Anatol said:
Charging for access to the Milton Rd Science Park, or Cambridge Business Park is going to be unconscionable - considering they are NEXT DOOR to a Park and Ride site.
Looking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
Park and Ride is going to be moved to the other side of the A14.....convenientlyLooking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
[/cynic]Anyone spoken to their local councillor? Or the councillor responsible for traffic? Or looked at the local transport plan for Cambridgeshire?
In their defence, Cambridgeshire have pioneered the use of road closures & pedestrian zones, won awards for the park and ride scheme, reduced the number of car park spaces, increased car park charges considerably (working with the City Council), invested in cycle routes, put in real time bus information and are building a new guided bus way.
I don't work for CCC and have nothing to do with them but I can tell you they are 100 times better than others I do work with.
In their defence, Cambridgeshire have pioneered the use of road closures & pedestrian zones, won awards for the park and ride scheme, reduced the number of car park spaces, increased car park charges considerably (working with the City Council), invested in cycle routes, put in real time bus information and are building a new guided bus way.
I don't work for CCC and have nothing to do with them but I can tell you they are 100 times better than others I do work with.
Apache said:
Anatol said:
Charging for access to the Milton Rd Science Park, or Cambridge Business Park is going to be unconscionable - considering they are NEXT DOOR to a Park and Ride site.
Looking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
Park and Ride is going to be moved to the other side of the A14.....convenientlyLooking at the boundaries as planned, is it actually going to be the case that you'll have to pay the charge to park and ride??
Tol
My mum (and me when I'm back from uni/writing news for PH) live within the proposed CC charge zone. So by the time it comes in, we'll have to pay to keep our cars here (in theory).
I don't think a CC is the answer - it won't put anyone off, because they'll just pay it. It almost seems as though CCC is wondering how long people will be 'happily fleeced' before they start losgin money.
Some people HAVE to drive in to work, school or town; it's that simple. The Park and Ride system may have won awards, but let's face it kids, it's rubbish.
The Council needs to stop trying to build on the roads into Cambridge - it's that simple. The work on the science park end of Milton Road took over a year, all to put in an extra lane to the science park and take one out for getting into town.
It saddend me to hear that they were proposing a charge, moreso that they weren't going to put it down to a vote.
We're being robbed and noone seems to care!
I don't think a CC is the answer - it won't put anyone off, because they'll just pay it. It almost seems as though CCC is wondering how long people will be 'happily fleeced' before they start losgin money.
Some people HAVE to drive in to work, school or town; it's that simple. The Park and Ride system may have won awards, but let's face it kids, it's rubbish.
The Council needs to stop trying to build on the roads into Cambridge - it's that simple. The work on the science park end of Milton Road took over a year, all to put in an extra lane to the science park and take one out for getting into town.
It saddend me to hear that they were proposing a charge, moreso that they weren't going to put it down to a vote.
We're being robbed and noone seems to care!
Simpo Two said:
It's truly pathetic and a tragedy that such fools end up in charge of us.
I agree with the sentiment...but we vote for them? 
Just another "back door tax" I am afraid! Houses become too expensive in town, create all new work in town (Science Park & Cowley Road)...everyone ends up commuting = congestion = lots of indirect tax!
i've never understood the councils logic. i worked at the airport for 16 years and the ques to get into and out of work have steadily got longer just by sheer volume of traffic (this goes for just about all my route to work along the A1065,A11, A14). cambridge has long been known as one of the most congested cities in the uk, long before all this congestion charging has become fashionable, and now for the last few years the council have been badgering Marshalls to up sticks from the airport so they can build something in region of 14,000 new homes on the site!
with your average home having 2 cars, that would be getting on for nearly 30,000 extra cars in the area, which is already known as one of the most congested in the uk!
with your average home having 2 cars, that would be getting on for nearly 30,000 extra cars in the area, which is already known as one of the most congested in the uk!
eccles said:
i've never understood the councils logic. i worked at the airport for 16 years and the ques to get into and out of work have steadily got longer just by sheer volume of traffic (this goes for just about all my route to work along the A1065,A11, A14). cambridge has long been known as one of the most congested cities in the uk, long before all this congestion charging has become fashionable, and now for the last few years the council have been badgering Marshalls to up sticks from the airport so they can build something in region of 14,000 new homes on the site!
with your average home having 2 cars, that would be getting on for nearly 30,000 extra cars in the area, which is already known as one of the most congested in the uk!
Have you not noticed the 'road improvements' over the years Eccles? the addition of bus lanes was the main culprit, the town was too small to cater for both car and bus but they went ahead with it anyway then the cycle lanes were added. Building the shopping precinct on Newmarket Rd gave the perfect opportunity to relieve the pressure by allowing entry/exit at both ends but for some odd reason they blocked it off with bollards and 'anti phased' the traffic lights by Argos thus creating even more traffic to use Newmarket Road. It wouldn't take much to ease things up so I can only conclude it's deliberate.with your average home having 2 cars, that would be getting on for nearly 30,000 extra cars in the area, which is already known as one of the most congested in the uk!
Where do you work btw? I used to work as a connie on Hercs and Tristar
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