Do you commute to Leeds city centre by car?

[damci]

Well you might as well buy a train/bus pass for the new year as they are closing all the ‘cheaper’ car parks in the city centre including the one I park in off Sweet Street.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news?article...

Absolutely crazy.

[skip_1]

I thought this was going to be about the council car parks. Personally I don't see why the cheap car parks need planning permission. Obviously LCC thinking about their bank account rather than trying to encourage a 'greener' city.
I have lost count of the number of LCC car park price rises in recent years - I now use the White Rose if I need to visit city centre type of stores.


Incidentally the Toyota in the picture is nicely parked!

[BlueMR2]

This is what happens when people vote in moronic labour candidates.

Quite frankly, unless you have to go in for work there is no reason to go into the centre. I feel sorry for all the retail shops in the centre as who'd go shopping in town when the alternatives are hassle free online or out of town and free parking.

I've seen documents before from a meeting of how they can slow down car journeys into the centre.

They are the green party in disguise.

At the the Conservative candidate has some sense.

IIRC he even said they should give set days as free parking to encourage people in for Christmas shopping.

You cant expect much from Leeds when its surrounded by labour mp's.

[fridaypassion]

hmm so the places that are currently carparks with operators paying rates and tax will go back to being wasteland? Fair enough if they don't have planning permission but could they not have granted them some kind of temporary extension given the times we are in? Nobody is going to be developing these sites for 5-10 years surely? The biggest reduction to congestion in the next couple of years will be that nobody has got a job to drive into Leeds for so they might as well provide decent parking for those that do.

[v15ben]

They must be having a giraffe! I used to commute into Leeds and parked up by the uni to avoid paying for parking. The number of friends and colleagues who used the car parks mentioned in the article was/is huge so why make commuting to work even more expensive?

[damci]

It’s not like there is a decent alternative. Public transport is already overcrowded, overpriced and unreliable, now they want to force up to 2,500 motorists to use it! What is the thinking behind that

[WestYorkie]

How about parking up in the White rose and then catching the bus into town? It's only £1.60 from the white rose and there are plenty buses to and from the WR.
It's only a 15min journey so you won't be too long with the plebs.

[damci]

WestYorkie said:

How about parking up in the White rose and then catching the bus into town? It's only £1.60 from the white rose and there are plenty buses to and from the WR.
It's only a 15min journey so you won't be too long with the plebs.

Yeah cheers that's an option. I'm thinking of getting a cheapo commuter bike as we get free bike parking for motorcycles at work. I would need some warm winter gear though!

[fridaypassion]

WR probably have a team of people going round checking number plates to make sure people arent parking for town. Arent there park and ride things around the area?

[Killer2005]

WestYorkie said:

How about parking up in the White rose and then catching the bus into town? It's only £1.60 from the white rose and there are plenty buses to and from the WR.
It's only a 15min journey so you won't be too long with the plebs.

I work just down the road the WR so often park at work and walk down to avoid the car parks. Go at the wrong time and there's little chance of finding a space

[damci]

fridaypassion said:

Arent there park and ride things around the area?

Not that I know of, that would be too sensible.

[Si 330]

Park and ride on King Lane Next to Allerton high school then a 20 min bus ride.

[damci]

Si 330 said:

Park and ride on King Lane Next to Allerton high school then a 20 min bus ride.

Is that the only one? That's a 45 minute car journey from me if I'm lucky with the traffic. Handy if you’re from Leeds though I suppose.

[thetapeworm]

My OH works in the centre, it's more cost effective for me to drive her in and then come back out again and drive to my own place of work on the outskirts than it is for her to park or use public transport. Not great for reducing traffic / pollution etc but people will generally opt for the most convenient, comfiest and cheapest option if it's there.

She used to use the car parks from the article when it wasn't possible for us to share one car and it saved us a substantial amount of cash compared with the £10+ a day options in the centre.

Personally I'd love to be able to use a decent public transport system in Leeds but at present my journey to the office would involve 3 buses, a 500% increase in travel time and increased cost. Combine this with having to sit next to other people and mix with the general public and it's a no-brainer.

Leeds would really benefit from a proper park and ride scheme that covers more of the outlying area, it's pointless having one if you have to drive miles to use it and then pay the cost of parking to get into town again.

A recent trip to Richer Sounds introduced me to a place that's £5 all day during the week or £1 for a full day on Sunday, I wonder if this will mean they take the opportunity to raise prices now? In the meantime consider it as an option if it's at the right side of the city:

http://snipurl.com/1ijnvx [maps_google_co_uk]

[exgtt]

fridaypassion said:

WR probably have a team of people going round checking number plates to make sure people arent parking for town. Arent there park and ride things around the area?

Yeah the Nazi security police wannabe nob eds on motorbikes patrol the white rose car park for this, also it's now rammed full of Christmas shoppers & careless fools who can't park. Not recommended!

[soxboy]

Si 330 said:

Park and ride on King Lane Next to Allerton high school then a 20 min bus ride.

It's far more than 20 minutes on a weekday morning, and getting to the car park is impossible due to all the traffic from the school next door.

[Dave9]

how utterly ridiculous!! oh well more debt for people and so on. I for one won't use public transport even though i don't live or work in leeds - the poor car park people, poor workers and so on. It won't affect congestion, it will just anger more people who are now £200 net per month worse off!!

it won't be long until they clobber work spaces such at asda house with a tax and so on.

disgusting

[Dave9]

thankfully i don't work in the city centre but that's why the trafford centre, white rose, shopping online and meadowhall do really well.

i resent paying for carparking!!

it's cheaper not to go to work anymore and live on benefits.

[thetapeworm]

And then when all the buses and trains get cancelled because of snow what happens to all those "decent" individuals who have given up their personal transportation or priced out of the car parks?

[bobda]

It would appear that Leeds Council are attempting to turn the city into London by punishing private car owners.
What they seem to have failed to realise is that we don't have an underground and the rail/bus networks aren't even remotely close to that of the capital.

I live in Horsforth & work near Morley so have to go down Kirkstall Road to the A58 and hook a right to get to the M621 and the chaos being caused by the new bus lanes being built on Kirkstall Road at the moment is daft. That road is wide enough at most points to just stick a dotted line down the middle and you'd have two streams of traffic pretty much all the way.