Most people prefer to do their shopping by car
Paul Biggs, Transport Majority, Tamworth, Staffs B77
I don't like poor or inconsiderate parking any more than John Dales (I park, therefore I am, LTT 3rd Feb) but this is often a symptom of the wider problem of a deliberate lack of affordable or available parking. I'm sure many of us are familiar with the mantra of 'remove the parking space, remove the car journey' (Lynn Sloman of Transport 2000 in 1998) and John '2 Jags' Prescott's 'PPG13' buffoonery. Many town centres have to cope with the effects of nearby retail parks surrounded by free and available parking. This is true of my own home town of Tamworth in Staffordshire with 'Ventura Park' located on the edge of the town centre, and no one can deny the devastating effect of the Merry Hill Centre on shops in Dudley in the West Midlands. Wednesfield high street, near Wolverhampton, has the nearby Bentley Bridge Retail Park and the additional problem of the recent changes to a bus route, which now bypasses the high street resulting in a loss of passing trade from those who used to arrive at bus stops. Parking charges are supposed to cover the cost of parking provision and reflect the service provided, not fund the wasteful spending of local councils. Nor should yellow lines be installed simply to remove perfectly good parking spaces. How do most people really want to shop and carry home their often bulky shopping? On a wobbly bike in the rain or struggle onto the bus? No - they want the convenience of putting it into the boot of their parked car and driving it home. Even those who have never owned a car benefit from being taken shopping or elsewhere by friends or relatives who own or have the use of a car. This isn't to say that public transport isn't important for those that want to or have to use it, or that it doesn't make a significant retail contribution, but we must realise that 'modal shift' policies work against the travel aspirations of the majority. It doesn't really come as a surprise that the minority who are obsessed with cycling or public transport have responded angrily to one point about affordable parking out of the 28 points summarising the Portas Report on the future of high streets, or that they would lay the blame for the perceived problems of danger, air quality, noise and congestion on the car. Many of our high streets and town centres are pedestrianised, or access is restricted to buses and taxis. We need to consider the emissions from the large diesel engines fitted to buses and 'busgestion' rather than always seek to blame the car. I don't know if Mary Portas has the answers to reversing the decline of the high street, but her report shouldn't be dismissed simply because she dared to mention cars and parking.
http://www.transportxtra.com/magazines/local_transport_today/opinion/?id=29959
