Letter: Cars are expensive? Try the bus.
Wednesday 27th July 2011, 6:00AM BST.
Letter: Every day I read how badly motorists are treated with those nasty high parking charges.
Dear me, £6 to park in town. Hey, why not “go to town on the bus?” Of course you’ll have to walk to a bus stop, wait in all weathers, and find a seat. Then at the “other end” be dropped off where the bus decides.
Oh, one other small thing. I heard it on the radio.
A couple travelling from Monkmoor Road (a 10-minute ride, for people who don’t know Shrewsbury) to town centre by bus would cost £7.20 return. (Tell me again about the “expensive” £6).
Then you’ll have the “fun” of carrying your purchases to a bus stop, hanging about, and finally, carting all your stuff to your home.
Just think, all that just to be £1.20 worse off.
Car parks have staff, lighting and maintenance, to name but a few obvious things.
They save you a minimum of £1.20 each visit.
What the heck are you complaining about?
Just think what you actually spend on your car, £6 is peanuts, isn’t it.
One last thought. Soon you won’t have cyclists on the road to contend with. Thanks to new rules it’s the pedestrians who’ll have them on their pavements.
So, if you don’t want to pay £6 for the convenience of door-to-door travel, and your own time, and want to lug your purchases around, you can always pay an extra £1.20, can’t you? So why complain?
Eric Stanley
Shrewsbury
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The buses in Shrewsbury are ludicrously expensive. It is cheaper (and often more convenient) for a family of 3 or more to hire a taxi. This can’t be right.
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well all i can say your lucky you can afford to pay such charges, some people dont earn as much you. Get real live in the real world we never payed out such charges in the last 10 years. All a money making scam more taxes on all of us all the time.
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A brilliant letter. I have absolutely no sympathy for car owners who moan about the cost of parking, and no sympathy for the businesses in town who claim that parking charges are killing their business. It is a complete red herring.
I live in town and it is no quieter in terms of people traffic now, than it was 10 years ago. People are still going into town. They’re simply spending less money. Local businesses need to get clever and get competitive.
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why the heck would I ever want to use a bus! I pay enough tax as it is to use a car I think it is about time that bus passengers had to feel the pinch instead of sponging of us car drivers!
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This is a completely false dichotomy. We pay to park two cars in the town centre every day AND use the buses (and trains)You are implying that bus passengers are some kind of rapacious underclass. What nonsense.
Kat
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As well as this there are places you can park for free in shrewsbury saving you £7.20 , I personally park at the Abbey. Bit of a walk but i get free parking and a bit of a uphill walk so save on a Gym membership as well!
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I just park in someones drive way on porthill or the mount and hope they are out, if they are in when i come back i just say i got the wrong address, you have to be imaginative in this day and age.
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Good job you don’t live near me, you’d find your tyres let down if you did it twice.
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You don’t do it to the same person twice kath and most think it is rather funny, that you parked your car by accident in their driveway . Saying that they do not know i do it on purpose.
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It’s only matter of time before you are blocked in for a week.
Kat
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They do now…
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Mr Finch, You should be dealt with via an “obstruction” offence sir. If what you say is true, it is also bad manners and a cheek!! (unless you have said this just to rile people!)
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It is not an offence, and i never block anyone’s exit or driveway for that matter and i am always polite.
In fact when you think about it it is rather town friendly thing to do , no bus has to take me in to town and destroy our narrow streets . I walk from where i leave the car they have big drives and nothing on them usually , indeed my drive can fit in 6 -8 cars people are more than welcome to use it £2 quid per car all day parking bus will stop just down the road from me as well , thats what these people should do leave out an honesty box. I am an all round good egg i think.
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It’s a trespass and a nuisance, both civil offences. Should anyone choose to prosecute you and/or call in a clamper that would cost you many, many times more than a car park fee.
Kat
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illegal to clamp with out notices placed in prominent positions , law of trespass is an awkward one very, very doubtful you would get a prosecution on that ,as for the nuisance one again 1 parking event does not constitute a nuisance.
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Charging high amounts for public transport will never encourage us to use it. Train & bus companies, along with the government need to reduce the prices and put some real incentives in place.
I work a 40 minute walk from home,and would have to pay £3.80 a day to catch the bus. There is no way that I can afford it, so cycle instead. The bonus being that my purse is heavier, but my weight is not !
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Maybe people would use the bus if:
a)they were competitive
b)the seats were clean
c)they stopped in convenient places
d)you weren’t abused by idiots on double-deckers
e)the drivers were friendly
Enough said!
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Look out billy bunter the bus driver will be on to this now.
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the park and ride is great, £2 to get into town instead of £4 parking plus around £1 fuel its common sense to use park and ride really
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It does if you are only window shopping or buying next to nothing , that’s the type the town sellers can do with out .
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How often are you carrying a fridge-freezer around town to your car??
Of course, no-one using a bus service could possibly be spending any money! We all hire personal strongmen to carry everything from diamond rings to truffle chocolates and high-end shoes. Oh, my back!
I walked back from town with a bag of Waitrose shopping, some bits from Mad Jack’s deli and a bottle of wine from Tanners as well as a PRINTER from Telford Argos (I went by bus)yesterday. Not to mention, I could’ve had lunch and drinks out.
What is this snobbery about the bloody bus?
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“the park and ride is great, £2 to get into town instead of £4 parking” Unless, of course, you have a family of four in the car. I make that a whopping £8 instead of £4 to park. The truth is, whether you travel to Shrewsbury by bus or car you get ripped off either way and only empty shop fronts in the Darwin and Pride Hill when you get there. A no-go area as far as I am concerned.
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By referring to a “family of four”, I imagine you are likely talking of several children under 16. They travel free with an accompanied adult.
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ermmmm uner 16`s are NOT free even with an adult. Under 5`s are!
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thats *under* not uder .ooppsss
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Official leaflet says otherwise:
http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/traveltransport.nsf/viewAttachments/CEVS-8JVBYU/$file/Park%20&%20Ride%20leaflet.pdf
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you`ll find thats park and ride….not town services and arriva services!
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well said Asif! i wish people would consider the whole life costs of cars when they do their sums!!
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Some bus stops list the timetables with a $ beside the services which are subsidised by the council. I fully appreciate the Council’s decisions on evening and Sunday bus services. Despite using them in the past, they simply don’t make economic sense – at the moment.
However, I don’t understand Arriva. Fares have rocketed in just a few years. Surely they realise that the cost of maintaining a regular timetable is the same regardless of the number of passengers travelling. If they had any sense, they would slash the fares to boost travel. They’d find a lot more people choosing the bus for journeys if it was a matter of a flat-rate £1.20 single.
Went to Telford on the 81 and X5 yesterday and it was pleasant. I paid £5.20 for a Saver (not sure if a Return would have been cheaper but I had no cash and paid on my phone). My only gripe is the very recent reduction in frequency. I was shocked to see on the timetable that all Telford-Shrewsbury services are SUBSIDISED!
Arriva were meant to be introducing smart cards shortly.. WHERE ARE THEY!?
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They did introduce smart cards, they said get a car instead if i were you.
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Eric Stanley utterly misses the point about bus travel. No one ever includes the cost of buying a car and its depreciation in the equation, never mind fuel, MoT, road tax or insurance when criticising the cost of bus travel; or that you don’t have to worry about parking it, repairs or maintenance. When I get off the bus at the end of my journey that’s the end of my commitment to it.
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If you already own a car, all of those things are happening while you sit on the bus. The fuel cost is a marginal extra that he forgot to factor in.
Using data published by the AA, I calculated that the average cost of taking the car (after “background” miles are taken into account) is 23p per mile, so the 5 mile round trip would add £1.15 to the bill. That almost cancels out the financial difference, but not the inconvenience of taking the bus. Add a third or fourth person, of course, and it’s a different matter entirely.
If you don’t own a car then that’s all academic, but I suspect Mr Stanley’s point was to aske why take the bus *instead* of the car.
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You have missed the point of a car, freedom of the open road to travel where ever you wish when you wish.Bus you travel when they dictate to where they dictate plus you have to stand on the side of the road and wait for them in all weathers and then you get on to a mr happy bus driver then sit in chewing gum on the seat or next to a person with bad bo.
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when was the last time people went on buses and they smelt nice? they stink the seats never look like they have ever had a wash the windows all sticky you do the test you wont find one that up to scratch i find more trains in better conditon and they used far more.
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I have lived in shrewsbury all my life and passed my driving test in 1960 ( on the forth attempt HGV in 1990 second attempt)in all these years I have never paid to park in Shrewsbury. Like Dan@4 all you need to do if you are fit is to use your legs and don’t expect to be able to park “IN THE SHOP”.
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4th attempt you should never have been permitted to take it so many times 2 should be max.
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Only had 1 accident over the years. and have never had any points on my licence,pretty good eh. And I’ve driven in Europe and the U.S.A.
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I should think so john, you had enough practice, europe you wouldn’t be aware if you were a bad river there anyway, as for the usa they go that slow you have a chance of nodding off.Me 30 years no accidents and no points and passed first time after 12 lessons.
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Well done andrew. But have you ever passed a H.G.V. Test? That’s what you call being able to drive. It was harder in my day to pass your test,you had to do hand signals and no power steering to help you, and lessons were 15 shillings (75p) for one hour and to take your test I think it was £1. Yes I would fail my test if I took it today, the reason being, is that I can not park on the pavement.
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HGV thats nothing have you got your pilots licence :)
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Sorry Andrew. NO. But can you ride a bike?
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Pay to park? No thanks. I’d just go to a shopping location like Wellington, where the parking is free. Anywhere charging to park just tells me “We don’t want you to come and shop here.” Ditto, congestion charges. I’ll go elsewhere. Simple. (Or, I’ll use my motorcycle, which I can generally park anywhere for free.)
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Why would you go to Wellington? Even though Wellington is my local town centre I fail to think of one single reason to shop there! I’ll happily pay for parking if Wellington, Oakengates, Dawley are the alternatives!
(Wilkos perhaps, maybe Morrisons. There you are. I thought hard & came up with two reasons! Not enough to change my feelings however!)
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Running a car costs a lot more than parking charges – there’s the vehicle itself, road tax, insurance, fuel, repairs, maintenance etc etc. It costs thousands to run a car.
As for cyclists being made to use footpaths, ask yourself what’s more dangerous – a cyclist hitting a car at 30mph or colliding with pedestrians at walking pace – I know which is more likely to result in death.
Furthermore, cyclists do not pay road tax or have insurance, nor do they have to demonstrate a level of competence in order to use the roads as car drivers do (which is why more than once I’ve seen them cycling the wrong way around traffic islands or some other such genius manoeuvre). A cyclist that took off someone’s wing mirror coasting between two lanes of traffic just rode away, and the poor car driver was left with the bill as there was no way of identifying the vandal. If you want to use the roads then you should have to obey the rules of the road.
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How I agree. Almost every night I see a braindead cyclist pedalling along Queensway between Trench Lock and Leegomery, forcing motor vehicles to overtake him (and I’ve seen him shaking his fist at drivers who in his opinion, pass too close) when there is a perfectly serviceable, traffic-free, safe, and dedicated CYCLE LANE on the immediately adjacent pathway a few feet to his left. Lunacy.
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More dangerous for the cyclist maybe to be on the road but more dangerous for the pedestrian if the cyclist is on the footpath – there was a case this year of a teenage pedestrian being killed by being hit by a cyclist.
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Cyclist 10mph? Pedestrian 2mph? Maximum closing speed 12mph? Car, 50mph. Cyclist 10mph. Closing speed 40mph? Do the maths and work out the safety, Alison. And the cyclist and what few pedestrians use this stretch of road can see each other clearly and both have a comfortable amount of space to avoid one another – there are ‘lanes’ marked.
CYCLISTS – USE THE CYCLE TRACK PROVIDED!!
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One pedestrian accident you can name… And how many hundreds of cyclists are killed riding on the roads every day!
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the buses in town are certainly better to get about that the car because they beat the congestion better with bus lanes etc HOWEVER to get longer distances e.g. to oswestry or telford its better to drive often because you dont have to stop you get their quicker and more directly without delay, so i think its horses for courses really
in terms of cost of course buses are cheaper IF you dont own a car but if you already own a car you may as well use it, to keep it in the garage and bus about would be more expensive then, so its really only economic if you ditch the car
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Again, it’s not either or. Some of us use cars for long journeys with dogs and luggage and, locally, carrying large or heavy items. Yes, most of the time my cars are in a garage and a parking space. Perhaps that isn’t ‘economic’ but decisions take in many factors. Buses are more convenient for most other purposes and much more environmentally friendly.
Kat (town centre)
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I use the park and ride at Oxon. I park for free in a nice car park, the bus fare is much cheaper than parking in Town and the buses are spotlessly clean with polite bus drivers. If I have anything heavy to carry, I leave buying it to last. The town also benefits from less congestion and pollution. Park and Ride is the way to go….Simples!!
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yes must be
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I read this letter and laughed how true these words ring shropshire council read this and weep the monster of arriva has walked over shropshire with a big size 9.
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‘Only losers take the bus.’
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Thanks for that. It’s stuck in my head now.
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Why in quotation marks? Make clear what you you mean.
Kat
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http://tinyurl.com/3bh2sw8
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Thanks. I’ve got it now! The song is more interesting than this debate.
Kat
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FAO Andrew Finch
Re parking on other people’s driveways – I’m a lawyer. Are you? Should you pretend to have lost your way and use my space I woud block you in for days. You have already outed and named yourself. Note a prosecution is entirely different from a judgment but stil not nice.
I don’t understand this fuss about parking. A space on the outskirts of St Ives, where I live for half the year, costs 35k and you have to queue for a town centre car park for a couple of hours.
Kat
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Well Katherine i am not a lawyer, you say you are, well done but a lawyer in what ?, i would also say with regards your comment
“Should you pretend to have lost your way and use my space I woud block you in for days”.
I assume that would go for anyone, what a kind person you are that could be what the problem with the uk is today.
I wouls also like to comment on your final paragrah
“I don’t understand this fuss about parking. A space on the outskirts of St Ives, where I live for half the year, costs 35k and you have to queue for a town centre car park for a couple of hours”.
I assume you are an intelligent person and do not do this because clearly an idiot would que for a few hours to park in the town centre , in fact i will take this up with the council in st ives as i am on holiday there in 3 weeks time, however they have responded with WHAT?????
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Crime and health care law – not tort. Yes, visitors have queued for hours for a space in the Island car park before now (high season).
Anyway lets bury the hatchet. Have a great holiday. St Ives is fabulous. And yes, there is a parking space at the top pf the town for sale for 35k.
Your safe from me at Porthill! I live on the Cop.
Btw I’ve been told that you can park for £1 a day in the old wood yard behind the Seven Stars. Also Severnside Housing rents out garages, many with an additional space in front for £30 a month, near the Spar shop in Coleham (5 mins walk into town).You don’t have to be a tenant to apply. It costs nothing to put your name on the waiting list. If I didn’t have parking there I would leaflet the residents at the sheltered housing development next to Pugh’s (the funeral directors). I bet there are people there who don’t have a car and would like a little extra cash
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forget the bus and bike i think the town should be more horse friendly. Why have the council not ensured we have some where to tether a horse? horse and carriage are wonderful site and very eco friendly and far cheaper to keep and run over a year than the average car.
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Who is going to clean up after the horse?, Have you a large plastic bag?
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No law requires you to clean up after the horse defecates, do you see them on the mall with a pooper scooper for the horses??
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The Queen, ” NO “
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