Residents Parking

bristol | transport | opinion/analysis Friday November 21, 2008 12:20 by Rich Fisher - RiFiX mephistos.island at blueyonder dot co dot uk

An alternative?

Why is the Residents Parking Scheme undergoing such serious consideration bearing in mind the long term plans to reduce traffic in the city?

More poor parking in evidence

Local Government is clearly a microcosm of National Government and as such constantly puts forward proposals that the majority of voters does not want.

A point in case is the Resident Parking Scheme.

Now surely this is yet another short sighted reaction to the ever increasing traffic problems that exist bearing in mind that our illustrious council are proposing various other measures such as the Rapid Transit Bus Routes which should in fact obviate the need for residents parking schemes. Are they not confident that these proposals will be effective enough to reduce parked traffic during working hours? Clearly not, especially as the first phase of RTBR runs from the Ashton Vale Park and Ride into the centre and through to Temple Meads using existing road space I might add.
But hang on...what is the point of this since drivers at the remote park and ride will have already parked and are about to get on the bus anyway? Who does it benefit?

Anyway I digress and feel that the problem with on street parking congestion often lies with the drivers inability to park sensibly. Despite many vehicles having power steering many drivers seem to need the space of a bus in order to park. This is evident across many streets where huge gaps exist between vehicles but not huge enough even to get a not so Mini new Mini in.

Now here is another idea which might just be worth consideration....

Small parking guidelines painted on the pavement based on the length of a large family motor ( a Volvo say ) to encourage sensible spacing and hey presto! More space! Furthermore a guideline might encourage sensible parking near corners which makes for easier traffic manoeuvering, ie: emergency vehicles and trade vehicles. No huge administrative costs to enforce a parking scheme would be a further benefit as we can guarantee that it will be abused by the selfish drivers that park where the hell they like. Just how many extra wardens will be needed to enforce this scheme?

I await a barrage of negative comments.

For those interested there is a meeting at the council house regarding this issue starting at 6pm. All welcome, main entrance, College Green, follow directions.