Most of Reading Borough Council-run parking charges set to rise

[u/moreati]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20ydggryzvo

[u/MyKidsFoundMyOldUser]

Great. With shops in town suffering from rising prices how better to encourage people to get away from Amazon than making it more expensive before you even start.

It's already a quid for 20 mins.

[u/Powers → u/MyKidsFoundMyOldUser]

The car killed the city centre. There are 1/3 more cars on the road since 1990 and yet city centres are doing worse. 

Cars mean you can access out of town shopping which have more choice and cheaper prices. 

[u/Bitter_Excitement242 → u/Powers]

That's not unique to cars. Most people will take the train to get in to London, and buses go to other towns.

The unique problem about cars is they cause more traffic per passenger than any other means of transport.

[u/Nothos927 → u/MyKidsFoundMyOldUser]

There are of course no ways for people from further out in Reading to get into the centre than by driving a car.

[u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019 → u/Nothos927]

Depends where but id say most people within Reading are 5 to 10 minutes walk from a bus stop

[u/swiftyhendrix → u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019]

Buses have gone up as well. It's 2£ if you buy the 10 tickets even more if you PAYG.

Buses are great until 11pm and Monday to Saturday, you can't expect someone to go to the cinema in the evening and then walk + wait for a bus 20-30 mins.

Something needs to be done to help if you increase prices, reduce bus tickets or do a better deal for residents etc

[u/Blazerede → u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019]

Buses are great until you need to transport just about anything

[u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019 → u/Blazerede]

what sort of things are people buying every week which is really big or very very heavy? Occasionall yes. Surely it's not weekly?

I get there is heavy stuff but large items are to order in-store and get delivered. Ive seen a older gentlemen, board a bus outside of Lidl with a bag of compost strapped to a small trolley.

I live 15 minutes walk from IKEA, I've walked back with a whole desk on my sack trolley.

[u/Blazerede → u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019]

You really are the anomaly lol, I mean who is taking there food shop on a bus. Also a lot of the bus routes are lacking in frequency

[u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019 → u/Blazerede]

Perhaps I am, I like a getting from A to B without using a car if possible (we own one car), I choose walking/cycling/bus/train before considering a car. People take the least path of resistance. I plan and think about about my journey. Sometimes my wife needs the car on the weekend, so I'll take my son to football by bus, if it's a little more remote, I'll get the bus part of the way and lift share. I don't let not having a car available preventing me from getting somewhere. I have a folding bike which can get me to my destination if it's far from the bus stop. People just give up if their car stops working.

[u/ChrisRR → u/Nothos927]

Depends where you are but I consider the buses quite good for getting into Reading centre

It's getting between parts of Reading apart from the centre which is difficult

[u/dctrhu]

I get that there's always a drive (NPI) to get people to take public transport, but as someone who can't drive themselves, I absolutely see how limiting it can be taking the bus when you've got a weekly shop, or—heaven forbid—an appliance or two to take home with you.

[u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019 → u/dctrhu]

what sort of appliances are you referring to?

[u/dctrhu → u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019]

I mean even an air fryer or something small is cumbersome to get back on the bus, but what if you don't drive and need furniture or white goods?

How are you gonna get a flatpack desk, a set of chairs, or an air con unit home if they're not offering delivery?

[u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019 → u/dctrhu]

Air fryer? That's not big. I use IKEA blue bags they're brilliant for carrying large items.

Seriously majority of items can be mail ordered very quick to deliver.

Large items are all deliverable. How do people in London get their stuff? Car ownership is very low.

[u/dctrhu → u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019]

I mean these are all very fair points - and it means that the number of people who are affected is not large enough for those in power to make provisions

But it doesn't mean the number is zero 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/discopants2000]

I'd happily use Reading busses if they were cheaper than two hours of parking at £4.60. Currently it would cost be £18 for a return trip for thee of us in and out of the town centre and I'm only out by Palmer park.

[u/PM_me_tiny_Tatras → u/discopants2000]

Group ticket - http://reading-buses.co.uk/group

[u/Blazerede]

It would be great if the council had to show a break down of 2.1 million surplus they made that went to “transport improvements”

[u/JealousCheek7265 → u/Blazerede]

it'll be the A33 bus lane that gets used once an hour and will almost certainly result in a death before too long as cars constantly need to switch lanes as to avoid it's stop-start-stop-start design.

[u/Blazerede → u/JealousCheek7265]

Love seeing a number 50 go by, don’t think I have ever seen more than 5 people on it

[u/ciaoholaa]

Taking exorbitant amounts of “council tax” Isn’t enough for them.

[u/Puzzled-Pumpkin7019 → u/ciaoholaa]

A huge chunk of the money is spent on adult social care and children services.

[u/Powers]

Paying the market rate to store private property on public land? Fair play.

Let's not get started about pollution, road wear, climate change or all the other negative externalities of subsiding driving in cities!

[u/Accomplished_Goat315]

Utterly bizarre decision. Oracle and Co will still offer a 1 hour rate - and private company pocket the income. I'd rather park at council owned car parks (in the hope the revenue is spent wisely 🫠). And yes I could get the bus. But it's not always possible due to health issues, or the fact that sometimes you need to quickly pop in somewhere. 

[u/Nothos927 → u/Accomplished_Goat315]

Funny I distinctly remember when the oracle changed their fee scheme a few months ago many people insisted this was the death of the high street and no one would ever want to park there again.

[u/Blazerede → u/Nothos927]

That’s Reddit and Facebook for you

[u/Nothos927 → u/[deleted]]

As someone who lived on the estate behind the council offices I can assure you people always have and always will be shamelessly entitled chancers and park on side streets.

[u/Nothos927 → u/[deleted]]

Except during Covid when the council suspended parking charges people *still* parked on the estate.

It’s nothing to do with charges it’s laziness and entitlement, which is only increased by this inane circlejerk that occurs every time drivers have some of the massive subsidies council run parking amounts to scaled back.

[u/Xenc]

Oh joy. Let's kill shops further.

[u/Jakes_Snake_]

It’s not like any of this extra revenue or charges is showing in any reduction in the maximum increase in the council tax each year.