Cost of station parking

[Llandudno]

I agree here, a group of 4 travelling from Llandudno to Chester would cost about £100.00 where as driving means fuel costs about £15.00 , car wear and tare a couple of quid at most and parking another few quid on top. The railway with its unreliability and poor timetabling will price itself out of the game soon if prices continue to rise at such a rate.

Not helped by the fact that the latest time you can leave Chester and get back by train to Llandudno is 8.31pm!

Liverpool and Manchester are big leisure destinations from Llandudno, but you would have to leave Liverpool at 7.43pm and Manchester at 6.55pm to get back to Llandudno!

There are later options to Llandudno Junction with limited evening random bus ‘connections’ to Llandudno, (most buses no longer serve the station forecourt owing to running times being extended by the 20mph speed limits) alternatively a pre-booked taxi is in the region of £16 if you can get one!

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Not helped by the fact that the latest time you can leave Chester and get back by train to Llandudno is 8.31pm!

Liverpool and Manchester are big leisure destinations from Llandudno, but you would have to leave Liverpool at 7.43pm and Manchester at 6.55pm to get back to Llandudno!

There are later options to Llandudno Junction with limited evening random bus ‘connections’ to Llandudno, (most buses no longer serve the station forecourt owing to running times being extended by the 20mph speed limits) alternatively a pre-booked taxi is in the region of £16 if you can get one!

Although to keep this on topic, Llandudno station parking is great value, sadly its the prices of the trains to anywhere are the issue, very few decent advances available anymore.

 

[paul1609]

I could see them doing the journey to Tonbridge car to save £7.40 though

It's what I do all time. Private car parking is available 5 mins walk from the station at £5/2.5per day week/ weekend. Tonbridge has a better service. When I walk past the up station car park these days it's usually half a dozen staff permits some contractors plant and a lot of empty spaces.

 

[43066]

Most likely business people whom claim the £50 a day for parking back on expenses, as it's probably cheaper than paying for an Anytime return on the trains.

Still a difficult journey for those who don’t live close by, as in zone 1. I live in zone 5. It takes me up to 1:30 to drive to that car park during normal-ish hours, the train is almost always going to be quicker and cheaper (£50 anytime return goes well outside London) for the vast majority.

*NSE's car park building/ extension programme in the 1980s had the aim of encouraging train travel. In my recollection the level of parking charges had the same aim. The change to operation by parking companies (some with questionable integrity) will not have helped retain that alignment of interest. It's now a cash-cow in its own right where public transport and/ or parking alternatives don't exist.
*Network SouthEast

Perhaps more of a thing as other public transport options have dwindled.

It's what I do all time. Private car parking is available 5 mins walk from the station at £5/2.5per day week/ weekend. Tonbridge has a better service. When I walk past the up station car park these days it's usually half a dozen staff permits some contractors plant and a lot of empty spaces.

If your nearest station is Headcorn, and you’re (IIRC) Romney Marsh way, isn’t Tonbridge quite a bit further to drive, in miles and time? Circa. 20 miles and 45 mins depending on time of day, so the £7.50 parking saving might start to look less attractive for many.

 

[156421]

Meanwhile on the Cumbrian Coast Line, aside from Barrow, Whitehaven, and Carlisle, as far as I'm aware all other parking lots are free of charge and no time restrictions (maybe Sellafield now has time restrictions due to abuse of the system by Sellafield workers). And of those three, the former two have unrestricted street parking but a stone's throw away.

 

[Kite159]

It the station car park was free. It also becomes the place where people park when they go shopping locally or work locally. Station parking prices act as a deterrent to prevent no railway customer use.

Even for those car parks at more rural stations which have nothing around other than housing and maybe the odd corner shop.

Reminds me of a few years ago when I visited Haddiscoe on the Norwich - Lowestoft which had a gravel tiny car park, probably only 5 spaces at a push, which charged something like £3 a day to park there. Can't see anybody leaving their cars in there and not using the trains (other than the odd walker).

A difference must be made between station car parks in more urban areas which would get abused by non rail users if they were cheaper than council run car parks and station car parks in rural areas which add as railheads for nearby settlements not on the rail network.

 

[paul1609]

If your nearest station is Headcorn, and you’re (IIRC) Romney Marsh way, isn’t Tonbridge quite a bit further to drive, in miles and time? Circa. 20 miles and 45 mins depending on time of day, so the £7.50 parking saving might start to look less attractive for many.

Green Parking at Tonbridge is from my house about 15 minutes/ 12 miles longer than Headcorn Station Car Park. In effect you can catch the same train at either station leaving home at the same time. Assuming a not hs1 route to London Terminals, Going via Tonbridge saves you £8.90 per person off peak, £12.80 per person anytime. Car Parking is £2.40 cheaper m to s, £1 cheaper suns. Tonbridge has a much better service, it's about 2 miles off the A21 dual carriageway.Its why both the SEML and Hastings line services are basically ghost trains past Paddock Wood or Tun Wells