End of Free Parking in Cardiff on Sundays & Bank Hols

Ms-Money-Penny

As from the 1st October voucher parking is being replaced with parking meters and there will be no long term/short term parking in Park Place etc. It is being replaced with £1.50 an hour.

They will also start charging to park on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

People are staying away from Cardiff City Centre due to extortionate NCP charges, scrapping free parking on a Sunday and Bank Holidays will i'm sure make even more people stay away.

I usually go on a Sunday to take advantage of the free parking. Where i live there is a train every two hours on a Sunday and that's only after midday.

lisa76

This is madness! I don't tend to go into Cardiff anymore because of the car parking prices, if I do I tend to park in my work and walk 20 mins into town - which isn't fun with arms full of bags!

All I hear is how wonderful the shops are in Cardiff, and they are, but the car parking is extortionate -which it is. It's a real shame as I think Cardiff is one of the best shopping centres around.

TJ27

Well the motorists won't like me but as a cyclist I'm generally delighted that parking charges are rocketing in Cardiff, St Mary Street is closed to cars and congestion charging is a possibility.

I drive my car occasionally but can't remember the last time I took it into town. What's the point? I now do a lot of shopping online but do make a weekly trip to Cardiff market and to buy a few things. I usually have a really nice time and can park my bike on the Hayes, Churchill Way, Queen Street or St Mary Street. I don't have to queue, fight for a space, pay even a penny or walk for miles.

Earlier this year I didn't have a car at all for a few months and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm seriously considering selling it again, as it's rarely used anyway.

Edit: Hang on, I do remember the last time I used my car to get to town. It was when my wife and I went to the Wales v Aus rugby game. We parked at the top of Cathedral Road and I pushed her in her wheelchair to the stadium, along the Taff Trail. Dead easy it was too and we had a superb day out. I guess that would be the same as pushing thirteen stone of shopping for a few miles. No problem. (Pity we lost though!)

Imagine what the NCP/council would think if everybody just said, "I'm not prepared to pay your expensive parking charges. I'm now going to use the bus, train, taxi or bike."

htjo

I wouldn't dream about driving into town, its the train/bus/bike for me (depends what I'm going in for) every time. My OH also thinks the closure of St Marys St is great for getting about town on your bike.

Ms Money-Penny, you don't happen to live along the Rhymney line do you? My niece tried to persuade me to get the train to Ystrad yesterday, I polietly told her that I was unlikely to choose that mode of transport on a Sunday!

All in all I don't think the increase in parking charges will affect me very much.

htjo

[Deleted User]

I rarely shop in Cardiff these days due to the extortionate parking charges and anyway I can`t find my way around the car parks any more. I`ll get the train when I can but I am going to out of town centres by choice now. Cwmbran seems a good shopping centre so I might explore that too. The shop keepers must be losing out bigtime, what with parking and match days

ps. we don`t all live close enough to cycle

Ms-Money-Penny

[Ms Money-Penny, you don't happen to live along the Rhymney line do you? My niece tried to persuade me to get the train to Ystrad yesterday, I polietly told her that I was unlikely to choose that mode of transport on a Sunday!

i use the Valley lines service yes, i commute very day by train to City Centre so i'll just stay late on a Thursday now for late night shopping.

There's a very poor Sunday service to the valleys by bus and train.

funky-footprints

if it wasnt for my dh having free parking at his work, i doubt very much i would go to cardiff anymore !! as it is, i go when ever i can and make the most of it !! on the one occasion i parked in ncp i nearly died on leaving !!!

TJ27

Well I heard tonight on the Welsh news that they've decided not to charge as much as originally intended.

Perhaps somebody at the council has been reading this thread!

PasturesNew

I haven't tried to park in Cardiff once yet. I live close enough to get the bus (2 miles). I love the buses. Cheap, all over the place ... and I often can't find the right one so just get on any one and see where it goes... always manage to find home again at some point.

But I didn't know there was free parking. I've always lived places where you pay (a lot) for parking ... and have been surprised..nervous at finding parking spots and car parks (free) ... always expecting to get clamped.

I must try these train things soon... bit nervous. No idea what to expect or how much they are, but they're everywhere.

Seakay

I'm hoping that the increased parking charges will increase the use of the park and ride - a nightmare for a pedestrian/cyclst/resident in Cardiff in the run up to Christmas is the choking smog created on cloudy days by the queues of cars waiting for carparks in the centre, all with their engines running.
I do think that all taxis should be allowed down St Mary Street, though, and not just the black and whites because it makes a big difference to the fares for anyone who has to get across town after a night out or whatever when the buses have stopped running.