Expensive station car parks...

[johntea]

Doncaster is an absolutely extortionate £16.50 if you want to rock up M - F before 09:30 but then crashes to just £5.00 afterwards (or at weekends)

Seems targeted to attract business travellers who will just be claiming the costs back as expenses

Me and my boss are true Yorkshire so found a much cheaper car park about a minute away and the car was still in one piece when we got back surprisingly

 

[Leyther]

Preston is expensive. I found piccadilly was cheaper at weekends than Preston!
Cheaper to catch the bus or park off fishergate hill than use the station car park. No doubt lancs county council will charge ££ for cottam parkway!!!

 

[swt_passenger]

The railway is largely run by civil servants and former bus company managers.

There’s the odd “railway person,” but not like there once was.

Yet every time Modern Railways have analysed this point they find its complete rubbish. The vast majority of managers have a railway background.

 

[High Dyke]

Expensive by comparison:
East Midlands Parkway - £8 per day
Clifton Tram Park and ride, a minute or two further along down the A453 - free.

The return train ticket is around £5, while an all-day tram ticket is around £4, which you can then use to get around the city. I wonder why passenger numbers at East Midlands were lower than forecast?

That comparison assumes you are only travelling into Nottingham. Sounds like comparing apples to oranges.

 

[steamybrian]

I have actually parked at Victoria before. Not admittedly to get a train but I had a meeting with a colleague close by and actually, if was rather reasonable for a carpark in central London. Just checked now, £9per hour up to £30 per day.

It was years ago that I last used it but it seemed very reasonable compared to the £5 I had to feed into a meter in Kensington for half hour parking. By the time I'd walked the 20yds back from the meter I already had a ticket

London Waterloo is £26 for up to 12 hours and £30 for 24hours.

 

[WestRiding]

Any particularly eye-watering examples of railway station car parking tariffs?

Some to start off with...

Carlisle station £12 (Daily rate Mon-Fri)

(N.B. Similar rates at Oxenholme and Crewe and other Avanti managed stations)

Haywards Heath £9.20 (Mon-Fri)

Manchester Piccadilly £15 (10 hours Mon-Fri)

Manningtree £9 (Day rate if arriving before 10 a.m. Mon-Fri)

Warwick Parkway £9 (Daily rate Mon-Fri).

Must be some even more expensive car parks than the above!

Sheffield £19.50 per day. Makes airport parking look cheap.

 

[RH Liner]

The only time I would ever consider using it is for day trip to London. Definitely wouldn’t use EMP if travelling north. There are no Off Peak Day Returns available to popular destinations like Leeds, Manchester, York, Chester etc which can result in fares being almost double those from Nottingham or Derby.

I now mainly use Alfreton for journeys to the north as it’s just £5 to park (£2.50 Off Peak). Also fares from Alfreton are often much lower than from Nottingham. Newark Northgate and Chesterfield are also expensive at £12, but that’s what you have to pay, even at a smaller town for local journeys, if it’s on a main inter city line.

Alfreton used to be free when it was Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway, but once the Robin Hood Line re-opened, Mansfield had its own station, and Mansfield Parkway was dropped from Alfreton the charge was slapped on. Parking at all Robin Hood Line stations except Mansfield is free, so we normally go from Mansfield Woodhouse.

 

[43066]

Since when did St Pancras have a car park? I have only ever noticed the taxis parked outside

It has a surprisingly well patronised car park. As someone else has noted it’s £30ish per day - but clearly there are people who are willing to pay this. It’s aimed mostly at well healed business travellers, I suspect. There’s also a car rental agency which uses a fair few of the spaces.

Certainly since the new extension, I know because I had a staff pass until I left at the end of 2010 (I wonder if they still exist?) which allowed me to park free of charge

There are arrangements for both EMR and LNER staff (the little shack over the road doesn’t have its own car park IIRC). Not many use it because of the 24/7 Thameslink connections.

Rather them than me. Not that they’re particularly over-worked at that depot....

Ha ! That is about to change (so I’m told). London house prices certainly lead to some very long commutes...

 

[NoRoute]

That comparison assumes you are only travelling into Nottingham. Sounds like comparing apples to oranges.

Two car parks, built to similar standards, both on the edge of Nottingham within a couple of miles of each other, both serving public transport stations. And both offering a service to transport you into Nottingham.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to compare them.

 

[edwin_m]

Sheffield £19.50 per day. Makes airport parking look cheap.

Chesterfield is £12 and has much better road access. Maybe trying to nudge people to go there instead?

 

[pint]

The extortionate cost of car parrking, plus the risk of being fined under by-laws by some private parking company should you park slightly out of kilter are one of the reasons why I dont use rail services

 

[greyman42]

Doncaster is an absolutely extortionate £16.50 if you want to rock up M - F before 09:30 but then crashes to just £5.00 afterwards (or at weekends)

Seems targeted to attract business travellers who will just be claiming the costs back as expenses

Me and my boss are true Yorkshire so found a much cheaper car park about a minute away and the car was still in one piece when we got back surprisingly

A point to consider is that if you have a high end car, you may be happy to pay the extra to park it in a station car park which tend to be more secure than nearby alternatives. York for example have regular BTP patrols and probably CCTV monitoring.

 

[stj]

If rail travel does not pick up the one near me will be costing more money to collect and enforce than they are receiving.Lucky if 2 cars are there at present.

 

[Llandudno]

I could take the car to Sheffield station in 20m and pay £19 50 at the QPark door to platform.

I could walk in 40m-its downhill there so bus/taxi back
A bus would cost £2 00/2 10 and take 25m.
A taxi would be £9 00 and take 15m.
Walk + tram 30m
Folding bike in 15m and bus/taxi back.
Other options are available from other parts of the city.

There are lots of choices.
Perhaps due to the choices and cost, thankfully most people don't take their cars and slow everybody else down.
The area is also the most polluted in the city.
You should expect to pay a premium for the modes of transport that harm and slow others.
PS The Science Park/Hub car parks are mostly permanently closed.

So £19 to park v £18 return in a taxi, so I guess many people choose to drive.

Bus fare £4.20 return, but if 3 or 4 of you travelling together you might as well drive or get a cab.
That’s of course if there are ‘reliable’ buses running at a usable frequency at the times you are travelling by train, especially as most of Sheffield’s buses are operated by First...

 

[Ianno87]

Two car parks, built to similar standards, both on the edge of Nottingham within a couple of miles of each other, both serving public transport stations. And both offering a service to transport you into Nottingham.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to compare them.

Though one has services to London St Pancras and the other doesn't, which is the more important distinction.

 

[Meglos]

Sheffield £19.50 per day. Makes airport parking look cheap.

Currently the terminal car park (Car park 1) at Luton Airport is £9 for 30 minutes. Once you drive past the last set of traffic lights, you are in the parking zone, and there is no way to avoid the parking charge.

Pre-Covid you could divert at the traffic lights into the mid-stay carpark which is free for 15 minutes, as long as you don't mind the 600 metre walk to the terminal, or risking the 'regular' shuttle buses.

At the moment only Car Park 1 is open, and that's currently £64 per day.

 

[NoRoute]

Though one has services to London St Pancras and the other doesn't, which is the more important distinction.

Quite and given that a return ticket to St Pancras can cost £100 or more, while a tram ticket to Nottingham costs £4, you'd expect the railway station to swallow the costs of tarmacing a field to provide some parking for its passengers buying expensive tickets to London. Plus, it's in the middle of no where, nobody parks there other than to use the railway.

 

[Uk125]

But no overnight parking IIRC.

Every cloud...

Left my car at lea green, Newton Le willow and town green car park overnight few times. Never had any problems.

I think there is a small fee at Hooton, 80p?

Never been there so can't comment

 

[6Gman]

I guess we should all have our personal property stored for free for ten hours then?

Bikes: absolutely, we should encourage that. Free parking for electric cars also.

But the same as town centres, I don’t expect other people / companies to pay to store my private property for me for free.

This is a similar line of thinking to the people who park over other peoples drives/on double yellows “because there was nowhere else.”

I'm not sure anyone is saying they should be free. But I always got the impression that Virgin Trains found running their car parks as attractive commercially as running their trains !

 

[43066]

Quite and given that a return ticket to St Pancras can cost £100 or more, while a tram ticket to Nottingham costs £4, you'd expect the railway station to swallow the costs of tarmacing a field to provide some parking for its passengers buying expensive tickets to London. Plus, it's in the middle of no where, nobody parks there other than to use the railway.

I'm not sure anyone is saying they should be free. But I always got the impression that Virgin Trains found running their car parks as attractive commercially as running their trains !

I rather suspect the kind of people who pay for station parking and then buy expensive tickets to London are not the same market who buy advance tickets, split tickets five times in a journey etc. to save a tenner here or there. They will be cash rich/time poor and happy to pay for the convenience. There’s nothing wrong with either approach and it’s right that both should be catered for.

As with everything else in life, pay your money and take your choice.

 

[WestRiding]

So £19 to park v £18 return in a taxi, so I guess many people choose to drive.

Bus fare £4.20 return, but if 3 or 4 of you travelling together you might as well drive or get a cab.
That’s of course if there are ‘reliable’ buses running at a usable frequency at the times you are travelling by train, especially as most of Sheffield’s buses are operated by First...

Thats all ok providing it's a day trip. Anything more than 3 days, the taxi wins hands down.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I think there is a small fee at Hooton, 80p?

Believe the daily rate at Hooton is actually £1.
Hardly that expensive though. (See thread title!)

 

[trainmania100]

Haywards heath has gone up then, was £8 ish last time I went few years ago. Even then I couldn't find a space. Took my chances with a premier bay and landed a £60 fine. Couldn't be bothered to look elsewhere for a parking space on a weekdayb

 

[Master Cutler]

Bangor Station is the best value parking for me,

24 hours	£4.50
2 days	£9.00
3 days	£13.50
1 week pass	£18.00

Chesterfield at £12.50 for 24 hours is a bit steep but I never exceed 24 hours there.

 

[Llandudno]

Bangor Station is the best value parking for me,

24 hours	£4.50
2 days	£9.00
3 days	£13.50
1 week pass	£18.00

Chesterfield at £12.50 for 24 hours is a bit steep but I never exceed 24 hours there.

Chesterfield is £5.50 after 10am, and £2 after 6pm
Both valid until 2.30am, so not too bad for leisure passengers

 

[Master Cutler]

Chesterfield is £5.50 after 10am, and £2 after 6pm
Both valid until 2.30am, so not too bad for leisure passengers

The last few rail journeys I've used the bus from Mansfield to Chesterfield rather than leave the car there overnight and incurring extra charges.
Agree with you that the Chesterfield car park tariff is good for leisure use.

 

[Pokelet]

London Waterloo is £26 for up to 12 hours and £30 for 24hours.

Which for central London is a bargain!

 

[unlevel42]

So £19 to park v £18 return in a taxi, so I guess many people choose to drive.

Bus fare £4.20 return, but if 3 or 4 of you travelling together you might as well drive or get a cab.
That’s of course if there are ‘reliable’ buses running at a usable frequency at the times you are travelling by train, especially as most of Sheffield’s buses are operated by First...

Missing the point-its all about choice.
The example you have used compares a car and taxi.
For us I choose a taxi as they provide a much faster journey time between door platform level and far more convenient for luggage.
For me it's bus*, bike, walk, walk/tram- a car has no advantages in my case.

*As I said different areas have different solutions. The Stagecoach 52 and 120 are as frequent and more reliable than Firsts 52a and 120
Their 51 inbound stop is now further from the station and all bus journeys now take slightly longer.

 

[ChrisC]

Alfreton used to be free when it was Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway, but once the Robin Hood Line re-opened, Mansfield had its own station, and Mansfield Parkway was dropped from Alfreton the charge was slapped on. Parking at all Robin Hood Line stations except Mansfield is free, so we normally go from Mansfield Woodhouse.

Same here. I use Hucknall Station on the Robin Hood Line if I am travelling south or anywhere via Nottingham. If I want to travel north I drive to Alfreton because it avoids the 50 minute wait for a connection at Worksop and also fares to destinations in the north are considerably cheaper from Alfreton. The £5 parking charge is worth it. If travelling Off Peak I sometimes use Chesterfield but I would not pay the £12 parking charge before 10am.

 

[david1212]

...

Warwick Parkway £9 (Daily rate Mon-Fri).

Which I why I have never used it.
Off peak after 12:00 is £6.00 as are weekends & ( I think ) Bank Holidays. Weekly £34.80
In comparision from websites Oxford Parkway is £4.00 for 11 - 24hrs & £2.00 1 - 11 hrs. Weekly £14.00

Warwick (Town) is £5.50 every day.

The original car park adjacent to the station at Dorridge is free at weekends and Bank holidays. I think the Chiltern one is too.
I've not been for a while so unsure about weekdays now but they too were free - if you could get a space!!

OT but the walk-on fare from Dorridge can be significantly less too and it is the boundary for the West Midlands Daytripper ticket.

Widney Manor is always free although only served by WMR.

With the changes I'm unsure about Leamington Spa now but at the weekend around 8:00 I've always found a space on a nearby street with no time limit.