Thursday, June 01, 2006

Theme of the day: parking charges



Several daily photo sites will be posting about their parking charges today. Now London is clearly up with NYC in the top ranks - the Congestion Charge is £8 before you start. over £40 is the norm, and I have seen car parks charging £80 a day. But this picture looks as if it is of a 4x4 getting a parking ticket? Look closer and you may notice that it is actually one of this organisation's - spoof tickets pointing out to 4x4 drivers what a poor choice they have made. This page will let you print out your own - go on, you know you want to!

In the interests of balance, this article from Nissan puts the counter argument. All it does for me is re-enforce the idea that all the rest of them are ridiculous. (The campaign suggests that the smaller 4x4's should not be targetted, nor those that are obviously/probably for reasons of need.)

Today's change is off-site, a new blog hits the streets.

posted by Ham at 00:02 -- Comments here: 6

Comments on "Theme of the day: parking charges"

 

Blogger Nuno said ... (00:34) : 

Only rich people can use parks, that is something.
That organisation should look not only to 4x4, other car types burn lots of fuel too and if they want to be more accurate then make a war with all cars older then 5 years. I think i better to use public transportation and encourage people to do it.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (10:29) : 

Well, if we had a good public transport system, I expect more people would use it. But the congestion charge goes mostly on funding the scheme itself - that is why it has to be put up all the time and extended to areas, where small businesses (rememember them?) will suffer. I guess, we could all imitate Al Gore and fly around the world in a gas-guzzling private plane to lecture people on how they must turn their lights off.

As I am in rather an evil mood, I shall also point out that on various occasions buses, a.k.a. public transport get held up because of bikers. Grrrr.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (15:22) : 

I think I live in the capital of SUVs (4x4s). The argument I hear most often now is that in a collision the bigger vehicle wins (safety issue). In fact, they have a very bad safety record, as they have a tendency to flip over and roll and kill everyone inside.

 

Blogger Ham said ... (17:08) : 

Helen - the one thing I am fairly certain about is that no matter how good the public transport system is, those 4 x 4 drivers won't choose to use it. (BTW, the car in the pic has a resident's permit as well)

There's an anomaly in any taxation system like the congestion charge, road fund tax etc that makes it entirely regressive and disproportionately hits people who can't afford it.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (09:55) : 

Actually, I agree with you about 4x4s in cities, Ham. But that does not alter my other points. Better declare an interest: I do not drive and I DO NOT RIDE A BIKE; I walk or use public transport (when it functions).

 

Blogger G Fraser said ... (08:33) : 

I think I might drop these guys an e-mail and get some of these for myself. Great idea.

 

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Name: Ham Location: London, United Kingdom View my complete profile