Another stupid idea from the council

04/02/10 -

How can we get more money out of those idiot people who don't have jobs as cushy as ours? Surely this is the thought that was going through councillors heads when they dreamt up the latest "planet saving" idea of charging people to go to work.

What they've come up with is a forced parking fee that will help top up the dwindling coffers of the council whilst appearing to be an eco-friendly initiative of dissuading people from going to work.

Having created a vast cycle route that weaves around lamp-posts and is too thin to safely purvey cyclists, the council are now saying that the only way to stop people from driving to work is to make it too expensive to go to park and are proposing charging for up to 18,000 spaces used by businesses around the city.

You may say that the answer is to take a bus to work, fine, except unless you live along the route the park and ride takes out to Digby or Matford you'll find you're going to need to get a bus in to town in order to get your bus out of town, both extending your travel time and costing whatever Stagecoach have decided to raise their fares to this week.

At one point (we haven't checked lately) it was actually cheaper to park up in the park and ride, get your weekly ticket and then get straight back off the bus and walk to work, than it would be to park in the normal car-park.

So how about it? Can we have increased investment in our public transport services and give people a cheaper alternative to get to work, rather than fining the ones who can actually be bothered to get out of bed in the mornings.

We also spotted an interesting quote, in the Echo's full article, from Adrian Fullam implying he's against people going to work... Very odd.

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3 Comments - Add a comment

The bus prices in Exeter are crazy. If I'm going into town with someone from where I live it's cheaper to drive in and park than get the bus from nearby bus stop if I'm going to be parked for a couple of hours. The only way to get a cheaper ticket is to drive out to the park & ride car park and get the bus in- what a waste of expensive petrol. I try to walk in but if it's wet, or I'm tired, dressed smartly or carrying lots I don't want to do the 20min walk!

Iccleone - 05/02/2010 8:46

Yep, useless lazy arrogant thinking. You have to bear in mind that there are 3 forces at work here in local authority:

1. The 'organic pastie shoe' wearer who uses climate change as a badge to annoy people and define their otherwise dull lives

2. The brown-tongue keenies who cant wait to drop climate change sound bites into memo's and ''initiatives'' (these types also cycle past councillors office windows in silly dayglo windcheaters and pointy shoes)

3. The councillors themselves, who's slow aged brains barely follow any rational facts on climate change, but nevertheless rake in the cash from car parking charges so that there are enough funds to yet again justify their 6 figure salaries

Got2carsnow - 26/02/2010 22:12

I lived in Corby a year. You can buy a bus ticket for £1.50 and it's a day ticket! You can use a bus as many times as you want to per day! )) In Exeter I am more walking or cycling than use a bus - it's too expensive. And now I am thinking to buy a car too.))

Aglon - 19/03/2010 1:25

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