£50 for car parking tickets in future

[Chimps in Balaclavas]

£50 disgusting and greedy!

[mikeb]

Yet again (I swear I don't work for them!), Electric Picnic shows the easy way to get this done...local scout troups are on hand at the start of the festival to help put up tents (for a donation if you like), and again at the end to collect up any unwanted tents. If you want to leave your tent, the organisers asked for the bag to be left inside so it could be packed back up (along with sleeping bags, mats etc). Anyway, the scout troups get into the festie for free, and any unwanted tents, sleeping bags, camping mats, chairs etc get donated to charity. No need to pay anyone.

Edited July 1, 2010 by mikeb

[MEGABOWL]

I don't think a £50 car parking ticket is the way forward at all, unless it's accompanied by other measures. The stick is useless without the carrot.

More coaches-along with reserved seats. One of the things that puts me and my mates off National Express is the risk of not getting sat together for that journey. And I mean *far* more coaches, with a far wider range of arrival times, including early Wednesday. The coaches need to get priotity in traffic (they may have done already this year). What about a park and ride scheme operating from, say, Bristol?

It also pretty much goes without saying they need to be cheaper.

Just putting prices up with no other incentive is very NuLab IMO

[ICGenie]

I don't think a £50 car parking ticket is the way forward at all, unless it's accompanied by other measures. The stick is useless without the carrot.

More coaches-along with reserved seats. One of the things that puts me and my mates off National Express is the risk of not getting sat together for that journey. And I mean *far* more coaches, with a far wider range of arrival times, including early Wednesday. The coaches need to get priotity in traffic (they may have done already this year). What about a park and ride scheme operating from, say, Bristol?

It also pretty much goes without saying they need to be cheaper.

[redmosquito]

For me it all comes down to cost, we came down in our camper this year so we had it a little different, however last year we looked into getting the coach and it was the price that put us off. I worked out that for the price of 2 return tickets from Leeds both me and the wife could have driven down in separate cars, bought separate car parking passes and it still would have worked out cheaper than getting the coach. Train prices were even worse. We lift shared last year and it was brilliant, this year we posted on the lift-share forum offering seats but we weren't taken up on the offer, is it fair that we would then have to pay more even though we tried our best?

It all comes down to personal preference really, some people will get very high and mighty about how they refuse to use cars and anyone who drives is just a lazy pollutant which is fair enough but for most of us car is the most cost effective and convienient method of travel. Asking someone to pay more for using their own most effiecient method of travel is just unfair and unhelpful. Many of you many think of me as selfish but at the end of the day there is no way I'm paying £130 to sit on a cramped, smelly and slow coach. Even if tickets were £50 for parking it would still be cheaper for most people to drive and I really don't see how it will affect the amount of rubbish left on site. It's not about how much you bring with you but about how lazy you are about carrying it back out with you. Yes people on coaches might bring a little less with them but at the end of the day I really can't see how the way in which you traveled to the festival is likely to determine the amount of stuff you leave behind. Moving lazy idiots from cars to coaches isn't going to stop them being lazy, surely someone who leaves their tent behind is just as likely to do so if they travelled by car as by coach. Someone mentioned in an other thread that they searches abondonded tents for tickets and as a joke are planning on writing to the owners saying that they are banned from next years festival due to their littering, it may seem a little draconian but I think it would make perfect sense for GFL to do something similar next year.

Due to being in the van we travel pretty slowly and I must say I did notice that almost every car we saw on the motorway that was coming from Glastonbury was full, on the 250 mile drive home we only saw 1 with a car parking sticker in the front and only 1 person in the vehicle.

[cejx]

Much cheaper. You'd probably have to put the car parking up to around £100 for it to start to compare with the price of three of us on the coach from Preston. The only thing that increasing the car parking charge MIGHT do is encourage more people to car share.

[Ponyegg]

Scale of economies depending on the size of the vehicle you take down. We hire a 17 seater coach and take about 9 people in it + equipment and then split all hire/diesel/parking costs. Putting the parking ticket up from £10 to £50 would only mean about an extra £4 per person, basically the price of a pint. Our costs this year were (coming in from East London with 8 drop-offs/pickups so it's all door-to-door):

Minibus Hire: £491

Diesel: £ 85

Parking: £ 10

Total: £586

Split between 9 people that's £65 each, £70 next year if it goes up. For a door-to-door service that's still good value to me.

[sweaver]

I think putting th price of carparking up is a bit unfair as Im pretty sure the drivers are more likely to bring all their gear off site than those going by other methods. We took a load of stuff from our mates as they were going back on the coaches, they really could not face the trek back to the coach then across london with all their gear as it was so warm. If we hadn't taken it, it would have been left behind I'm sure.

We tie in glasto with our yearly visit to nearby relatives, and would probably still pay for the ticket so we could still do this, but £50 would be a bit harsh - we would probably have to think carefully about what we spend money on. It would probably mean we bring our own food rather than buy it there - even more stuff to bring on site!

We always take all of our stuff home with us, and sometimes the odd bit left behind by others - we wouldn't be able to do this if we didn't have the car.

Do you reckon if the price of parking went up to £50 they would provide a car wash service?

[ministe2003]

It might work in one way. A £50 ticket would stop me and (I suspect) many others going to the festival, ergo less traffic on the roads. Plus it'd help mr eavis lose lots of weight like he did the Jay Z year

car sharing would work - however tomorrow I get rid of my hoofing great 20 mpg volvo and pick up my ecowarrior little citroen - which will only fit myself and hubby in. No room to share! To me its a bit like getting people to stop drinking and driving - make a pint of coke half the price of a pint of lager - make the coaches half the price of car travel and a damn site more convenient.

Edited July 2, 2010 by ministe2003

[MEGABOWL]

Much cheaper. You'd probably have to put the car parking up to around £100 for it to start to compare with the price of three of us on the coach from Preston. The only thing that increasing the car parking charge MIGHT do is encourage more people to car share.

[18Alex18]

We took 4 people in a Fiesta. I think once you put 4 people in a Fiesta, the remaining space isn't much more than you'd be allowed on a coach anyway - we could've taken the same amount of stuff on a coach, we only had the amount that we could each carry in one trip.

And the idea about paying £10 for each empty seat in a car?...

Should 2 people in a 2 seat convertible pay less than 4 people in a small 5-seater hatchback? Really?

The system at the minute is fine as I see in terms of the cost - it costs us about £50 in fuel plus a £15 car parking ticket to get there and back, so £65. I think that's entirely reasonable.

To try to charge us £200 for the privilege of being told how much stuff we can take, doubling our journey time, sharing our journey with dozens of other people and taking away our ability to come and leave as we wish is ludicrous.

Until the cost of taking a coach is cheaper than going in the car then it doesn't matter what they try. If they increased the parking cost by £35 it would still be cheaper for most people to take the car. There's only so much you can charge someone to park their car for 5 days. Eventually, the price has to come down for the coach rather than go up for the drivers.

[Gary]

3 of us plus 3 other peoples stuff travelled up in a seven seater landrover defender.

We would pay £50. Simple as.

It's convenience. If we were worried about cash we probably wouldn't be going to Glastonbury, it's not exactly cheap as it is.

[mikeb]

We took 4 people in a Fiesta. ...

Until the cost of taking a coach is cheaper than going in the car then it doesn't matter what they try. Eventually, the price has to come down for the coach rather than go up for the drivers.

Edited July 3, 2010 by mikeb

[Detective McNulty]

"Our group did quite well out of their left behind stuff - a 10 man tent, 3 air mattresses and 2 chairs at least. A £50 car parking pass I can't see making the blindest bit of difference to them!"

How did it feel being so inferior to those guys?

[dirty_dog]

this sounds like a good idea but only if they where to lower ticket prices.

[p.pete]

£50 for parking is a good idea if, and only if, they subsidise people taking a bus and a lesser extent the train.

Was the car park £15 this year? I should know having used it The £35 increase could be split £25 to subsidise buses and £10 for the train, based on carbon footprint data.

Also I think the festival should open earlier for people who have travelled by public transport, not the other way round.

[dirty_dog]

£50 for parking is a good idea if, and only if, they subsidise people taking a bus and a lesser extent the train.

Was the car park £15 this year? I should know having used it The £35 increase could be split £25 to subsidise buses and £10 for the train, based on carbon footprint data.

Also I think the festival should open earlier for people who have travelled by public transport, not the other way round.

[miniand]

Scale of economies depending on the size of the vehicle you take down. We hire a 17 seater coach and take about 9 people in it + equipment and then split all hire/diesel/parking costs. Putting the parking ticket up from £10 to £50 would only mean about an extra £4 per person, basically the price of a pint. Our costs this year were (coming in from East London with 8 drop-offs/pickups so it's all door-to-door):

Minibus Hire: £491

Diesel: £ 85

Parking: £ 10

Total: £586

Split between 9 people that's £65 each, £70 next year if it goes up. For a door-to-door service that's still good value to me.

[Sparticus]

For all those using the carbon footprint excuse, please change the record; as this is the same festival that had no issues with u2 proposing to make a return trip from america on a chartered plane (Obviously before they pulled out).

I don't use public transport for festivals, I've given it a chance in the past, and it's awful. It's not like these events are closed off little secrets, big festivals are attracting 80,000 punters, you're charged the same amount despite the train's getting overloaded, and being packed in that tight that the sweaty, wheezing bugger behind you may as well have his dick in your back pocket he's that close.

Eco-warriors may not like it, but cars are convenient and affordable. Why in the blue hell should drivers be expected to pay more? To subsidise public transport users? Well maybe you should all try boycotting the public transport service, then they may have a rethink, as right now, the prices are a joke. Case in point, i'd rather bee tee total on the last day of a festival than pay such an obscene amount on the train. Several users have also brought up this issue, that it's the cost of public transport that should be reviewed, it's nowhere near the reality of the running costs. To sum it up, getting the train is like paying 50 quid for a big mac!

Apologies for the rant, but just an example of how out of touch public transport prices are. I come from Blackpool, who are now a premier league team which meant thousands upon thousands descending on wembley for a day out. Now a return train fare, you're talking £150 each, or £35 quid in my focus. Now with two of us in the car, it was just shy of a tenth of the price if we'd chosen to go down on the train. In summary: kill the planet with your car or get royally ripped off by greedy transport companies, maybe you should start whinging at them, as if they upped their service and made their prices competitive to driving maybe i'd consider it, until then not a f**king chance you'll see me on the train.

[dirk4danger]

A £50 car parking charge would encourage me to explore my parking off-site and possibly camping off-site options.

[cejx]

£50 for parking is a good idea if, and only if, they subsidise people taking a bus and a lesser extent the train.

Was the car park £15 this year? I should know having used it The £35 increase could be split £25 to subsidise buses and £10 for the train, based on carbon footprint data.

Also I think the festival should open earlier for people who have travelled by public transport, not the other way round.

[4AssedMonkey]

This is misguided bollocks of biblical proportions.

1. Does someone who can afford to buy a shit load of camping gear for a 5 day weekend and then dump it give a toss about and extra £30 to park their mummy's Discovery? No. If anything, the thrifty and responsible people will be discouraged from attending the festival and make the matter worse.

2. The whole carbon footprint argument holds no water. Most cars are pretty efficient and economical these days and coaches/trains absolutely EAT fuel. They tend to be manufactured using pretty out of date technology and as such tend not to have the same efficiency and filtering tech that cars do.

3. I've yet to see a car on the road to or from Glasto that had a single occupant and most had 3 or 4 (us included). Looking at it that way, it's probably cleaner and greener to take a car. Plus for us to get the coach or train, we'd need to each get a taxi/lift to the station (3 extra car journeys) and the ticket prices from Sheffield are extortionate. Between the 3 of us this year we coughed up £30 apiece to cover fuel and parking. The coach tickets alone are over 3 times this then there's the taxi to the get the coach etc. f**k That.

I agree that the number of c**ts who just don't care and dump loads of stuff before f**king off home is disgusting, but there is no way on God's Green that this is the answer.

[18Alex18]

People who say that people who are driving instead of using public transport are ruining the planet are deluded - the people who are instigating this are the companies who charge the prices.

I don't think I'd ever go and not take my car, because it's just so much more convenient.

Using fair trade as an example, people are willing to pay a little bit extra to feel like they've helped the planet. Note; "a little bit extra"

I'm sure if the cost of public transport was 10%-20% more than driving people may be able to justify it to themselves. As most people have said, it costs between £10-£30 per person to take a car. Maybe if the coach was £25-35 then people would be able to justify it.

Until the coach companies are bothered about the environment then I'm not going to be. It's their responsibility just as much as mine - except they have much more flexibility than me. I'm sure they can lower their prices by £10-£20 comfortably, but for me, another £20 is a lot of money.

This may be me being short-sighted, but say a coach is going from Birmingham - that's about 2 hours. I've no idea what the capacity of a coach is so I'll be prudent and say 40 (4 across each row and 10 rows). It costs me £40 in fuel to get to Birmingham and back so let's say it costs a coach 3 times that - £120 - divided by 40 that's £3 a passenger for fuel. Next let's pay the driver. Let's say it takes him 6 hours there and back both ends. So 12 hours. Let's say that every passenger pays him £7 out of their own pocket directly to the driver... 7x40=£280 - that's over £20 an hour and everyone's currently paid £10 each. Now let's say the coach company pockets £20 profit per passenger, to fund new coaches, maintenance and salaries. That's 20x40=£800. That's £800 gross profit per coach.

Now every passenger has paid £30 return, the coach driver has made £280 and he can do another journey on thursday. The bus company has made £800. Let's say they can put on 50 buses to glastonbury - 50x800= £40,000 profit for a weekend of work. They do that again for reading, for leeds, for download, for t in the park etc etc etc.

I may have overlooked a few things, a few figures, but that's just a basic overview of it - someone may correct me.

And another thing; why does it cost me about £9 to go one way, two stops into Birmingham when anyone who lives in London can go anywhere they want in London for about £1?

[paulo999]

Using AA running costs, the Birmingham round trip by car isn't £40, it's £77. And more than that if your car cost more than £12k, or if you do less than 15k miles per year.

The argument still holds - that it really should be cheaper than it is by coach, but the comparison should be done on real numbers, not wilfully optimistic ones that ignore the industry figures for running a vehicle.

[paulo999]

And another thing; why does it cost me about £9 to go one way, two stops into Birmingham when anyone who lives in London can go anywhere they want in London for about £1?