The Objectives

• Provide Council with revenue to invest in better public transport – including free public transport for school children  and support more bus routes.

• Reduce the cost of travelling in by public transport from outside the city, i.e. Bath Outer Zone pass should cost the same as an Inner Zone Pass.

• Enable the Council to invest in active travel and public realm improvements.

• Discourage car ingres into the city and encourage people to leave their cars at home.

• Use revenue to make parking in the the city more expensive than coming to the city by public transport.

• Have little or no impact on day to day business or residents.

• Recognise that there is always going to be a need for some people to use cars and to facilitate this.

• Reduce car use on our roads by 20% similar to what happened when London’s congestion zone was introduced. Note that the introduction of free public transport for school children should also help to tackle congestion as 30% of our rush hour traffic is estimated to be the school run.

• Discourage car ownership in the city by residents that do not pay council tax (i.e. students).

The Issues

• 29,000 people commute by car to the city daily, of which 9,000 are Bath residents driving to work in Bath (Census 2011 data).

• 100+ people deaths yearly in BaNES linked to Air Pollution and Obesity.

• Congestion costs Bath’s businesses £9.9M per year.

• £18.2M of free parking (using current Park and Ride Monthly bus pass cost of £66) is given away by the council each year.

How Day Parking Zones would work

1. Keeping the current Resident Parking Zones, Day Parking Zones would be applied across the whole city, including Batheaston/Bathampton.

2. Council Tax paying residents would be issued with up to two free Day Parking Zones for the DPZ they live in.

3. Anyone would be able to purchase an ANY Day Parking Zone permit at more than the cost of the cost of a monthly bus travel card (currently £66, so £70 per month).

4. Issue free ANY DPZ permits to key workers (NHS staff working shift work etc.)

   

Key Highlights

• Students do not pay Council Tax and would thus be required to buy a ANY DPZ permit to be able to keep a car in the city.

• Congestion is not linear. A small reduction in traffic can significantly reduce congestion. About 31% of rush hour commuters are local Bath Residents and these residents have greater travel choice than commuters coming from outside the city. Getting these commuters out of cars and onto buses, walking, or cycling will have a huge impact on congestion.

• This type of shift will also require a rethink of our buses and the need for a Bus Key Network. We have three economic centres, Locksbrook/RUH, City Centre, and the University of Bath. Locksbrook/RUH and the University of Bath must be connected to Bath communities and Park and Rides to enable people to make the decision to leave their car at home.

• This is a world first. No city in the world has considered city wide parking zones.

• The more successful this is, the less revenue from parking, the more people using public transport. This is a good thing and a self-fulfilling prophecy that reduces congestion and air pollution while getting more people active.

• Parking after 2pm would mean you do not have to move your car until 12pm the next day.

What Happens Next

The scrutiny panel made a decision to set up a Parking Policy Working Group consisting of council officers and Councillors Bob Simmons, John Bull, Michael Evans, Richard Samuel, and Ian Gilchrist (optionally) to discuss the proposal in detail. This is meeting on the 8th of January.