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"Free parking at Christmas? Humbug!"

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    "

    A GROUP set up by the council to help support businesses during the tram works has refused to reintroduce free city centre parking over the festive period.

    The new Tram Animation Group (TAG), which has an annual budget of £355,000 provided by the city council, has chosen to focus on other events and promotions in and around Princes Street, which will become fully pedestrianised when tram work halts from mid-November until the New Year.

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/transport/free_parking_at_christmas_humbug_1_1910935

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. Stepdoh
    Member

    Noooo... without free parking it will be the end of christmas, the end of shopping, the end of commerce. People just don't come into town if they can't park for free right in the centre then walk directly to each shop.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    Looks like Köln.

    Could be Glasgow, York etc.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. Instography
    Member

    I think what they're concerned about is that people do go to other places where they can park free and walk directly to each shop - places like the Gyle, Cameron Toll, Newcraighall, even Braehead etc - especially at Christmas when they expect to be buying lots of stuff. If Edinburgh's already a mess of roadworks, it's going to take some incentive to bother going there.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Well, I'd be willing to stake my hat on the fact that even if there isn't free parking int he run up to Christmas the shops in the city centre will still be hell.

    What I find funny are people who say "Well I'll just drive to Livingston where the parkign is free" or "Fine, I'll take the train to Glasgow", as if those options involve no fuel or travel costs, and indeed as if those options are cheaper overall than the cost of parking in the city.

    Me? I do my Christmas shopping online.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Stepdoh
    Member

    Yup, koeln last Saturday night, they had a shopping night where shops were open till midnight. Was a bit like that all the time though.

    Most of the city centre is traffic restricted with a load of roads round/under/through it. Parking mainly in buildings, car parked shaped ones with reasonable rates €1.20/h.

    The big problem for Embra is that the actual shopping isn't terribly compelling, although it has improved in the last while, and for all the big talk of Princes street, it's a crowded pavement with a load of buses roaring past and people unfriendly ped crossings. Nice.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    "it's going to take some incentive to bother going there"

    Bike racks.

    1/2 price day tickets after 5.30 - presume city centre shops will be open late for the whole of December??

    More shops offering 'buy and deliver'.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. cb
    Member

    "The new Tram Animation Group (TAG), which has an annual budget of £355,000 provided by the city council"

    The council are just asking for abuse aren't they?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    "The council are just asking for abuse aren't they?"

    Don't think exasperated exclamations count as "abuse"…

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. wingpig
    Member

    Princes Street is still reasonably busy with people walking along it at the moment, even though it's no longer a giant bus stop at office-chucking-out-time. Presumably some people who walk down Princes or George Streets to get to or from work can shop on their way.

    Saving up empty cupboard-space and doing a big weekly shop with a car in an out-of-town supermarket (rather than picking up the odd litre of milk and loaf of bread in localshops on the way home every few days) ought to be different to going to an out-of-town shopping multiplex to get all the presents in one go (rather than popping somewhere on the way home from work and getting smaller amounts of presents on more occasions). For a start, supermarkets have trolleys for transporting stuff from shelves to car; large non-food-shopping-trips would appear to require handsful of carrier-bags, so even if the car's parked in the multi-storey car park nearby it's hardly a blissfully convenient experience.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. Stepdoh
    Member

    The Tram animation group, didn't they work with Sylvan Chomet on the Illusionist...

    Aye, and ah ken those are buses. I'm trying to be witty. Failing as usual.

    Posted 12 years ago #

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