Here in UK however, parking charges are EVERYWHERE! Forget London, even smaller towns have a fee. The picture above is from one of the parking garages in Cambridge, and I ended up paying £23 to park there for a day. I can tell you I won't ever do that again, but on that day a friend I went with didn't want to take a Park & Ride bus because she had a stroller and I listened. Let's just say I won't ever listen to anyone with a stroller, unless they are willing to pay the parking bill. Two people are more than capable of getting a stroller on the bus, especially when these buses are very low to the ground. Sorry for the off-topic rant.
Other places don't have such high rates, but it all adds up after a while. For example, to go my usual Bury St. Edmunds, I have to pay £2 for up to 1 hour, £2.80 for up to two hours, £3.30 for three, and £4 for up to 4 hours, and if I want to stay longer, I have to pay again. There is also an additional charge of £1.10 to park there after 6pm, but everything closes at 5:30 anyway so all we ever go there at that time is a movie theater. It used to be free after 6pm just last year, but since I've moved here the charges went up 3 times and the night rate was added.
In other places, the parking is outrageous during the day, but generally free after 5-6pm. The problem, like I've mentioned before, everything clothes at 5:30pm or around that time, so there is really nothing to do in order to benefit from that free parking. Another thing that drives me crazy is how even if I manage to find free parking at the outskirts of the city, it's timed. I'm referring to a nice retail part outside of Cambridge specifically, which has lots of different shops I would have liked to visit, but I can only park there for 2 hours max. There are cameras which are used to catch those who just re-park after two hours. Really, 2 hours is not enough to go to a big retail park.
Overall, parking in England is really annoying, and those who know me personally know that I constantly complain about it. I don't have a luxury of a train station right next to me, so I have to drive everywhere and as a result, I have to think about first finding the parking, then how much it will cost me, and then how long I can actually stay there. A lot of time it takes away the enjoyment of going anywhere, and I will not miss that.
Wow o.O That is... confusing! In Germany we also have lots of places with parking charges (especially if you want to park near a city centre), but they're not this confusing with week, weekend, night... x.x
ReplyDeleteThe above screen shot is just an example I choose because I parked there for a day and ended up paying those charges. Most places are much less confusing, but they have a time limit so you have to think about the time your ticket expires and come back and pay more. Sometimes when I go see a movie there, I have to really think it my charge will be enough for a whole movie. There are attendants that walk around and check the charges and I don't want to get a ticket just because I came back 10 mins late.
DeleteRemind me to never live there, visit absolutely, but I hate how many places here in Honolulu charge so if I lived there I'd have to hurt somebody! My hometown in Texas has very few places that charge and we are a pretty large city. Here though most places seem to charge and not always in a uniform way (some are meters, some have tickets+incremental cost+parking attendants, others are numbered and have a big box with slots to put your cash in, and still MORE you prepay on a machine and leave the ticket in your window. T_T If possible, I try to park at a mall or shopping center and walk where I'm going to save myself the trouble.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't work like that here lol, malls are the places that charge the most (the screen shot is from one of Cambridge malls), and shopping centers are the ones that have 2-3 hours parking limit.
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