More misery for commuters as station car park charges soar

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

It's not just the fares that are going up in January as another way for TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to raise more revenue, car park charges are going up too according to The Daily Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8186667/More-misery-for-commuters-as-station-car-park-charges-soar.html

Commuters, already hit with the steepest fare rises in a generation, are facing above inflation increases for using station car parks.

Major train operators are pushing up parking fees by at least eight per cent in a move, adding at least another ^50 a year to the cost of getting to work. The increases come into force in January at a time when rail fares will go up by an average of 6.2 per cent, with some commuters facing rises approaching 13 per cent. The biggest increase in car parking is being imposed by First Great Western. Its customers are facing average increases of 8.77 per cent.

It will see the cost of an annual pass at Charlbury in Oxfordshire go up from ^613 to ^673. South West Trains and East Midlands Trains are raising their parking charges by eight per cent and First Capital Connect by 8.5 per cent.

This will see a 50 pence increase in the daily charge at Potters Bar, from ^5.50 to ^6.00. An annual pass will go up from ^825 to ^900.

Passenger groups voiced their outrage at the rises. ^Although station car parks remain cheaper than many others, some of these increases are astronomical. It is especially worrying in places where driving to the station is the only option," said Jo de Bank, spokesman for London TravelWatch

[johoare]

I thought most station car parks were operated by external companies though? Or is that just Maidenhead?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Generally, railway station car parks are operated day-to-day by APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) - on behalf of FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

[SDS]

NCP seem to have a lot of Car Parks as well.

[Chris from Nailsea]

They do - but APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) have the contract with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for railway station car parks! 

[johoare]

So FGW^▸ (First Great Western) benefit from the car park charges then?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Yes. 

[johoare]

Cool. Maidenhead car parking isn't too bad for a whole day so I'm not to worried... I just wondered..

[Timmer]

I remember the days of the man in his little red box at Bath Spa station who used to look after the car parks there. All a bit more technical now using your mobile to pay for parking.

[readytostart]

They do - but APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) have the contract with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for railway station car parks! 

Wikipedia may suggest why:-
In 1999, Salamander AG of Kornwestheim acquired 27.1% of APCOA Parking AG shares in April, and took complete control from October. The company continued to expand through acquisition, including: the parking subsidiary of UK^▸ (United Kingdom) based First Group.

[Mookiemoo]

yeah they are and guess what....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1583539

Works, stopped paying them about a year ago

I always pay but if something goes wrong and I get one - I bin them

[Mookiemoo]

Usually they go wrong because the train is late and I don't have the ringo code

[SDS]

They do - but APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) have the contract with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for railway station car parks! 

Wikipedia may suggest why:-
In 1999, Salamander AG of Kornwestheim acquired 27.1% of APCOA Parking AG shares in April, and took complete control from October. The company continued to expand through acquisition, including: the parking subsidiary of UK^▸ (United Kingdom) based First Group.

Wrong, they don't have FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect) carparks for example.

[JayMac]

They acquired the parking subsidiary of First Group as it was at that date. Of course they didn't acquire First Capital Connect's car parks. FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect) wasn't part of First Group until 2006.

In the west, I believe the former Wessex Trains car-parks that were managed by CP Plus transferred to APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) after the end of the contract.

Not forgetting of course that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) introduced parking charges at many former Wessex Trains locations that were previously free.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Train companies accused over parking charge rise

Train operators have been accused of topping up their profits by increasing the cost of car parking.

Hundreds of station car parks in England - many in the Home Counties - saw prices go up by at least twice the rate of inflation this month.

Commuters and motoring groups say the rises are excessive and bigger than increases in train fares.

Train firms say many stations have not seen price rises and others still cost around the same as nearby car parks.

More than 50 stations operated by the South Eastern rail franchise have increased charges from ^3 to ^3.50 this month, an increase of 16%.

East Midlands, First Capital Connect, First Great Western and South-West Trains have all put up charges by at least 8%, though not at all stations.

Such increases come on top of the increased price of fuel, and an average rise of 6.2% in train fares this month, adding to the misery for commuters.

Regulars catching a train from Three Bridges station in West Sussex got a particularly nasty surprise when they arrived at the station car park this week.

They found that charges had been increased by 19%, without warning, from ^4.20 to ^5.00.

"That's a shocking amount of money," said Darren Roberts, who does a daily commute to London. "You're encouraged to be out of your car, but you get hit with money upon money upon money to get where you need to be."

As with many stations, commuters have nowhere else to park, and often cannot get a space anyway.

Southern Railways, which operates Three Bridges, says it is trying to encourage more people to use a second car park 100 metres further away.

It has raised charges there by much less than at its main car park.

Nevertheless prices at the second car park have still risen by 9%.

The RAC Foundation believes that train operators are putting up car parking charges as a sneaky way of increasing their profits.

While the price of train tickets is controlled by the regulator, rail companies are free to set their own charges for car parking.

"We suspect that they're topping up their profits," says Jo Abbotts of the RAC Foundation.

She points out that the price of parking is now as much as a quarter of the cost of the ticket itself.

A season ticket from Oxford to London costs ^4,104, she says, while the cost of parking at Oxford station is ^1,200 a year.

The RAC Foundation is particularly worried that the price of parking could encourage commuters to abandon the train, and drive to work instead.

"If the cost of car parking is preventing them from taking the train, and forcing them to take their cars for the entire journey, then we need to address those issues," says Jo Abbotts.

The train operators point out that many stations have not had price rises at all, or else they have adjusted charges to remain comparable with nearby car parks.

In Scotland there have been no increases, as the operator Scotrail is not allowed to put up prices without permission from the Scottish government.

Other operators say they have increased charges to pay for improvements, such as security lighting.

The train companies say they have also had to cope with the VAT^▸ (Value Added Tax) rise this month, on top of CPI inflation, which is running at 3.7%

A spokesperson for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "Many of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s stations don't charge for car parking at all, and many car parks have discounted prices at quieter times of the day."

But the RAC is still not convinced.

It suggests that car parking charges could be capped, and only allowed to increase at the same rate as train tickets themselves.