Car parking with Ringgo / APCOA Connect

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

If that's the case then they are most certainly not set a year in advance. To be set a year in advance we should already know about meetings up to March 2012. For each MtM to be set a year in advance we would see rolling notifications - not dates released in one go.

They might well be set a year in advance, but just not *advertised* on the website.

[grahame]

This is all getting rather silly.

Of course First needs to schedule the meetings and have the managers confirm they'll be available to attend before they publish the dates for the public.

What the public / passenger wants to know is when they'll be published ( e.g. "at least 2 weeks ahead" ) rather than when they're set up on some internal calendar.  If the passenger can't find out when the meetings are to be, it doesn't matter to him if they're a month, six months, a year, or a whole franchise-length in the planning.

I note the number of events has plummeted over the years.  Perhaps there aren't any in the final years of the franchise.

[ChrisB]

They have to counter the amount of staff time they take with the number of customers who stop & talk.

Yes, I've expreience of at least one where no one stopped to talk....

The next set are in hand & should be on the website shortly - with at least a week or more of notice before the first one listed. That is the intention, as it always has been (and unremarked on here so far, so they must ber doing something right.)

[grahame]

To summarise, then.

Are there any "meet the manager" events in Bristol soon?

We don't know - but if there are they will be listed on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) web site at least a week before they happen.  You may get more notice than that as they're added to the web site in batches, and there ARE further batches planned, but not as many as in the past because the uptake was low. 

Phew!  How did we get so off topic.   Ah - you want to talk about with the manager about phoning in to pay for car parking (never tried it myself ... use cash on the rare occasions I park at stations that require payment, and know to leave enough time to deal with any problems with the machines  )

[ChrisB]

In the past, the 'batch' was a year's-worth of meetings. (which is where I got taken to task I think)

[LiskeardRich]

0845 numbers are 20p a min from my mobile, the ringgo geographical calls came out of my inclusive minutes,
i havent used the new service, but how long do they take to ring up and pay to park the new system,
As it says the new service will cost no extra, i assume Apcoa will refund the additional phone call costs, or they will be at wrath from the advertising standards rules surely

[johoare]

Looking at my mobile phone call history.. about a minute and a half on average...maximum was 1 minute 52... I'm not too pleased really.. But not much I can do about it right now..

Also.. Apart from the very small sign on one of the station entrances at Maidenhead.. It's STILL not been advertised properly..

They really don't deserve our money in my opinion.. oh well.. I know I'll have to keep on paying it..

[adc82140]

They really don't deserve our money in my opinion.. oh well.. I know I'll have to keep on paying it..

There is the alternative....

http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/parking_stafferton_way.htm

and note the geographic number they use for pay by phone parking.

[johoare]

Thanks for that. Do you know if that car park ever fills up?

However, I'm usually on a very tight time schedule (otherwise I'd pay by cash) and it does make for a slightly longer journey to the car park.. And with the traffic the way it is at the moment (for reasons I don't know why although I suspect they've been playing with the timing of the traffic lights), I'd miss my train if I went as far as there (I usually park in Silco Drive and if the traffic is bad, that would be another 4 or 5 goes at the lights being green before I got through..)

[adc82140]

The car park is never full- the bottom two storeys are season ticket holders only, but the rest is available. Even arriving at 10am, I was never higher up than the fourth storey.

However the walk to the station is only 3 minutes- about half of that from Silco Drive.

When I did the Maidenhead commute, I used to approach town from the south, ie the Braywick Roundabout, so getting to Stafferton Way was easy. I know that the lights in town approaching from the north past the cinema etc can be a real swine.

The pay & display machines accept debit cards as well, so you can pay in advance for as much parking as you need- I used to get 5 daysworth on a Monday if I knew I was going in to work each day.

[johoare]

I have no choice, unless someone can help me with a better one, than approaching the station from Grenfell road..I kind of live on the wrong side of Maidenhead for that..

And I have a two school drop off (the third school is near the station thankfully) with the second being in cox green.. The only way to do that is to not quite go into cox green itself (or it takes ages to get out)..

So I'm stuck with Silco drive car park for now.

[adc82140]

I see your point exactly. If you're coming from Cox Green, yes you could drive along Shoppenhangers Road and stay south of the railway, but there's the right turn ban at the end which means you have to do a whole circuit of the town centre. I've never really understood that. When I first started to use Maidenhead station I used to park in the Shoppenhangers Road car park as I approached from the Waltham St. Lawrence direction. In order to get access to the Stafferton Way MSCP I had to set out from home in a completely different direction, driving through Paley Street and Holyport to join the Braywick Raod roundabout from the south. It's a mile or so longer that way!!

I reckon this is why Stafferton Way is relatively poorly used.

[johoare]

Well yes.. I never understood why, when they opened up the right turn INTO shoppenhangers, they didn't also open one up out of there..

Also I can't approach from there anyway as that means trying to get out of cox green and across the motorway junction.. which takes ages.. I just double back and go back the long way round.. hence arriving down grenfell road.. I honestly think it's the only way for now..

Now during the school holidays.. I have lots of choices.. one of which is walk 

[alanr888]

There is a good website which allows users to search on ... private individuals who rent out driveways, etc for parking.

It should be noted that such "renting out" is classified as a business and
so planning permission is needed. It is best not to rely upon such places
as they may be subject to enforcement action and "disappear" overnight.

Alan EX39 2BA

[Phil]

I tried the new system late last week. Worked OK. Bit clunky compared to RINGO, but I didn't get a ticket, so I see that as a result.

However...

I now find I can't claim the parking back from my employer because the print-out function on the APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) website isn't working. It shows I parked, where and for how long, but the actual "print file to PDF" bit just hangs.

Nice.