Lancaster District Bus Users' Group is calling upon the City
Council to introduce free bus travel in the run up to Christmas to match its
offer of free parking in the city’s car parks.
Between Sunday, November 26th and Sunday,
December 24th all of the city council’s main car parks in Morecambe
and Lancaster will be free to use on Sundays as well as after 6pm on Thursdays
for late-night shopping.
Lancaster Bus Users’ Group feels that this is unfair to
public transport users and is asking the City Council to match its offer to
motorists with a similar one to bus passengers and to make bus travel free
throughout the city at those times.
Jim Davies, Chair of the Bus Users’ Group said:
“Bus passengers contribute
towards the cost of the free parking through their council tax but receive no
benefit”.
The Group admits that the free parking offer is popular and
doesn’t want to see it abolished but says that it also brings its own problems.
Jim Davies explained:
“The free parking attracts large
numbers of shoppers to Lancaster, which is a good thing but the extra traffic
generated causes congestion and delay to all road users and can act as a
disincentive for shoppers to visit the city. Bus passengers suffer from delays
to their services whilst still having to pay the full fare for their journeys.
Offering free bus travel would allow more people to reach the city centre
without adding to congestion and, by offering an alternative to the car would
actually reduce it, whereas giving away free car parking and continuing to
charge for bus travel is likely to reduce bus use as people who may have
travelled by bus use their cars instead".
The Bus Users Group recognises that the city council does
not run the bus service, but feels that it should be possible for the council
to come to an arrangement with Stagecoach to make good the revenue lost by
offering free travel.
Councillor James Leyshon, who has responsibility for car parking, is quoted in the Lancaster Guardian as saying that there is "no additional net cost to Council Tax payers" due to the initiative, but this clearly misunderstands the situation. All the city's car parks would be busy during both late-night shopping and Sundays in the run-up to Christmas, so a substantial amount of revenue is being lost, which has to be made up either through council tax, paid by motorists and non-motorists alike or through reduced public services.
Whilst it is probably too late to introduce free bus travel for 2017 the Group has called upon the council to consider it for future years.