Controlled parking and other issues

[Jimmy Mac]

"it's" not "its", RP!

[Reluctant runner]

I can't wait for a cpz, personally. I live in Ashbourne Grove and parking is a nightmare. We get people using the road to park if they are commuters (bus or East Dulwich station), for the Hospital and of course for the shops. Bring it on.

[all_star]

RP - two spaces after a full stop is a hangover from typesetting in victorian days and has not been needed since the invention of the word processor...

[batdog]

Hey all_star,

Are you an Eaton Lecturer ? (?)

[all_star]

No, just got a pedantic/neurotic streak that I try very hard to keep under control (although I have just sharpened all the pencils in my house and lined them up in a nice row, so read into that what you will...)

[snorky]

Reluctant runner Wrote:

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> I can't wait for a cpz, personally. I live in

> Ashbourne Grove and parking is a nightmare. We

> get people using the road to park if they are

> commuters (bus or East Dulwich station), for the

> Hospital and of course for the shops. Bring it

> on.

Doesnt help the chicken / egg situation with the latest Ashbourne Grove arrivals all paving their miniscule front gardens and getting the kerbs dropped, thus taking away another 2 spaces for possible parking?

most seem to do this in order to keep the riff raff away from their front doors - not a very community minded thing to do, but then again what should we expect ?

[Reluctant runner]

Bit ridiculous really as why does it take away two spaces? People do it so that they can park near their house when they return from Sainsburys, not to 'keep the riff raff away'. It doesn't stop thoughtless strangers blocking them in/out sometimes anyway.

I've resisted the temptation myself as I think it ruins the look of the houses (and I don't really want to be that close to my car).

[Guest]

"most seem to do this in order to keep the riff raff away from their front doors"

How on earth do you know this?

[snorky]

It doesnt take away 2 spaces ? have a look at the spacing next time you are out - the front of an AG house can pretty much cope with 2 car parking spaces - when you drop the kerb, you remove both spaces effectively.

you cannot complain about the AG parking system being a nightmare and then support the dropping of kerbs.

This kerb dropping has been a an increasingly common reafure ion the past handful of years. Pre about 2002/3, there was always room to park on the AG and car ownership has not increased for resident during this time.Can you remember how easy it used to be ?

[Guest]

A quick look down Ashbourne should tell any potential buy?r / tenant all they need to know about parking on that road.. surely this is just one of the factors you have to take into consideration when you move in?

I have fantastic parking outside my house, but the station is an extra 10 minutes away. Could I have the station moved closer to my house? Cheers!

[Reluctant runner]

The dropped kerbs put in by both my next door neighbours are only take up one parking width, as not all dropped kerbs are the same size.

The parking has changed since I've lived in AG, it was never a problem when I first moved in so think it must have something to do with the increased popularity of Lordship Lane.

Bring on the cpz.

[snorky]

agree with the CPZ.

[capt_birdseye]

Do you drive Snorky? If yes are you happy to pay ?80-?120 pa for the privilege of parking outside of your house?

[Reluctant runner]

It would be money well spent for the privilege of parking on my own street - anywhere near my house would be too much to hope for. Even better would be one car per family free, second cars have to be paid for.

[capt_birdseye]

Free? The council are unlikely to operate at CPZ as a loss-making enterprise. Be prepared to pay plenty wonga on top of your Road Tax, Car Insurance, MOT, Petrol. If you happen to own a 4x4 then you're likely to have to pay more than the rest of us. Ha ha.

[Huguenot]

Or sell the car.

On the latest AA figures the cost of ownership far exceeds having a hire car several times a week. Guys like streetcar.co.uk have several local cars at a price of 4.95 an hour including petrol and insurance etc..! You can hire them on an hourly basis.

Apart from saving on all of those things like depreciation, the 'shared' ownership would have massive benefits for the environment, and the world will look better without every street rammed nose to tail with parked cars.

Next time you're making that car purchase, think of your children's future and ask yourself if you really need it. If I managed to survive the last 37 years without one, I bet you can manage the next! Habit, idleness and vanity aren't particularly good reasons to destroy our planet!

[capt_birdseye]

I would seriously consider Streetcar, but the missus won't let me until the bairns are a bit bigger. + only 2 or 3 available around ED at the moment.

[Guest]

Streetcar: "All the convenience of owning a car" the website says. It's just that THE most convenient thing about owning a car is that it's parked conveniently near(ish ha ha) to you house.

Which is won't be.. there's only one Streetcar bay in ED - in Besant Place.

[Huguenot]

There's also one on Overhill Road and another one 10 mins walk away in Nunhead. One in the village, two in Herne Hill etc etc.

They've got a good investment programme, and they'll get more as demand goes up. To be honest it does feel as convenient as owning a car, with none of the hassle. Yes it's not always there at the exact time you'd choose, but then the other half borrows your own car from time to time...

As a result I'm probably 3,000 quid up over 12 months compared with my own vehicle. That buys an enormous amount of strong continental lager, and an overbearing smugness! :))

[Guest]

10 minutes walk.. hmmm.

We only ever use a car when we have heavy / bulky stuff to carry in it which can't be easily transported by foot or PT, so 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back is a walk too far. If it takes off - great, but I fear it won't take off until it gets wide useage, but it won't get wide useage until it takes off.

?3000 in 12 months, Huguenot?! Do yourself a favour.. sell that car and buy a Honda!

[Guest]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> ?3000 in 12 months, Huguenot?! Do yourself a

> favour.. sell that car and buy a Honda!*

*If you owned it. You know what mean, hee hee!

[Guest]

Our ears were burning and felt we should contribute. Streetcar is certainly catching on and have over 10,000 members in London having only started 2 and a half years ago. We have 275 cars all over London and tripled in size last year and are looking to do the same again this year. We are adding locations the whole time and would aim to add considerably more in the Dulwich area. The one thing that generally holds us back is a lack of dedicated car parking spaces (either marked out on the road or private drive ways and garages that we can rent). As soon as we can find a space in the Dulwich area that is appropriate we will put a car in there as the demand is certainly there.

In terms of what we do, we try and offer an alternative to car ownership. Instead of paying a fortune for having a car depreciating on your drive way for the majority of the time why not rent us your drive way and use our car, paying for it only when you need it and not having to worry about tax, insurance, depreciation etc? We agree that the efficacy of our service relies on how near we are to your houses and this is why we are growing as fast as we possibly can!

[capt_birdseye]

I imagine an East Dulwich CPZ would seriously hinder your chances of expansion in this area. Not too many driveways on the roads off of Lordship Lane.

[Huguenot]

Chortle!

*Bob*, I must have misunderstood - you don't have to carry the bulky object on the 10min walk to the car, you can scamper like a spring bunny to the car completely unencumbered and then drive back and pick up said bulky object.... ;-) Then when your errand is complete you can return the streetcar and scamper back again.

Wasn't it sweet of streetcar to come on? Did someone tee them up? Where's my reward for being such a loyal customer? Bah, humbug.

I wouldn't have thought the CPZ affected streetcar, since they need dedicated parking bays (usually off-street) anyway. It doesn't seem the brightest thing to do, leave a hire car parked outside your own house, but if you did want to I'm sure we could petition the council for a CPZ exemption and since the objectives are the same I'm sure we'd achieve it!

[Guest]

If there was a streetcar within a few minutes walk, then that would indeed tip the balance.. Even I can scamper over short distances. So bring on those bays.