Travel to Work Group report - Appendix G

Setting the level of charges for pay and display and reserved car parks.

The favoured option

The income and expenditure account outlined in Appendix F is based on the following charging regime:

These charges have been determined on the basis of several important principles or factors.

• It should be cheaper to park in a pay & display car park every working day in a year than it is too purchase a permit for a reserved car park. This ensures that the cheapest parking option for staff enables them to be flexible with how they travel to work and that there is no incentive to drive to work every day.
• 15% of car drivers who work in the central University precinct indicated in the travel survey that they do not possess a parking permit of any sort. The only place that these staff can be parking is in residential areas close to the University, which is easy as there are currently no residential permit parking schemes in Clifton or Cotham. Towards the Bristol Transport Plan consultation document indicates that a residential permit parking scheme will commence in 2000/2001 (see Appendix J). If the University sets parking charges too high, it is likely that this will push many drivers into surrounding streets, who will not bother to buy a permit. Overall, this would result in less revenue for the University and no additional reduction in the number of staff driving to work.
• Within the next few years there are likely to be significant local and national changes in car parking policy which will effect the University, such as road pricing and the taxation of non-residential parking spaces. Hence it has been decided to review parking charges in 2003/2004 or earlier if necessary.

Why the Reserved permit should not be calculated on a percentage of salary system

The current reserved permit cost 0.18% + VAT of a permit holder's salary, with a minimum charge of £29. The average charge is £50. This scheme is favoured as it ensures that lower paid or part time staff pay a lower contribution compared to those on higher salaries. It has been suggested that instead of £400 for a reserved parking permit the charge should be 1% of salary. This report does not recommend this option for a number of reasons.

If a percentage system was introduced it would be cheaper for a lower paid member of staff to buy a reserved permit than to use a pay & display car park. This goes against the important principle that it should be cheaper to use a pay & display car park than a reserved one. Pay & display has to be the same cost to all users, hence with a percentage system it will either be cheaper for lower paid staff to use a reserved permit or the minimum cost of reserved permit has to be greater than £230 (the cost of using pay & display for a whole year).

The University leases parking spaces at Clifton Down railway station at £225 per space, which is likely to increase to £350 per space when the lease is renewed this year. Similarly parking spaces in Merchant Venturers Building are let to commercial tenants at £1410 per annum compared to on average £50 for University staff to purchase a permit for either of these car parks.