Great Western Coffee Shop

I had a leaflet from a political party on Monday announcing that more yellow lines would be painted down Overdown Road to deter rail commuters leaving their cars there all day. I walk and drive along that road now and then and have never noticed a problem, and it could be said that the odd parked car calms traffic. Time was when commuters could park in many side streets and on Oxford Road itself, but yellow lines have been gradually extended. It was certainly necessary at the bottom of Oak Tree Road, where a long line of cars reduced it to a single lane.

Now and then I have wondered how many commuters who drive to stations and don't live that locally opt for Tilehurst and Theale, rather than pay far more and suffer more congestion at Reading - where there's more  hassle getting on rush-hour trains. (Not a good idea the last three days, of course, with the disrupted services we're discussing elsewhere.)

Oak Tree Road is ridiculous! They have just a 1-hour period in the day where you can't park - which inexplicably is a different hour on each side of the road - which is obviously intended as pure pettiness and spite against us poor commuters who can't afford and/or can't get a space in the ridiculously small and overpriced station car park, because there is absolutely no other rational explanation for such an arbitrary restriction. The result is that (depending on when people arrive) some people park one side of the road and some on the other - and many ignore the restrictions altogether and park there anyway.

And now here they go again - they should be ENCOURAGING people to park in roads surrounding the station and use the train, not keep trying to stop it.

Fortunately you can still (for the moment anyway) park for free on Kentwood Hill and some of the surrounding roads if you are prepared to endure the occasional poison pen note on your windscreen from the NIMBYS.

And yes I find it totally incomprehensible why anyone would ever even consider paying the extortionate car park charges to park at Reading Station - if everyone boycotted that car park and used suburban stations or came in by bus they would have to reduce the charges. While there are still enough mugs/millionaires prepared to pay them there is absolutely no incentive for them to do so!

Isn't it time someone considered one of those "self assembly " mechanno type car parks like the ones at Didcot and Wokingham for Tilehurst (and Theale- even Goring which fills up although I doubt that there is the space)?

Before the council restricted commuter parking at the bottom of Oak Tree Road it was hazardous to other motorists and to residents trying to extract their cars from their drives through a narrow gap between two parked cars that blocked sight lines and into a road that was in effect a single lane with bi-directional traffic.

I saw several near-misses when a car followed another from Kentwood Hill into Oak Tree Road, only to find that the car in front had braked suddenly to allow an oncoming vehicle to pass a dozen parked cars. The second car would then brake suddenly, sometimes half-across Kentwood Hill and in front of a vehicle descending at speed.

The section of Carlisle Road next to Oxford Road once had commuters parked on both sides. With the bollards now inhibiting through traffic, it could be argued that all-day parking could be allowed on one side.

And Elsley Road (also with bollards discouraging through traffic) is wide enough to have parking on both sides, though I recall complaints that the garage next to the Roebuck was using it as a car park.

NR are trying to obtain the land beyond the current car park at Goring so that they can move their stuff further up, and add additional spaces at Goring - or something along those lines, was in the Goring Gap magazine this month, but I don't have it anymore. I think that land acquisition is tied to several others, so its probably all tied up in tape like usual.

My point about the restrictions on Oak Tree Road was referring to the totally ridiculous nature of them - either the road is safe to park on or it is not, period. It cannot possibly be unsafe to park there between 11-12am on one side of the road and between 12-1pm on the other side, but perfectly safe at all other times! Double yellow lines on the whole of one side, and unrestricted parking on the other with a few sections of double-yellows stuck in at sufficient intervals to provide safe passing places, or a blanket "30 mins only - no return within 1 Hour" restriction that did not specifically discriminate against commuters would not have aroused so much ire!

And yes Carlisle and Elesley Roads were exactly the places I meant - I really can't think of any rational reason at all why you are not allowed to park there, except for mindless adherence to some weird dogma mandating that "we have to stop people parking in roads near stations" without ever questioning why.

The problem is not just restricted to Tilehurst BTW - the whole country has perfectly parkable-in roads within 500 yards of stations left empty all day due to double yellow lines or CPZ's that simply cannot be justified on the grounds of safety or preventing obstruction, but purely because the locals say they "don't want commuters parking here" (even if they have their own garages or driveways and don't actually want to be able to park there themselves).

Parking restrictions aren't purely about safety. There is express DfT guidance that they can be used for "tackling congestion and changing travel behaviour".

I wonder if the Council sought a compromise between the sensitivities of the residents about commuter parking and their wishes to park outside their houses. With so many houses now having two or three car-owners, I wonder what they do with their vehicles up to 1500.

Incidentally, to depart from the theme of the last few posts, I and several of my neighbours treat the bend in Oak Tree Road with caution as the majority of drivers seem unable to keep to their sides of the white line.

Indeed.   I was in a meeting yesterday and a topic that came up was a car park which, previously free, will become charging.  A desire for yellow lines on surrounding roads was raised - not because of any initial concern at the safety aspects, but rather ... well, I'm sure you can guess!

It's a fairly clever way of ensuring that commuters don't clog up side streets adjacent to stations to save the parking cost, and thus preventing residents and visitors from parking. By alternating it means that residents can move their car during the day, whilst always having somewhere to park, and prevents commuters from using the space.  It's been used in places for over 20 years, and residents prefer it to a residents parking scheme which inevitably costs money to administer which of course falls on the residents.

And by barring commuter parking it helps safety, as often the roads do become completely clogged with parked cars. 

You may not like it, but I think it's reasonable to put in place measures to ensure that commuters use the car park provided for them and don't park locally to the detriment to the living conditions of residents.

Cholsey APCOA carpark will sting you £100 (reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days) if you forget to ticket or park outside of their marked bays - that includes the unmarked gap between the first bay and the council's double yellow lines on the highway which swing into the carpark (northern side of the lower carpark). This compares to £70 (reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days) if you just park on the yellow lines outside on the street.

There were two tickets issued today for parking in the blank zone.  This blank zone looks a bit dodgy - GWR please note, it is your managed station. A fancy lawyer I believe would have a field day. The bays were repainted after they faded to near-nothing (tickets still being issued) but then failed to add a 25m stretch of double yellow lines.

That argument can only be used when sufficient affordable station car parking is provided to meet the demand. In this case it is not. And as for the families with 2 or 3 cars - surely THAT is something that should in no way be condoned or facilitated by the Council. Especially when they live near stations! What should be happening under the heading of "changing travel behaviours" is encouraging as many people as possible to use public transport by complete deregulation of all parking in the vicinity of stations and radial bus routes (apart from where it genuinely does cause congestion or safety hazard, or prevent people parking near their homes or local shops, of course - the bar for proving those conditions should be set high) and making things hard for people with more than 2 vehicles in their household.

In Oxfordshire the official criteria for review of waiting restrictions are: "when there are changes to the road layout or usage as a result of development and when requested by the local member or local councils due to concerns over parking obstructing traffic and/or being detrimental to road safety."

Within the last month additional restrictions have been approved to be put in place for a number of roads in the vicinity of Didcot Parkway arising from "long-standing dissatisfaction with antisocial commuter parking" and to "improve drivers’ sightlines by removing dangerous and obstructive parking, whilst also providing some residents, who have shared driveways, with some ‘on street’ overflow/visitor parking availability". The latter is achieved by a one hour restriction from noon until 1pm, and the former by double yellows.

On street parking enforcement in South Oxfordshire has been non-existent in recent years as it is still for the moment in the hands of Thames Valley Police who have considered it hitherto a low priority, although this is likely to change in the short term by the intervention of the Police and Crime Commissioner (*) and the medium term by it being taken over by SODC and possibly some Town Councils.

(*) it is election year ...
 

I would like to know how far away the cars parking on street near Tilehurst station have actually come. When I used to drive the Loddon Bridge park and ride in Reading, on frosty days you could tell many cars had come from just around the corner as they were still covered in frost. One little sports car in particular I recall arriving with just a small square of frost removed in front of the driver while the rest of the screen and side windows remained frost covered.

I passed Lewknor turn by the M40 the other day and decided I would have a look in the village to see if there was any evidence of the bridge where it's halt on the Watlington branch line was (there isn't, the main road now appears to be in it's place). Lewknor is a strange coach park and ride for the Oxford to London route. Along the main road by the motorway junction are parked cars legitimately parked everywhere in most cases and others wherever they can fit. The village, which is relatively nice is also littered with cars in a wherever they can fit manner. Now as much as these are public roads through this village, it didn't make it a pleasant place anymore and it occurred to me that a line has to be drawn somewhere as to what can be accommodated. It also occurred to me that if the Watlington branch was relaid as far as the M40/old A40 that there would be fair demand for Chiltern to run a train from there to Prince's Risborough to meet London trains.

The Lewknor bypass road is indeed on the old branch alignment - use the transparency sliding bar (https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.933333333333323&lat=51.67113&lon=-0.96646&layers=168&b=1). M40 Trains, the precursor to Chiltern Railways proposed a commuter service in the 1990s - Evergreen 3 happened instead. One day, we might have a heritage railway (https://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk) running all the way from Aston Rowant to the Chiltern mainline at Princes Risborough.

We've come some way from Tilehurst to Lewknor in this thread, but so did I today. I parked my car in Lewknor village and walled past the "informal" parking area mentioned above. Just six cars. On the corners of Hill Road plasticy bollards had been placed since my last visit, presumably to deter parking on them. A couple had been knocked askew. Hours later, I returned via Chinnor and was puzzled to see half-a-dozen security guards spread out along the Ridgeway. I enquired, to be told they were there to deter idiot swimmers in the Taylor Wimpey lake formed out of the old quarry workings. Googling revealed there were major problems there earlier in the summer.

GWR seeks ?6.5 million government funding to build decked car park (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/18887166.tilehurst-station-will-finally-become-accessible-get-new-car-park-10-million-transformation/)

And Network Rail is investing ?4 million into constructing lifts at the station - it's hoped this work will start in Spring 2022.

It would be interesting to know the thinking about the need for another 99 car-park spaces, given speculation about how many passengers will return to the trains.

I walked past Tilehurst Station today and noticed half-a-dozen vehicles on the forecourt and a number of people standing around. I guessed that they were patronising the refreshment van. For some months there's been a smaller one in better condition than the first van that was parked there. Perhaps coffee-lovers have established a morning ritual?

I smiled to myself as I recall one of my earliest posts in the Coffee Shop, about double-yellow lines being painted around the forecourt  leaving only one temporary parking bay.This had led me to speculate about how conscientious I should be when it came to parking my car and hanging around waiting for friends to arrive.

And 13 months ago I was muttering about the new timetable that would cause me to have to hang around at Reading Station when heading eastward.

Then Covid came along ...

Just six cars parked at Tilehurst Station at 0730 this morning, plus a very small trickle of passengers arriving on foot. I was able to walk across the Oxford Road twice without pausing, impossible in the rush hours of the old days.

(That having been said, when turning right out of Waitrose on Wednesday morning at 0800 my wait for a gap in the traffic was "long" by pre-COVID standards.)

A dozen cars parked at 1600 this afternoon, as I returned from Reading on a two-car DMU for Oxford that had all its windows closed - perhaps they could have been opened to provide the ventilation we are promised on trains?

A very high proportion of people at Tilehurst and Reading stations and on the two trains that I took were wearing masks and a small number were doing so on Reading's streets.

Today at 0955 there were 21 cars parked at Reading Station. And, to be really nerdish, just three copies remaining of Metro, which informed me that train travel had boosted W H Smith's profits, with sales for the six months up to August 31 being 65% of the same period in 2019 and that demand for rail travel is two-thirds of what it was at the same time in that year.

(Over that period Metro seems to have increased its superficial waffle content.)

You are Angus Loughran, and I claim my five pounds!