Car parking at Bristol Parkway

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Stress? Caused by a car park? 

You have to feel sorry for these subtopians. I thought the Redrow bloke put it rather well on the telly last night: "We build homes for the objectors of tomorrow".

[alan_s]

Is the work finished yet?  Or will it be in time for Easter ? 

Also its occurred to me that the parking cost will probably shoot up to pay for all this work - any gen in this area will be useful too, thanks!

Alan

[chrisr_75]

Finished, no obvious info on charges at the page linked below & NR^» (Network Rail - home page) station info web page not yet updated...

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/TravelInfo/Car-Park-Improvements-at-Bristol-Parkway

[alan_s]

Welll, for the record, I have parked there today. Charges not much different;  ^7.60 weekdays, ^4.60 weekends, per 24 hours.

Alan

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the First Great Western press release:

Transport Minister opens ^13 million Bristol Parkway Station car park
 
Transport Minister Baroness Kramer visited Bristol today to officially open a ^13 million new station car park that will increase capacity and convenience for thousands of passengers.
 
The multi-storey car park at Bristol Parkway will provide an extra 710 parking spaces, in addition to the existing 1,100, to cater for increasing numbers of passengers using the station. Before the work, the site was regularly full.
 
Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said: ^The work at Bristol Parkway is a great example of what can be done, and will provide much-needed parking at this key station. This is great news for the communities of Bristol and South Gloucestershire. More passengers than ever before are using the rail network, and this growth is expected to continue. Over the next five years, we are investing record amounts in modernising our railways and providing passengers with the facilities they need, so they can enjoy smoother, more convenient and more reliable journeys.^
 
FGW^▸ (First Great Western) General Manager, Central, Rob Mullen said: "Bristol Parkway Station serves almost three million rail passengers a year and this is expected to grow significantly when the line to London is electrified. I am delighted to be able to provide the Minister with a tour of the new facility which significantly increases capacity, ensuring that we can cater for the increase in passenger demand both now and in the future.^

The ^13 million scheme is part of a third and final tranche of successful bids from the ^100m Station Commercial Projects Fund, launched in 2011 by Network Rail and the Department for Transport.
 
Patrick Hallgate, Route Managing Director for Network Rail Western: "This scheme is a fantastic example of the rail industry, local authorities and other organisations working together to improve the passenger experience. Bristol has one of the highest predicted growth rates on the Western route over the next decade and this improvement will help meet the future demand. Expanding the car park at Bristol Parkway is one of a number of projects we have in this area, others include the electrification and the redevelopment of Bristol Temple Meads station; all of which will help the local economy to continue to grow and thrive."

The new building is clad in materials in keeping with the surrounding area. This also reduces light and noise pollution for our neighbours.

[HSTHopper]

I haven't used the car parking at Parkway for years, but the recent building work seems to have made the station more pedestrian-hostile for people trying to walk to the station from the east along Hunts Ground Road.

Unless I'm missing something, people on foot approaching from this direction now have to walk through the ground floor of a multi-storey car-park. I suspect the chances of being knocked over by a car reversing out of a parking space at some times of day is are quite high.

Before the building work, there used to be a fairly wide pedestrian walkway outside of the carpark, leading to the station. Now there's just a narrow poorly marked route through the carpark, sometimes partly blocked by long cars.