APPENDIX 7
Memorandum submitted by the Association
of Train Operation Companies
INTRODUCTION
The Association of Train Operating Companies
(ATOC) is an association owned by the train operating companies
that provide franchised rail passenger services throughout Great
Britain, as well the EWS Railway and certain non-franchised operators
like Eurostar. As well as being the official voice of the passenger
rail industry, it also provides its members with a range of passenger
services that enable them to comply with conditions laid on them
in their franchise agreements and operating licences.
The Committee is inquiring into the current
effectiveness of parking provision and in particular is considering
the criteria to be used to determine the level of parking provision
that should be provided, and the role that parking policy should
play in traffic management and demand management. This paper sets
out the importance of this policy area to the railway and to attracting
continued rail passenger growth. Train operators have invested
heavily in car parking, but further expansion is sometimes constrained
by planning or highway considerations, and the needs of passengers
are not always given a priority by local authorities.
THE RAILWAY'S
CONTRIBUTION
There are 2,516 stations on Britain's rail network,
and of these, 1,255 (50%) offer car parking. In total, 134,258
spaces are provided at these stations. Of these, nine stations
have more than 1,000 car park spaces, 52 more than 500 and 378
more than 100. Some stations such as Bristol Parkway, Haddenham
& Thame Parkway and Lelant Saltings, were developed specifically
as "park and ride" stations. Train operators have already
contributed by investing in new parking provision, but demand
has outstripped supply and at many stations, the limitations of
car parking are constraining further rail growth, particularly
at off peak times, when capacity is available on the trains, but
cannot be accessed, because car parks on the route are full by
08.00 or earlier in a few cases.
In general the available land released by the
closure of small goods yards in the 1960s and 1970s has long since
been developed as car parking. In some cases unused land remains
available, but in most cases, additional land is required, or
decked or multi-storey car parks will be needed to increase the
use made of existing land. However, where decking is involved,
the cost per space is very significantly higher that that of providing
car parking at ground level. As car parking is generally seen
as a commercial, not a subsidised part of the service provided,
these additional costs have to be met by users, and would be reflected
in considerably higher car parking charges.
Train operators have invested heavily in additional
station car parking, and also in improving existing car parks
to improve their security. For example, GNER has provided over
2,000 new car parking spaces at its stations since starting operations
in 1996, and under the terms of its new 10 year franchise, is
committed to providing 900 further spaces. Looking at specific
stations, Virgin have recently increased the size of Birmingham
International station car park by 400 spaces. At the same time,
WAGN has provided 70 additional spaces at St Neots and First Great
Western expanded the station car park at Taunton by 70 spaces.
OTHER MEANS
OF STATION
ACCESS
There are opportunities to encourage access
to stations by other modes, particularly:
— cycle routes and secure cycle storage
at stations; and
— safe walking routes to stations.
Train operators have actively encouraged these
through the provision of dedicated bus links, and 42 of these
throughout Great Britain are included in the National Rail timetable,
giving timings of links to towns not served by rail, or airport
links. They include routes such as Romsey to Winchester (South
West Trains), Virgin's Watford Junction to Heathrow, GNER's Catterick
Garrison—Richmond—Darlington link, or the "virtual
branch lines" run in Cornwall by Truronian, like Redruth
to Helston. ATOC has also driven forward the development of through
ticketing initiatives such as Plusbus which provides add-on ticketing
for bus connections from rail services at over 500 stations.
Train operators have also encouraged cycle access
to stations through the provision of secure cycle storage, ranging
from Sheffield stands to lockers that can be hired. Train operator
One, for example, has 2,000 cycle storage spaces at 167 (80%)
of its stations. In some cases, these facilities have been linked
with cycle routes to stations introduced by the local authority.
In many cases, there is scope for more to be done by local authorities
by providing safe cycling and walking routes to stations, and
greater priority should be given to this in Local Transport Plans,
as a relatively low cost way of improving accessibility.
THE NEED
FOR EXPANSION
Over the last 10 years, passenger demand has
increased by 40%, and Britain has the fastest growing rail network
in Europe. As demand for rail services has increased, so has the
demand for car parking space.
In June, 2005, ATOC published a contribution
to railway strategy called Looking Forward. In this document,
passenger growth in the range of 28% to 42% is postulated, based
on forecasts of future overall transport demand and external factors
such as traffic congestion and road pricing. A number of initiatives
are identified to show how that growth might be accommodated on
rail services, but its achievement will also require improving
accessibility to the network, and increased car parking will be
a key factor in delivering such growth.
Train operators are keen to engage with local
authorities, and to work with them to achieve this, so that the
railway can play a bigger role in meeting Britain's growing transport
needs. Supporting this, appropriate guidance from Government,
and support through the Local Transport Planning process will
help to deliver the increased capacity that will be needed. In
some cases, local authorities are unwilling to allow increased
car parking space because of local traffic generation, or because
they believe that a park and ride solution should be adopted.
There is currently no mechanism that allows the assessment of
overall benefit (trading off additional local traffic around the
station with a reduction in long distance traffic and increased
congestion at the destination). It is also true that there is
considerable passenger resistance to the introduction of a third
journey leg (Park and Ride) and there is a risk that its imposition
would simply encourage drivers to use their car for the whole
journey.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Britain's railway is the fastest growing
in Europe. It has grown by 40% over the last decade.
2. Continued substantial growth in the range
of 28%-42% is forecast for the next 10 years, and this means a
substantially increased requirement for car parking at stations.
3. Car park space has been increased, but
at many stations is now full by the end of the morning peak period,
and this acts as a serious constraint on future growth.
4. Action is being taken to improve access
by bus, cycle and walking, but the need to expand station car
parks remains.
5. The support of local authorities as planning
and as highway authorities, is needed to achieve this expansion
and to support it in their own parking and highway schemes.
6. This would be facilitated if the encouragement
of access to stations formed part of the formal guidance to local
authorities in preparing their Local Transport plans.
3 October 2005
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