How an RPZ is good for retail businesses

Further up the A38 from Stokes Croft is Gloucester Road, where the local shopkeepers are up in arms about how an RPZ will hurt their business. We recognise the main issue with the RPZ -it removes the parking options for staff- but believe that actively campaigning against is a mistake

Specifically:

1. Residents will be able to drive to the shops -without commuters and staff, and with reduced congestion, it will be easier to do so.
2. Visitors from outside the area will get free short-stay and low cost long stay parking -parking spaces that were never available!
3. It's only on a weekday, so will have no effect on the weekend revenue.

The only losers are commuters, and the staff themselves. While we understand why staff at the shops don't want to lose the right to drive to work, they have to recognise that every staff parking space has a lost opportunity cost of potential shopper. That was moot when the parking space would be taken up by commuters, but with an RPZ they will become available, so the opportunity to park suddenly becomes tangible.

The only isssue, then is the loss of commuter parking: would a reduction in commuter parking opportunities impact sales. We doubt it. 

In Stokes Croft the rollout of the RPZ, and the conversion of commuter parking to short-stay parking has tangible improvements on revenue.

Take this retail outlet, The Massage Club, here on a weekday afternoon

 
Previously, the two spaces would be taken by people parking here and then walking to the centre of town. Even if those two commuters did want to avail themselves of the offerings of the area -which, after a stressful commute down Gloucester Road isn't that common- once they've gone to work: no more customers.

Now the turnover of the parking spaces is frequent, you often get the 15 minute drop by "RPZ special", with hour long people paying for parking. With hour-long visits -a mere £1 in cost- we are looking at an increase in visitors/bay from 1/weekday -5/bay/week, to 8/weekday -40 a week. And those visitors have come to visit Stokes Croft, not driven round Dove Steet and Jamaica Street until eventually they find a slot.

Tangible revenue gains -even in a recession when there is less money to throw around.

Before anyone says "Stokes Croft is a special case" -look at Richer Sounds, where the Whiteladies road bus route has converted a commuter parking street -and side streets- into short stay parking. Richer Sounds benefit from this so much it's a key point on their home page.:

Parking Instructions:New improved parking!
Thanks to recently modified parking restrictions there is now a constant turnover of free spaces on Whiteladies Road right outside the shop, with plenty more close by on side roads.

No complaints from Whiteladies Road, either then.

This brings us back to "what does Gloucester Road have to fear?" Either its a belief that commuter parking brings in more revenue than day shoppers -or they are leading the campaign merely to ensure they have somewhere to park. The former belief must be mistaken -commuter parking finishes before 9, with the drivers returning to their cars after 17:45 -outside most shop opening hours. Which leaves staff parking. You have to be ruthless here and say what matters more: customer parking or staff parking. Your staff -they can walk, bus or even cycle if each free space brings in 8+ paying customers/day.

Winter Commuting

Tuesday morning's ride; Nugent Hill was, well, hairy.

Some cycling campaigners demand gritting and other facilities for bikes, and while it may make sense for the railway path, one big problem is that all the back roads of the city form the safe and quiet bike routes of the city.

Yet it is impossible to expect the council to grit every single back road of the city. Either different equipment is needed: studded tyres, or a bit of route replanning is in order.

And here's the route. Getting to here was a bit tricky -St Andrews was skittery, but up on the Purdown Camp escarpment, there's the tracks of 3 or 4 other bikes that chose the off-road option.

Looking forward to thursday's conditions - the snow is falling already

Muller Road: 20K cars/day

One of the interesting facts to come out of Josh Hart's Bristol street study is that 20,000 cars per day go along it. Morning and evening it is congested going to and from the M32; cars coming from Lockleaze cut through garage-alleys to spend less time stuck at the Shaldon Road junction

And so get into the queue leading up to the M32 that much faster.


It's a tough road to walk or cycle across; you need to wait at the lights and factor in to the light schedule the fact that cars coming off the m-way are slow to react to red lights. In the Bristol Cycling Campaign, the Muller Road/Shaldon Road junction is viewed as positively lethal, the fact that 'safe route to school' improvements made it even more dangerous should have been a warning sign about threat that a "cycle city" bid could present.

One thing that Josh's study didn't do is ask where do these cars go to? Where are they coming from? Assuming they are coming into the city on the M32, not using the ring road exit but pulling off before getting stuck in the traffic jams by the M32 junctions further into town, these cars are heading to North West bristol, but not the North Fringe. So where do they go?

Commuting to the North Fringe

And now, some coverage of the downhills between the centre of town and the North Fringe, as filmed from a bike.



The road at the beginning is Cotham Brow; the stretch from there to St Werburgh's has been cut, and the climb through Lockleaze. Cotham Brow is much quieter than normal because it is closed at the bottom; normally morning and evening you'd expect to see a traffic jam in one direction all the way between St Michael's hill and Gloucester Road.