Monday Musing: Park Active - the next destination for parking?

I live in a rural area, so having a car is a lifeline – the bus service is expensive, not very regular and non-existent on a Sunday. Without a car, I would not be able to get to work (when we are in the office), do a big shop, take rubbish to the community tip, or get to a train station. In many places, public transport is either not regular or available, and for the majority, walking or cycling on narrow lanes or busy main roads with no pavements is neither a desirable nor do-able option. While city centres are blighted by slow-moving lines of traffic crammed into historic road systems with exhaust fumes polluting the air: unpleasant, unhealthy, and unsustainable.   

A green initiative that includes cars sounds contradictory, but the parking sector can’t ignore the millions of motorists who depend on a car and need somewhere to park. However, the sector must find ways to support the green agenda and embrace the “active travel” policies that the Government has set out in its UK-wide emergency response to Covid-19. This includes the installation of emergency cycle lanes and traffic-free streets for safe and socially distanced walking and has proved that changes could be made very swiftly.

In response to these circumstances, a colleague’s brilliant “active travel” solution has positioned parking as a key component. Thus “Park Active” was born. It is a scheme where motorists can drive to a designated outlying car park and then complete their journey by walking or cycling on a dedicated, signposted route to a central hub.    

Park Active is a long-term solution and we have already learned a great deal from our recent Park Active pilot scheme. Our first example is in the historic city of Colchester and we will learn more from the pandemic experiment - as well as the “bikelash” – against some emergency cycle routes.   

The Park Active project team have worked with a group of local authorities to distil our learnings so far into a comprehensive Guidance document and toolkit. This is freely available at www.park-active.co.uk/. Please also check out our social media channels Twitter: @parkactive and Linkedin: @parkactive We also love talking about the scheme to public and private car parking operators and those offering services that would support schemes.

Emerging into 2021, we have all had to adapt to a difficult situation, with social distancing, lockdowns and working from home. But some changes will need to be longer-term for the benefit of society, now, and in the future. Park Active could be the positive change you could embrace in your business for all the right reasons.