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The Great Parking Debate

why not look at the bypass again. Buy the churnet trackbed from Denstone lane to Farley lane, turn it into a road. then upgrade Farley lane.
I know it will upset people including the churnet valley railway and it supporters. So put forward the old by pass plans and see what locals want.
 
The issue with the old bypass plans is they would need to take land from JCB who rumour suggests are not the biggest fans of Alton Towers. The only option would be a compulsory purchase order.... against a huge conservative donor.....
 
It is a bit hard with a tory lead council, however it may start a debate on the route of a by pass and any obstacle to it.
 
I'll say again my biggest bug bear was the fact the parking price was introduces was to help with local traffic issues. Instead they did a u turn and put it into the pocket and provided no additional service with the money they gained. Either from a park view or local roads implemation.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
I'll say again my biggest bug bear was the fact the parking price was introduces was to help with local traffic issues. Instead they did a u turn and put it into the pocket and provided no additional service with the money they gained. Either from a park view or local roads implemation.
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I don't think anyone disagrees it's naff.
 
Paying for parking in any theme park is wrong in my opinion, but the way Towers do it is the worst. If they are going to be greedy and charge guests for parking, then why should the guest have to go out of their way to find a machine that actually works, and waste time doing so? At the end of a day at a theme park you want to leave, not have to queue up at a machine just to put £6 in Merlin's pocket! Whilst BPB charge more, at least they are honest and charge on the way into the car park.
 
Jamie said:
Paying for parking in any theme park is wrong in my opinion, but the way Towers do it is the worst. If they are going to be greedy and charge guests for parking, then why should the guest have to go out of their way to find a machine that actually works, and waste time doing so? At the end of a day at a theme park you want to leave, not have to queue up at a machine just to put £6 in Merlin's pocket! Whilst BPB charge more, at least they are honest and charge on the way into the car park.
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You can pay in advance if you so wish. Ultimately though, when you pay is completely irrelevant - you have to pay the £6 at some point regardless.
 
Unless someone in the group has a MAP then it still does not read on the barrier
 
Hopefully with the new barriers installed they will be much better instead of relying on the tickets from the ticket machines because they will take barcodes. I know you can certainly buy parking at thorpe online and print it yourself and scan it at the barrier yourself (I Have seen people do this). It also means towers will be able to sell the tickets anywhere and not just at the machines. The likes of thorpe and chessie don't even have any machibes
 
Alastair said:
You can pay in advance if you so wish. Ultimately though, when you pay is completely irrelevant - you have to pay the £6 at some point regardless.
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On the way out it leaves a sour taste in the mouth, on the way in it's up front and I don't mind as much. However I still disagree with it as parking at theme parks should be free!
 
I don't know why you can't buy parking with online ticket sales. Buy both online then no worries when you get on park.
 
think they should install more machines, maybe at the food outlets, Fish n chip, Chicken shop and burger kitchen, people will visit these places at some point on park, stop the scramble at the main gates.
we all have to pay parking, just paid a fiver to park in my town centre for 2 hours, now thats a rip off :mad:
 
bluesonichd said:
we all have to pay parking, just paid a fiver to park in my town centre for 2 hours, now thats a rip off :mad:
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That's different though, Towers are already getting £50 out of you for entry, money for food and drink, merchandise and other things so it's just greed to charge for parking as well.
 
They are also charging you for something that you cannot (in minor exceptions) avoid. The same argument goes for Hospital Parking. Alton Towers parking tickets are the worst souvenir you will ever take home from a theme park.

Parking charges are unlikely to disappear but changes could be made to improve the scheme. As I said - parking is currently a tax with no benefits. However, if the parking was similar to parking in some towns - where you can 'redeem' your ticket as a cash discount in a store/food outlet - would be beneficial to all. Surely spending in the park would increase if there was an incentive to visit an outlet - most people always end up spending more than they intended to!
 
Although Towers was the first in the UK to implement parking charges they are very common accross the rest of the world. It's hard to argue against something the best parks do

However

My beef with the parking charge is the fact the roads and car parks have pot holes that are almost big enough to have their own geological research team and a visitors center. Plus the fact on very busy days you are parking on a field. The money should be being spent on infrastructure improvements, not boosting profit margins.
 
Or just get rid of the charges and up the gate price to £56.00. They are gonna charge us one way or another.

I should be on the ATR management team with ideas like that :rolleyes:
 
bluesonichd said:
Or just get rid of the charges and up the gate price to £56.00. They are gonna charge us one way or another.

I should be on the ATR management team with ideas like that :rolleyes:
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And in turn make those of us who get dropped off or get the train/bus pay more than we need to?
 
This idea that income from car parking has to go on car-related things is hugely misguided.

Even if they said the money would bed used for car-related improvements, you have to be pretty naive to have believed that.
 
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