City Transport & Traffic Innovation Magazine’s Post

Two Sheffield stories today....Parking for business and residents in Kelham/Neepsend and a Cycle Hub for the City Centre. Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, through Louisa Harrison-Walker and my Co-Chair on the SY Transport Forum Sam Chapman, attended a public meeting with Sheffield City Council [Cllr Ben Miskell], in Neepsend/Kelham. Here is a report: 👇 https://lnkd.in/dgjrXKYd It looks like it was a very useful session and I will be interested to see the next steps of the promised review, to ensure one of Sheffield's jewels in the crown continues to thrive for business, visitors and residents. A balance is key. This was a heavily industrialised area up until relatively recently and driving away existing well established business, by making it ever more difficult to operate [already they have the CAZ challenge], seems properly unfair to me. Incomers must surely have to respect the reasonable needs of the existing incumbents? Anyway, that is my personal opinion, having seen the developments over 40 years. It is an area which had a massive down and now a huge up. Less Potted Meat or Corned Beef and Branston sandwiches sadly though. Cycle hub: more good news as APCOA UK team up with Spokesafe to open a 24 hour cycle hub in the Moor Market car park. £1 to leave a bike in a secure place. The article goes on to describe the delays with a similar Sheffield City Council scheme. Maybe an opportunity to make the point that sometimes the private sector can have solutions which are cheaper, quicker and meet the public need. Good to see a solution in place and I hope it succeeds and that the Council do not now try to compete with it until it reaches capacity. I am sure Q-Park UK APCOA UK and National Car Parks Limited could provide further space if asked. 👇 https://lnkd.in/dxS3DYfE South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority The University of Sheffield Sheffield Hallam University #sheffield #sheffieldissuper #sheffieldbusiness #sheffieldtransport #cyclehub #cycle #activetravel #kelham #neepsend

So we keep getting told city back to normal , another much loved venue gone today , at this rate by the end of winter we all be eating at home . Sick and tired of the spin ,of course last week foot traffic was up as Sally spruiked on 3aw on Tuesday it was school holidays . Drove up Exhibition st today more fuvken bike lanes , the more commitess council has to increase trade the.more closures . There has to be someone in council that says enough is enough , spend money Mon-Friday with subsidising parking , contribute and entice respected traders in all retail not just hospitality to open in city , instead of spending hundreds of millions on a new green line project get our city back first , back the strategy to get people back to the office rather than excepting it’s the new norm , get rid of the bike lanes no one is using the useless things and they are getting so big ,use them for bus lanes if you don’t want to get rid of them. How many more traders need to close to prove the strategy will turn the city of Melbourne into Docklands .

Got to go there...or maybe not (if London Mayoral plans come to fruition). Where do people stand on the banning of traffic on Oxford Street? This is a real tear for me. On the one hand it appeals greatly for those lofty, idealistic and green-goal grand intentions many of us aspire to have. And yet, on the other hand, I think it may just suck the life from the street and make it a much duller place. Clearly there is far less traffic than when I used to be able to drive down it and whip up infant of a store 'back in the day'! Of course pedestrianized Oxford Street plans with travelators and the like have come and gone (just as has, apparently, a long-mooted plan to put traffic in a tunnel under Park Lane) but this time we may see this. It's not what I think, though. I'm like to know what Selgridges, Marks and Spencer, NikeTown, IKEA and other destinations who have ownership of Oxford Street destinations think. My gut just says Oxford Street will just be an emptier, more muted shopping street place without the 'tonic' of transport movement - buses, taxies and vehicles - conveying and delivery and passing by. Am I wrong? Hmmmm. https://lnkd.in/dtJdAUjf #London #OxfordStreet #WestEnd #shopping #retailing #transport #pedestrianisation #environment #placemaking #MayorofLondon #Selfridges #MarksandSpencer #Niketown #IKEA #destination #customerjourney

I have changed my perception of Princes Street, Edinburgh, to a more real and honest perception? —-> view Princes Street as a runway similar to runways found at airports Swap aeroplanes for buses not only representing an extensive range of bus companies, but different bus numbers on a large number of outbound and incoming routes ….. ? Stopping not only, if at all, at the Edinburgh City Centre Bus Station. It is a huge bus depot —-> Princes Street, that is. Add the trams? Who is travelling on these buses and trams?🕵️♂️🤔 Allowing for a small number of respectable, quality venues, accessible to those of a certain social class (business class, professional class and so on,) there is a UK Government Job Centre sitting right beside the railway stations ….. the railway stations also transporting a variety of types of individual. Are you able to imagine that list? There are tasteless, in my opinion, tourist shops selling average quality (?) souvenirs, coffee and cake shops, burger and chips franchises, empty premises of previous department stores …… . There continues to exist one or two old friends? There are, of course, more exclusive stores mixed in and a bank or two? Seats for the less mobile? Where do the buses stop? Taxis seen? Anyway …. The smell of marijuana….

Love this! Just imagine the incredible potential for location-based entertainment experiences that pedestrianised city centres allow for! The ability to complement visitors' retail and/or tourism experiences through persistent, creative digital experiences, activated by the wide range of interactive technology available to us, would open up economic opportunities that far outweigh any lost economic value from not having cars on Oxford Circus. This is the answer to an issue that has long plagued city and town centres across the UK and, for that matter, the world: the death of the high street. Consumers want an enjoyable experience when they go shopping in real life, and busy, polluted roads significantly detract from that. If the experience of being on a high street is stressful and unappealing, is it any surprise that consumers choose to shop online from the convenience of their own home? Pedestrianised city centres will lead to more partnerships between brands, the entertainment industry, and technology providers, as they seek to utilise the newly created public real estate, driving innovation and economic growth. Creating healthier, happier, busier, and more accessible (if delivered correctly) cities will be a massive benefit to all of us. I was fortunate enough to work with local councils across the UK on the question of regenerating city centres, exploring how we could deploy 5G-enabled immersive experiences to increase footfall. A couple of years ago, the desire was there, but the initiative wasn’t being seized by the government, and the momentum fizzled out. Hopefully, this is a clear sign that things are changing. Don’t even get me started on the environmental benefits of pedestrianising large sections of a city. It’s blatantly obvious how much this would improve air quality. I really hope this happens!

Main Street Complex is strategically located in the heart of Paola square

I agree Cathy Parker MBE, SFIPM that there is an element of 'luck' to strategic success, but the margin for error, when decisions are 'copycatting' instead of being #placespecific is so much larger. Building new, high-density housing without space for at least one car per household assumes that residents all work from home or have access to affordable/reliable public transport that allows them to get to their places of employment/child care/other duties on time. If they do not have that access, then it increases the local parking burden on existing residents. Parking needs in areas with a history of say, light engineering, are very different from a small shopping street where the dwell time for parking may be less than 20 minutes, because users are popping in on the way to somewhere else. But the factor that seems to be too often overlooked, is the parking needs of business owners and their staff. The days of being able to walk to work are long-gone. Businesses are often struggling to find and retain staff, so they have no control over the distance staff travel to work or the routes that staff have to take. In a central #Rochdale business survey in April 2022, 44% of staff could NOT use public transport to get to work on time. So, what options do those people have if parking is removed?  

One of the main recommendations of High Streets Task Force is for local authorities to invest in people who have requisite capacity and capability to know what works where and why. This way any decisions about schemes - pedestrianisation or otherwise - are based on local data, can be made with stakeholders, and be fully informed by current knowledge/theory. It isn’t rocket science - but there again it isn’t just ‘luck’ whether something works in one place and not another.

📢 Hey LinkedIn fam, check out this article on Belfast Live about the potential impact of the removal of parking spaces on North Street. The local pub fears that it could lead to further desertion of the city center street. 🚗🏢 Let's discuss the implications and potential solutions for this issue. #Belfast #UrbanPlanning #CityCenterWoes https://ift.tt/tNbl0g3

Comprehensive Guide to Residents’ Parking Schemes