SUNDAY on-street car parking charges are expected to be introduced in Bristol next month.
And there will be a new charge for people who leave their vehicles parked in the city overnight.
The moves are part of a package to increase charges and streamline tariffs which should earn the city council nearly an extra £500,000 a year.
The measures were approved by the council's ruling cabinet last September but it has taken until now for legal paperwork to be completed.
The Sunday car parking charges will mean:
● one hour on-street zone: £1 (max stay – one hour)
● two hour on-street zone: £2 (max stay – two hours)
● four hour on-street zone: £2 (max stay – four hours)
● short-stay car parks: £2 (max stay – two hours).
The charges in long-stay car parks will be £1-an-hour up to four hours and £5 for more than four hours. There is currently an off-street all-day parking charge of £1.60 on Sundays.
Charges for Sundays and Bank Holidays will run until 5pm or 6pm, depending on location. After this time, standard evening and overnight charges will apply.
Peter Mann, the council's transport director said in a report that round-the-clock charging was agreed as long ago as 2007 but was not implemented because Cabot Circus was being built at the time.
He says: "The success of Cabot Circus and Broadmead and the increasing demand for spaces on Sundays now needs to be reflected in the charging regime for both on and off-street parking spaces. There is little material difference between Saturdays and Sundays in terms of shopping and leisure patterns but parking demand is greater on Sundays."
He says a large number of available spaces are taken by people commuting to work on Sundays – and the council would rather see them used mostly by shoppers.
The council is hoping Sunday charging will encourage bus operators to introduce park and ride services – it is currently cheaper to drive into Bristol than use public transport.
Evening charges were revised three years ago but there is confusion because of different tariffs for on-street and off-street parking. In future, there will be a single evening charge of £2.50 at all on and off street car parking sites from 6pm onwards.
A new night rate charge of £4 is being introduced for on and off street sites which will run from 5 or 6pm until 9am the following day.
Mr Mann said this would help overnight visitors to the city.
Saturday parking charges are expected to be brought into line with weekday charges over two years.
Mr Mann said the effect of the increases on shops and stores had been taken into account, but he said Bristol was the fourth most popular short-stay destination and one of the top five shopping centres in the UK. "Research has shown other destinations generally have higher parking charges than Bristol," he said.
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