Lincoln cyclists

[L Q]

There used to be free parking in the whole town, until just recently. Then the town council in a (no doubt successful) attempt to kill the town off for good, have made all car parks pay and display, including the Festival Hall car park. I think the rates are quite low though. Charges apply 8am-3pm Mon-Sat and 1h is £0.30, 2hrs is £0.50, 3hrs is £0.80, 4 hrs is £1.00, 6 hrs is £1.70 and 6+ hrs is £2.00. These rates apply to all car parks.

Did make me laugh when they had to take down the signs saying about the free parking.

Most cars that park in the festival car park have been there for ages as they all live local so I can see why they are trying to charge but its ridiculous, the town needs all the visitors it can get without trying to fleece them some more.

 

[GlenBen]

Lovely, Ill park on the road then and put my £2 towards coffee and cake, do my bit to keep rasen alive haha.

30p seems a strange amount to charge, enough to be annoying and mean I need to find change, but barely enough to make much money. I dont tend to drive many places these days, but Im pretty sure parking in lincoln centre is close to £2 an hour now.

Again, thanks.

 

[mjr]

Lovely, Ill park on the road then and put my £2 towards coffee and cake, do my bit to keep rasen alive haha.

30p seems a strange amount to charge, enough to be annoying and mean I need to find change, but barely enough to make much money. I dont tend to drive many places these days, but Im pretty sure parking in lincoln centre is close to £2 an hour now.

30p makes it seem pretty clearly an attempt to discourage locals from occupying all the parking spaces for extended periods, plus maybe encourage some who live in the town to walk or cycle into the centre instead of driving, rather than any attempt to "fleece" visitors. Can you really not afford to contribute 30p towards this excellent motoring-discouragement measure? It's £2.30/hour for council car parks in Cambridge and £4.90/hour in London, so both Rasen and Lincoln are selling themselves cheap and basically making cyclists subsidise motorists.</rant>

 

[Gixxerman]

30p makes it seem pretty clearly an attempt to discourage locals from occupying all the parking spaces for extended periods, plus maybe encourage some who live in the town to walk or cycle into the centre instead of driving, rather than any attempt to "fleece" visitors.

Point1: That is the reason the council has cited for the parking chrages. Now this would make sense if the local populous or visitors were struggling to find parking spaces. However, the truth of the matter is that they are not. Even when they were free parking, there were always loads of spaces at any time of day. We do not have a multitude of commuters as there are no large employers in the town centre. The largest employers are retail outlets and the post office, which are sited out of town and have ample free parking for the employees.
Point 2: I am all in favour of anything that encourages walking ./ cycling instead of driving, as Rasen is not immune to the car-centric types. However, given that the biggest draws are the retail outlets and supermarkets (which have ample free parking for patrons), rather than the town shops, I can't see it having any significant effect.
Point 3: The town is struggling to encourage trade from outside, and free parking was seen as an attractive persuader for capturing passing trade. However, many traders in the town feel that now, you can pay a similar amount to park in bigger nearby towns that have a much more varied and comprehensive shopping experience, that shoppers will go there instead.
I also seems that Rasenites as a whole are stingy as since the parking charges have been imposed, the car parks are empty and there are cars seemingly ambandoned on the streets in some quite frankly appauling attempts at parking.

 

[mjr]

Point 1: even if there's always loads of spaces (in which case, the council actually has a duty to use some of that asset for public good), that "free" parking still has cost to everyone who doesn't use it - see the freakonomics link.
If it makes little difference, Point 2 seems like an argument for having a small charge to discourage nuisance motoring.
Point 3: surveys say that shopkeepers always overestimate the proportion of their customers who come by car.
And as for the crap parking: brilliant! If the council is worth a damn, each one should be another £30 and £50 "idiot tax" payment to help fund more town improvements!

 

[GlenBen]

Ill start by saying that I'm not an economist, or indeed that bright in general. I read that article you linked to and still dont understand how free parking on otherwise empty council land is costing anyone? Unless its as opposed to if the land were put to a more profitable use.

On the point 2, Im in favour of people walking or cycling, but realistically, people will still drive, even if they end up parking a mile from where they want to be and only live 1.1miles from that same place, people will still, sadly, get in their cars.

 

[ufkacbln]

Misadjust the brakes to simulate the hills?

 

[tallliman]

@Gixxerman, is the Lightning quite clear from the road? Are there any other aviation related things up there that are visible from the road?

I want to spend a day cycling round seeing things and have so far (from Loughborough) seen a lot of the bits to the south of Lincoln....just want to see what else there is.

Shame the chap near louth with the Lightnings and Starfighter has had to move them on.

 

[Gixxerman]

Yep both Lighnings are easy to see.
XR725 is here in Charles Ross's front garden.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4247359,-0.1791335,140m/data=!3m1!1e3
XR724 is here on the old Binbrook airfield visible through the chain link fence. Go through the open gate and it will be visible on the left. I was lucky enough to see this old girl taxy. I also got to sit in it. Lightning cockpits are very small. I am only 5'7'', but I am quite stocky and I struggled to fit, and my shoulders were touching the sides.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.4443022,-0.1988907,140m/data=!3m1!1e3
There is also a Vulcan B2 at Waddington airbase visible from the A15. Not just any Vulcan but XM607 of operation Black Buck fame.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.1750719,-0.5134614,282m/data=!3m1!1e3
Newark air museum is also worth a look.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.0958774,-0.7584941,566m/data=!3m1!1e3
I hope that is enough to keep you going,

 

[tallliman]

Cheers @Gixxerman, I saw XM607 the other week, a welcome sight and the only good reason for cycling on the A15! I also have stopped at Newark a few times.

2 Lightnings at Binbrook are worth a trip, I'll try and work out a route that takes them in and perhaps the one at Thorpe Camp.

I should add that if you want to see a couple of Lightnings scramble from a QRA shelter, go to one of the open days at Bruntingthorpe, 27th May is one this year. Shame they aren't allowed to take off but many other things will also taxy on that day!

 

[Gixxerman]

No problem @tallliman. I have been to Brunlingthorpe a few times before to the Lightnings QRA and fast taxy. The Victor fast taxy was also very impressive.
As for a lightning flying in this country, you can sadly forget all hope of that. The Lightning is a complex aircraft with reheat, that had a dubious reliability record in RAF service, which I cannot see getting any better in private hands. So the CAA will simply not permit it for safety reasons. It also suffers from the same lack of OEM support that also grounded the last airworthy Vulcan (XH558). Thunder City in South Africa used to fly them, and even had a T5 two seater that you could buy a fight in. However, since they had a loss of one of their T5's to an in-flight fire (the Lightnings Achilles heel), which led to the sad loss of the pilot Dave Stock (his bang-seat did not fire), they have effectively stopped flying them.

 

[tallliman]

Agree, though seeing her slow taxi back past me was beyond amazing. Victor's look so evil!!

Apologies to everyone else for being a little off topic!

 

[Poacher]

@tallliman , depending when you want to have a ride round that area, it may also be worthwhile checking whether the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at Coningsby, have anything planned. The display season won't start for a few months yet, but there's a chance they'll roll one or more aircraft out of the hangar.
Seeing and hearing the Lancaster take off is a treat not to be missed!

 

[GlenBen]

Just got back from that route. Beautiful area. Its quite amazing though how easy it is to forget that I cant go up hills very quick. Average speed was only 14mph, but I enjoyed it. Apart from the very muddy downhills, they were a bit hairy. Definitely be doing that again at some point.

On the planes note, I got a bit lost around binbrook and didnt see the lightning. I did however see 2 typhoons flying slow over me. Then about 10 minutes later a tornado that was about 3 inches from the ground at incredible speed.

 

[Gixxerman]

Just got back from that route. Beautiful area...

Glad you enjoyed it. Like I hinted, it was going to be a bit challenging. Average of 14mph is non too shaby on that route. I would struggle to better that. Shame you didn't get to see the Lightnings. Sorry about the roads being so muddy, but that is what you get in a rural farming community. I have had it so bad at times that getting off and walking is the only safe option. In my dad's farming days, they had a responsibilty to clean the road up after they had finished for the day. The local plod would also come round and check that they had done it too. These days they seem to get away with simply putting up a tiny, next to useless, home made non-reflective sign, that is placed about 50 yards from where the mud starts. I also forgot to warn you about the poor road surfaces around the Rothwell and Thoresway areas. Next time you are doing it, give me a heads up and I will get some time off work and come out to play. I will then show you the Lightnings. But please wait for this old boy up those hills.