[lead_text]
Issues
[/lead_text]
Parking
- Lack of adequate parking for disabled people in Bath
- Lack of information on location and availability
- Limited disabled parking outside of car parks and in strategic locations means that the ones available are nearly always full and because of the road system it extends journey time by a significant amount to try and find a space that is appropriate.
-
Lack of significant accessible parking and facilities in tourist areas such as Victoria Park and the Assembly Rooms means that I cannot experience all Bath has to offer in the way an able bodied person can.
- High cost of parking in private car parks was constantly highlighted
- localised issues with locations and details of parking bays
- Proximity to services is key. Car parks such as ones at Saw Close and Kingsmead Centre are too far from shops. Newbridge Park and Ride has limited blue badge spaces.
-
Car Parks are located on the edges of Bath Centre, limiting their usefulness for me as a Blue Badge holder as my walking range is limited.
-
- Access from car parks into the centre is poor with inadequate crossing points, busy vehicular roads and narrow footways.
- Spaces are not large enough for vehicles with tail ramps,
-
As a disabled blue-badge holder aged 87, using a wheeled walking frame, I feel all able-bodied should use the Park & Ride or other Car parks and that street parking in the City centre should be entirely for the use of the disabled, or considerably increased. There are too few disabled spaces and a lot of delivery vehicles which have to have space
Shopmobility
- The current Shopmobility facility is located in Lewis House on Manvers Street which is a very busy and fast vehicular street.
- Inconvenient location near enough the train station but a bit of a distance from the bus station that most local people use.
- Location of existing facility on a busy road, with parking on the other side of the road. (Though a controlled crossing is available near by, this is not enough to overcome the perceived inconvenience of the location)
- Manvers Street car park is a private facility that is difficult to get in and out of as the crossover has an extremely steep camber. It also requires payment in addition to the charge for the scooter.
- Perceived danger of using a mobility scooter of the streets of Bath
Coming into Bath by public transport
- Cannot use public transport as buses are not accessible so I have to drive.
- Trains not accessible so do not use.
-
I missed a 38 (bus) the other day because being disabled I was sitting down in the bus station, which is so badly designed that when the bus comes into the wrong bay, and the departure not announced, you cannot see what the bus is actually doing. The no 14 (bus) is also a problem because buses do not pull in at the bus stop at the RUH, but wherever they can, often where there is no raised area. The attitude of some drivers in Bath leaves a lot to be desired when we cannot board quickly.
- Public transport for wheelchair users is non-existent from Timsbury- Bath.
Pedestrianisation of sections of Bath
- Closure of streets (to cars) makes it difficult to drive to places or park
[lead_text]
Examples
[/lead_text]
- Some localised issues with details of parking provision
- design of bays such as at Guildhall were highlighted.
- Parking at Queen’s Square obstructs the pedestrian entrances to the Square, as no keep clear gap is provided to indicate the entrances at the centre of each side.
[lead_text]
Recommendations
[/lead_text]
- Review of parking provision and parking strategy for Bath centre with a view to keeping parking outside the centre and removing motor traffic from within the city centre (except for high dependency disabled people’s vehicles).
- Prioritisation of parking for disabled people in the city centre
- Enforcement of blue badge parking to ensure appropriate use of blue badges
- Parking in private car parks to be subsidised or free for blue badge holders