RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Watson on Sunday 04 March 18 10:28 GMT (UK)
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The National Archives at Kew want to introduce parking charges. The suggested charge of £7 for over 4 hours, in particular, is a big jump up from nothing. It's easy to exceed 4 hours, especially if there are document production delays.
I suppose cost management has become the dominant theme at Kew. Still, the proposals would inevitably inhibit visits at a time when use of this important national resource is already declining. Useful as on-line material may be, it is only by visiting archives that the greatest educational benefits can be had, through use of actual original documents, by handling and enjoying archives, and extending our knowledge of them. This enriches our lives and should be encouraged, and it seems a pity that it is precisely this aspect that would be made to suffer. It is unfortunate for the visitors if deterring them results in the biggest cost savings.
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I'm surprised to hear that it was previously free-of-charge.
And given that you can travel a long way on TfL/oyster cards for 7 quid, my only question would be
what do they charge "Blue Badge" holders who may be less able to use public transport?
Pauline
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http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/how-to-find-us/
Blue badge holders get free parking :)
I agree with Pauline, Kew is well served by public transport. The charges are much the same as they are in this area for local authority car parks.
https://www.richmond.gov.uk/services/parking/car_parks/richmond_area_car_parks
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I wonder if people visiting the nearby retail park have been using it as an "overflow" car park. :-\
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The retail park is free but restricted to 4 hours so quite likely that someone who wants to park longer could have used TNA's car park. :)
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The retail park is free but restricted to 4 hours so quite likely that someone who wants to park longer could have used TNA's car park. :)
So will the opposite apply now - people using TNA will park in the retail park for 4 hours?
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More than likely ;D First 4 hours in there then move your car to TNA car park.
Personally 4 hours at TNA is more than enough for me :D
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The retail park is free but restricted to 4 hours so quite likely that someone who wants to park longer could have used TNA's car park. :)
My local Tesco has a 2 hour limit - but I have never seen any kind of ticket/fine on any cars?
Including all the local office staff who park there all day!
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I can't see whether the retail park is 2 or 4 hrs free. There is a maximum stay of 4 hours though. It does say customers only.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01low/
I don't think they ticket cars for overstaying the 2 hours in my local Tesco, from what I have seen in the press they get a fine which arrives in the post.
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It's why many hospitals charge for parking, as many of them are within walking distance of a town, or on a bus route from hospital to town, it was found that people were parking for free at the hospital and then either walking or getting a cheap bus into towns.
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Not a proposal, comes into effect in April
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/changes-to-car-parking-at-the-national-archives-site-kew/
I've been to Kew many times and there have never been car-park issues.
But I don't go at weekeds which might be when the problem occurs or because of the new housing being built/already built at the side of the archives.
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£7 for travel? If only! Don't forget that not everyone lives in the local area.
If I wanted to visit tomorrow, I could leave on the 06:11 train and get there just before 10:30. I would return to my local main line station (10 miles from home) about 21:30.
All for only £226.50, including parking at this end.
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More than likely ;D First 4 hours in there then move your car to TNA car park.
Personally 4 hours at TNA is more than enough for me :D
The on-street CPZ operates 10am to noon, after that the parking is unrestricted in most bays. So arrive (or move your car on-street) at noon and you can park for the rest of the day for free.
I've always used public transport though. Although the TNA car park is free if there are no spaces left there isn't much alternative apart from the retail park or waiting till noon.
If you avoid zone 1 and pay contactless (or by Oyster) then the fare is probably cheaper than the petrol used to drive there, let alone park if the £7 is introduced.
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£7 for travel? If only! Don't forget that not everyone lives in the local area.
If I wanted to visit tomorrow, I could leave on the 06:11 train and get there just before 10:30. I would return to my local main line station (10 miles from home) about 21:30.
All for only £226.50, including parking at this end.
Or a compromise train, leaving manchester at 9am, returning on the 7pm from london would set you back 50 quid.(for that section of the journey, advance booking)
You quoted a full price ticket, like most things, you can take action to mitigate the total cost.
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£7 for travel? If only! Don't forget that not everyone lives in the local area.
We were really just comparing the price of car parking to local public transport. In the London area we are encouraged not to use our cars for local travel. ;)
As I mentioned earlier the charges TNA intend making are about the same as local authority car parks in the area. Richmond also has areas where they have 'residents parking' A lot of the streets surrounding TNA have housing with no car parking other than on the street outside their houses.
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Or a compromise train, leaving manchester at 9am, returning on the 7pm from london would set you back 50 quid.(for that section of the journey, advance booking)
You quoted a full price ticket, like most things, you can take action to mitigate the total cost.
But leaving after 9:30 to get the cheaper fare only gets you to Kew around 1pm. That only leaves 3 hours before document ordering closes. Does 8 hours of travel for 3 hours of research sound good? And it still costs a hundred quid for the round trip. "Advance Booking" a month in advance gets all of a tenner off the fare.
Paying for parking at TNA seems an attractive proposition.
It is always a major expedition visiting TNA. My favourite method so far is to visit between Christmas and New Year. Hotels give huge discounts then. Drive down early morning. Full day researching. Room for the night, then back to TNA for opening time. I've usually completed my tick list by 2pm on day 2, but there's always something else to find there. Of course rail travel in that period is impossible, as there is always an extra five hours of "replacement bus service" in each direction.
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You can get cheaper fares using a Senior Railcard?
I also found 1st Class Singles, Manchester to Kew Gardens, for £41.60. £83 return! ;D
For myself, I can get a Sail-Rail ticket from Isle of Man to Kew for £86.50 return, using my Senior Railcard!
However, that would take me all day to travel; so I would need at least 1 night in hotel; possibly 2!
(1 night if I intended to get the 02:15 sailing from Heysham :o)