Arghhhh

I am a car driver

I am a motorcyclist

I am a cyclist

I've done all of the above in London.. and no I haven't knocked off anyone's wing mirrors, juimped lights, killed small animals... but then I may be a miniority.

So it's ok if it doesn't affect you? It's a £1 today, it'll then go up and up just like car parking. Either way it's yet another way to rip road users off. Westminister will then get more Parking Attendents... there'll be more penalties given out both Car and Bike.. more revenue raised.. still less spent on the roads.

Then it will spread to neighbouring councils...

Soon they'll also make cyclists pay for parking. Then make you pay to use council parks...

So maybe a biker should leave the bike at the train station for free, but do you REALLY want more people on your crowded train in the morning? If prices rise to the level of cars, it may make more sense to leave the bike at home and take the car to work, especially in the winter, may as well keep warm. Do you really like the extra congestion?

Pirates - Cos Westminster Council will screw you every which way it can...

@ Kay Burley ate my hamster

That's funny, because I ride a motorbike, and have the same experience of car drivers. I have even had drivers try to force me off the road (Not just once) and block me, so I can't filter. Sour grapes? Double standards? Probably.

Don't forget that bike-riders put their neck on the line (Quite literally), and in city traffic, car drivers don't.

You're missing a point (understandably)

How long will it remain a pound? Notwithstanding that, commuters working in Westminster who are not residents cannot buy a season ticket, and even if you could its for the same bays where you get everyone else jammed up against your bike so it gets damaged almost every time. Its not really helping to encourage use of PTW's which help reduce congestion.

The real killer is that the transaction may only be done using a mobile telephone and a credit card. Pre-loaded debit cards are not accepted (due to pricing minimums). Sample transactions have taken over twenty minutes. You cannot pay cash, you cannot use a physical ticket from a dispensing machine that a car may use, you cannot even use the council's own parking vouchers! Micropayment heaven this most certainly is not.

So if your battery runs out on the mobile, or you're a bit maxed out on the card and want to use legal tender (cash), or even if the network is busy/down (or you can't get a signal, mind you if you have an iPhone 4 then it may not be the networks fault) then you cannot pay to park and you get a ticket. Personally given that this council have said they want to extend all chargeable parking to midnight, I'm not too happy having to stand in the street in the dark and/or rain, holding my credit card in one hand and my phone in the other and having to read the numbers into it for all and sundry to hear. I doubt my bank would recompense me for any misuse of the numbers if someone overheard it. Its a bit socially exclusive for non-cc holders or people who are hard of hearing etc.

Councils only need to put up a relatively cheap sign at any location and, presto, instant charges as the infrastructure is all virtual. Once they've done it to the bikes, then they'll remove all the physical (and costly) ticket machines and use the same system for cars and then other users will have some of the difficulties mentioned above. The contractor has set up a national system and invited every council to join it, a slight breach of tendering rules which the EU (that model of probity) is investigating separately.