gzt:

Aredwood: Do the council car parks fill up each day? If so, then a price increase is justified. On the basis of the council earning a good rate of return on their assets.

If not, then the council is just throwing away money. And they should set the charges at a level so the car park will reach 95% full each day.

If they want to encourage public transport usage. They could easily do number plate recognition. Figure out which cars are there most days, look up the addresses of their owners. Use the arrival and departure times to calculate the approximate times the drivers leave home and arrive back at home. This and surveys of people using the car park would be an ideal way of identifying gaps in the public transport network.

I'd say it's at 70-75% most days. My guess is this is about the right average. Rainy days more drivers. Train disruptions more drivers. Special events. Etc.

Aiming for 95% average utilisation implies variable charging or occasional disruption for regular users not finding a park. Increased queing at entry. Increased space searching leading to wait times.

I reckon the Downtown carpark is more than 75% full during the day. If I go home early, the signs outside usually tell me there are only about 100 - 200 spaces - the total capacity is nearly 2000. Even when I get there at about 510PM, there are usually only about 450 spaces empty (and queues to get out).

Having said that - I've just checked online, and there are currently 635 spaces available (out of 1944) so only 67% full.