Cycling to Subsidise Car Drivers

[flat tyre]

When I pay for my shopping in my local town centre Waitrose supermarket they ask me if I have a car parking ticket, this is because if you have, you get 50p back off your shopping. I presume this means that by shopping there I am indirectly subsidising car drivers. My only alternative is Tescos which also offers the same deal, different car park. If we need to encourage people to exercise, cut down carbon emissions etc shouldn’t the cyclist/pedestrian shopper be given the 50p rather than the motorist?

[vorsprung]

If you have a car then you can buy more stuff from the supermarket

Supermarkets like cars, cars like supermarkets

[essexman]

mmm thats a fair point!

[psmiffy]

When I pay for my shopping in my local town centre Waitrose supermarket they ask me if I have a car parking ticket, this is because if you have, you get 50p back off your shopping. I presume this means that by shopping there I am indirectly subsidising car drivers. My only alternative is Tescos which also offers the same deal, different car park. If we need to encourage people to exercise, cut down carbon emissions etc shouldn’t the cyclist/pedestrian shopper be given the 50p rather than the motorist?

If it is the same as my local Morrisons was then the car parking was operated and the parking fees collected by the Council - I always assumed that the Supermarket took the hit on the parking - after all it is much less than the deals you get day to day on instant coffee -but I like the idea that you should be paid for shopping by bike

[mw3230]

Those who cycle to the shops are better off as they haven't had to buy petrol/diesel for the trip and they also have the satisfaction of knowing that the journey has provided health benefits. Therefore, even if the car driver does have a 50p subsidy, the cyclist still comes out on top

Also it's likely that the cyclist having less load carrying capacity will resist the impulse buys which seem to be an inevitable part of supermarket shopping, and which are not usually the bargains they first appear to be!

[irc]

But is the 50p a refund for a parking charge that cyclists don't pay. The idea being to discourage non shoppers from using the car park.

[meic]

I wonder how the free parking compares in subsidy rates per customer in comparison to the free bus that they run.
I suppose that if as cyclists we raised a fuss about the issue, they could charge us 50p to park too and reimburse it when we pay at the kiosk.

I dont drive a car much, in fact I have one weekly drive, where I take my son to Scouts and then spend that time shopping at the supermarket with my daughter, rather than doing another 18 miles home and back.
I keep getting information on "how to reduce your car mileage", I wonder if you can do better than one drive a week which combines the weekly shopping, recycling and two children's entertainment.

Of course I know I can do better than that but my wife wont let me get rid of the car.
Also I get hassle for letting my son WALK to Scouts in the day, imagine if I asked him to cycle at night!
Buses? What buses?

The point of that long drawn out post is that filling the car with the family's week's shopping is about the only justification for using a car I find. I do another weekly shop by bike where I fill two panniers and some more stuff behind the girl in the trailer.

[kwackers]

I suppose that if as cyclists we raised a fuss about the issue, they could charge us 50p to park too and reimburse it when we pay at the kiosk.

I've got one of those new fangled lightweight bikes. One *could* lift it over the barrier...

Course, if you're a tricycle owner...

[Fatou]

It could be that car drivers are subsidising small volume buyers.

My premise is...

A large shop, part of a huge chain able to supply goods at a low price because people buy £100 worth of shopping in a single purchase. The customer is able to buy a large volume because they have the means to transport it and are attracted to the shop because it carries all the the lines they want at a price their willing to pay. Whilst there they can fill their cars with fuel & their bellies with a cheese burger from McBurger and get their motor washed in a big machine. This is Milton Keynes anyhow.

A cyclist can take the benefit of the prices in the shop though not the bulk purchases, unless they have one of those cargo bikes or trailers.

I don't believe people will make a choice to cycle to the shop if they have out-laid for a motor & the associated costs.

[Cunobelin]

But is the 50p a refund for a parking charge that cyclists don't pay. The idea being to discourage non shoppers from using the car park.

That was my thought as well.

Some towns do it as well, I have been in several places where "Member" shops will give a discount. One town we stopped at we managed to recover all the parking costs!

[Cunobelin]

I suppose that if as cyclists we raised a fuss about the issue, they could charge us 50p to park too and reimburse it when we pay at the kiosk.

I've got one of those new fangled lightweight bikes. One *could* lift it over the barrier...

Course, if you're a tricycle owner...

Recumbent tricycles just go underneath!

[jan19]

It could just be to dissuade people from using the car park without using the supermarket.

My local Sainsbury's has a car park which is also used by people using the local hospital. The hospital has a car park too, but its more expensive to use so lots of people use the supermarket one, particularly as its free to park after 6pm which is when most visitors go. Sainsbury's charge a flat rate £2 to park, for up to two hours which they will refund if you spend £5 in the shop. Being Devil's Advocate here I can see their point - if shoppers found it impossible to park because the car park was always full of people going to the hospital (which is a large one) they'd soon take their trade elsewhere.

Of course the NHS Trust owning the hospital car park could talk to Sainsbury's about a standard charge but I wouldn't trust that particular NHS Trust to organise anything....

Sainsbury's do provide a fair number of bike stands right by the store entrance so I don't think they are trying to discourage cyclists.

Jan

[drsquirrel]

It could just be to dissuade people from using the car park without using the supermarket.

My local Sainsbury's has a car park which is also used by people using the local hospital. The hospital has a car park too, but its more expensive to use so lots of people use the supermarket one, particularly as its free to park after 6pm which is when most visitors go. Sainsbury's charge a flat rate £2 to park, for up to two hours which they will refund if you spend £5 in the shop. Being Devil's Advocate here I can see their point - if shoppers found it impossible to park because the car park was always full of people going to the hospital (which is a large one) they'd soon take their trade elsewhere.

Of course the NHS Trust owning the hospital car park could talk to Sainsbury's about a standard charge but I wouldn't trust that particular NHS Trust to organise anything....

Sainsbury's do provide a fair number of bike stands right by the store entrance so I don't think they are trying to discourage cyclists.

Jan

We have the same position too, hospital too expensive, everyone parks across the road.
But, they have a maximum stay, which imo is good enough for shopping but not for hospital visits.
I just park in the £1/day car park and walk the half a mile across town (even when my wife gave birth! obviously not when I first took her in, that was free :p). People are just too idle.
What is even more stupid, the Hospital charges so high because people use it to go shopping, but the £1/day parking is pretty much the same distance into the city.

If the supermarket was closed after 6pm, I wouldn't see the problem with parking there really, it's not affecting their customers (although they probably open later).

So long as bike stands are free to use, the 50 discount to parking is just to encourage use for the supermarket and if they weren't giving a discount the parking price would probably be higher anyway.

[moultoneer]

My local Waitrose has a council-owned car park,and Waitrose refund the fee at the checkout on production of the ticket provided you spend at least £10. But if you use their quickscan system (scan your own items as you you take them, with a bar code reader), the automated quickscan checkout automatically refunds the maximum car park fee of £1. So if you go by foot, bike or public transport, you make a quid.

[nigel_s]

"...recent studies from Bern, Switzerland, show that parking space devoted to bikes generates more business than an equal amount of space devoted to cars. A study in Munster, Germany, found that cyclists buy fewer goods on each trip but spend more overall in the course of a greater number of trips."

Quoted from: http://bit.ly/9FNStw

Things are not necessarily what they seem?