Station Car Park Surveys

Over many months now some of us will have experienced parking problems at Farnham Station due to the inadequate capacity of the station car park. Anyone intending, for example, to travel mid-week on an off-peak departure to Waterloo, for example the 08.58 onwards, and wishing to leave their car at the station, will run the risk of not being able to find an empty parking bay. Or, they take so long finding a space, they risk missing their train.

It was with these apparent problems in mind that the Society decided to carry out surveys last year so as to establish some hard facts regarding the take-up of parking spaces. Members of the Society's committee volunteered to carry out surveys, Monday to Friday on selected weeks, making sure that we steered clear of school holidays, bank holidays and half-terms.

The first survey was carried out in mid-May. On the Tuesday the car park was full at 9am. On the remaining weekdays there were still spaces left at 1Oam, the majority of which were in the narrower, far end of the car park. Although the week chosen, 16th to 20th May, would have been unaffected by bank holidays or half - term, it was felt afterwards that May was not the best of months to conduct a true test. It was therefore decided to repeat the exercise in October. A similar pattern emerged during the week 1Oth to 14th October. On the Monday and the Friday the number of empty parking bays at 1Oam was 25; these were all, as usual, at the far end. However, on the other days, the number of empty spaces remaining were as follows:

	*At 9am*	*At 9.3Oam*	*At 1Oam*
Tuesday, 11thOctober	12	7	2*
Wednesday, 12th October	20	10*	6*
Thursday, 13th October	9	Full	Full

(*By this time, with the number of cars illegally parked, the car park could be regarded as full.)

We would be interested to hear the views of our members on this subject, especially those of you who have experienced problems yourselves arising from the restricted parking capacity at the station. Please let our Chairman, Gordon Harris, or myself know of your views or experiences. You can either phone us (our numbers are on the front page of this newsletter) or you can drop us a line (our addresses are published in your "Programme for Members" card.)

David Griffiths

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