In message , Roland Perry
writes

In message , at 09:17:09 on Tue,
6 Jul 2010, Paul Terry remarked:

I should think that rather more arrive by car and then use their
passes for a free trip to and from the city centre on the
park-and-ride buses - that's certainly how I use my own Freedom
Pass, the cost and difficulty of parking in central Cambridge all day.

"Freedom pass" means that I must be a resident of a London borough.

Fair enough, but I'm not sure why we are supposed to know that.

Freedom passes are often discussed here (here being uk.transport.london,
after all).

Do you use free buses to do the whole trip, or is the "bit in the
middle" on a train, or even a car?

The answer is in the bit you quoted (viz. car from London to one of the
park-and-ride sites - usually Trumpington - and then bus).

Experience of different P&R round the country says service levels are
pretty patchy, and as a first time visitor to Cambridge it's always
going to be a gamble.

Heaven forbid that they might have to use the Internet to see what
service levels are like before they leave! But you are right in the
sense that early closing times of such car parks can be a gotcha. The
Cambridge scheme is well set-up, with staffed information offices at the
terminals and frequent bus services.

and drivers who ignore the signs often regret it.
You've done a survey which told you that?

No, it's something that I and colleagues have experienced, which is why
I now always use the free park-and-ride. Parking in the centre of
Cambridge is extremely difficult and expensive. I frequently travel
there for examiners' meetings (of which there are hundreds at this time
of year), many of which involve large numbers of the 60+ age group.

If you say so. I'm still unconvinced that this is a major drain on
resources, compared to people living within a 10-mile radius coming to
Cambridge to shop.

Bus-pass journeys starting outside the city of Cambridge are irrelevant,
because they are not paid for by the city council.

All of this has, in fact, been thoroughly discussed in parliament, where
it was agreed that cities which are tourist centres are unfairly treated
by the current grant arrangements - Cambridge, Norwich and Oxford were
mentioned in particular (see Hansard for 26 January 2009).

There really is no doubt that tourism is the main problem - particularly
now that we have an increasingly mobile population over the age of 59
with time (and bus passes) on their hands. AIUI, the grant arrangements
are being reviewed (hence the answer to the original question in this
thread) with a view to making them more equitable.
--
Paul Terry