Observation 6 :  Inconveniences inflicted on visitors by Park & Ride Service

As I drove my passengers down the valley I wondered how many people were still on the mountain, possibly inadequately clad, and whether they would also have to wait for a none existent bus before starting the long walk back to their cars ?. The temperature was low enough for a wet tired person to quickly succumb to hypothermia.

This was just the occurrence I had anticipated when I first heard of the Park & Ride scheme. Later I was told that the bus drivers had refused to work after 5.30pm on Sundays. I hasten to add that I have no way of knowing whether this was true or not.

In my 51 year of walking and climbing in the hills of the U.K. I have experienced many times such changes in weather, and have joined in the general rush to get down off the mountain as quickly and safely as possible. This can happen at any time throughout the year. What an unhappy situation to be in, on getting off the mountain, to find oneself having to wait shivering in a bus queue and perhaps be unable to get on the first or even second bus, because of the crowds of other people. Or even worse, there being no bus at all. Ones car meanwhile being safely parked five to ten miles away.

It needs to be acknowledged that when one starts a walk from ones car, the length and route is dictated by the necessity of having to return to it. At least one can rely on the car being there. To be made dependent on a bus that might or might not be there is, in my opinion, an imposition of the worst kind, an infringement of our right to enjoy, in as safe a way as is possible, the very freedom that most people look for when coming to the hills, and where unnecessary dangers are minimised by thoughtful intelligent planning.

Where will the base be, where an organiser is on permanent duty, to cope with the inevitable emergencies that will arise when walkers and climbers are having to conform to restrictions imposed by a Park & Ride Service ?

Many times I have witnessed or heard about minor accidents that have occurred in the hills. The injured person has with the help of friends been able to get down to the road, their parked car, and be driven to the local hospital or home. Fortunately no hanging about necessary, waiting for buses. Who will be responsible for getting information to the organiser?

Where will the replacement or extra buses and their drivers be when they are needed because of the situation that has unexpectedly arisen ? I can see no way of providing such cover without vast expense.

The Website had indicated that there was a bus at 8.10 am from Llanberis... no bus had arrived. Customer eventually hitched a ride to Pen y Pas. He sought accurate information there and was given two conflicting times for the bus he had hoped to catch, both conflicting with information given in Llanberis He went up to Crib Goch and while on the ridge was contacted on his mobile phone and told that his daughter was ill .He returned to Pen y Pass. No bus for an hour so he had again to hitch down to his car in Llanberis car park. Did he like the new system ?. Most definitely not.

While Park & Ride scheme is in force the old or infirm or people with walking disabilities are deprived of the opportunity to park in laybys for a picnic or sit and enjoy the view.

While Park & Ride scheme is in force Photographers and painters are unable to take advantage of a view that unexpectedly looks particularly fine because they cannot park their car

Climbers carry a lot of equipment these days. Choice is usually left to the last possible minute when there is the possibility of seeing the condition of the route, or at least making a last minute appraisal of weather conditions ( frequently quite different from those prevailing five miles away in the nearest Park & Ride Car park..} With Park & Ride the choice has to be made in the car park. If the wrong choice has been made regarding either equipment or clothing, what a temptation to continue in spite of ones better judgement, and consequently end up in difficulty. How much easier to run back down to the car to get the necessary equipment or clothing. Not something one would readily do if a bus journey was necessary.

The threat of having to pay fares twice if one hops off the bus to do some shopping has to be another deterrent. Of course free buses would sort out this problem, but who would then finance the whole service including insurance cover, when inevitably some individual, who has been inconvenienced to the point of damage to health, decides to sue the bus company for compensation?

I see nothing wrong with a Park & Ride system that runs alongside the normal parking facilities If the system proves to be extremely good no doubt some people will find it the most convenient means of getting into the hills, particularly late starters. A vast number will always find it a tremendous inconvenience that totally restricts their use of the day.

I ask myself Who are the people so inconvenienced or offended by linear parking? Not the residents of Bangor or Caernarfon. If they are climbers or walkers, they will be some of the earliest parkers others are neither interested nor concerned, they are busy doing other things in other places. Not the climbers or walkers who park. They have found their way to their chosen spot, and within minutes have their backs to the road an their way up to their chosen mountain

The sight of a road with or without traffic detracts from the beauty of any situation. Whether the traffic is hurtling along or lined up on either side makes little difference, I'm inclined to think the latter has the benefit of being silent. Linear parking presents no problem to passing traffic and only exists for a comparatively few hours every year. Can this possibly justify the vast expense of running a bus service from say 7.30 am until 10.30 pm, at regular and frequent intervals throughout the day and year supported by an administrative staff? I think not. Early morning and late afternoon the buses would be overfull. Other times they would be running threequarters empty.

The reduction of pollution and global warming is held up as a goal for reducing traffic in the Park . surely the amount of pollution from cars in Snowdonia is minuscule in comparison to the amount produced by cars prior to reaching Wales this must be specially so if most of the cars are actually stationary when they are here.

The only inconvenience I experience as a long term resident of Llanberis re traffic congestion is having to allow longer to drive between our Llanberis and Capel shops during holiday periods and making sure that I don't leave Llanberis just after 2 pm If I do I'm destined to be trapped behind a convoy of coaches leaving the Victoria Hotel which proceed up the pass at about ten miles an hour, the drivers pointing out all the features of interest on route to Capel, These coaches are impossible to overtake and I have to allow three times as long for the journey, a small price to pay for living in such a beautiful part of the world.

The answer to the traffic 'problem' {and I put the word in italics} I suggest is more and better parking facilities. This does not need to be in the form of football field size tarmac parks that would definitely be an eyesore. Car parks could be small, frequent and hidden by trees. Silver birch trees grow like weeds in this area if protected from grazing animals. Conifers could be planted to give all year cover but in the winter when the birch have lost their leaves there would be few cars there to hide. Advantage could be taken of hidden places, already screened by trees., and there are already some. An example of this is the car park behind Capel Curig. This is completely hidden from the road

Spring Bank Holiday I drove around to see how things looked generally. Surprisingly the most depressing sight was the number of grey empty car parks No sign of life. Certainly not picturesque and serving no useful purpose Park and Ride systems are perfect for helping people to get to a focal point in city centres. In an area such as Snowdonia with scattered centres of interest I can see them do nothing but cause so many problems for visitors and locals alike that they will discourage visitors and certainly make businesses in the area much less profitable even in the very short season that we have and reduce the numbers of people who can be employed in this most important industry

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