Worlaby, Brigg: As a rock-climber who has been a visitor to Llanberis for the last 20 years I am whole-heartedly behind the campaign to stop the Park & Ride scheme. I have read many of the submissions and they speak eloquently of the problems which have not been addressed, furthermore I feel that some of these problems cannot be solved economically. In this day and age no-one in authority will sanction a bus service to run all day and all night to/from all points, just on the off-chance that a climber, walker, biker or canoeist may be waiting - it would be a huge cost, yet I believe that to persuade us to rely upon it, for trust it we must if the scheme is to work, and of course there is a negative environmental impact in terms of all the unnecessary journeys taken by heavily polluting buses. Let the climber/walker/outdoor user take their car, improve the available parking and maybe if you need it operate a sightseers bus on busy days.

Sandbach, Chesire: I have been a regular visitor to Snowdonia for more than 30 years and never tire of visiting such a beautiful area. I am a member of the Chester MC. I regularly visit the area for general mountaineering activities and rock climbing and although sometimes it isn't always possible to park exactly where I would like, there is usually a spot to be found not far away. This is what's known as freedom of choice.........something these city bureaucrats seem determined to take away from us. For many years the only real parking bottleneck has been in the area of Pen-Y-Pass and most of that has been caused by the so called improvements to the Miner's Track which now resembles something akin to the M6. "Improvements" to the path should have been made in conjunction with improved parking facilities, unfortunately they were not hence the increased parking problems in that vicinity.
Considering the number of people who walk or climb in the area on say a reasonable summer's day, how many buses would it take to move everybody to where they want to start their walk or climb, if indeed they are "allowed" to go where they want to go. Would the buses only stop at designated places or would it be stop on request? Many of the footpaths in the area start at remote spots or are dotted along a main road, would the bus stop at these or would you be forced to get off the bus at a pre-defined spot? If the latter is the case, some choice! Let's say a couple of mini-buses full of schoolchildren arrive at one of the proposed "park and ride" places and there are enough of them to fill one of the transit buses so that some of the children are left behind....plus all the other people who are waiting as well, how would the Green Key proposal deal with situations like this or are they planning to have "double-deckers" operating on the routes?
Also imagine descending from an exhilarating day out on one of the paths which ends between Pen-Y-Pass and Beddgelert (which many do) would you be able to request a bus to stop or would you have to walk to the nearest stop? What if the bus was full, how long would you have to wait for the next one.....which may also be full?
All this proposal will do is force people to visit other arrears of the UK on a more regular basis which would boost the economies of those areas rather than Snowdonia. None of the local people or shopkeepers in Snowdonia that I have spoken to have a good word to say for these proposals. It seems to be a proposal to alleviate a problem that doesn't exist. It is a clear case of erosion of choice.

Hatley St George, Sandy: I visit Snowdonia several times a year and have never felt that traffic was particularly bad. I feel the Green Key scheme is unnecessary and has not been thought through properly. For just one example, would people staying in the area but wanting to start a walk from a point some distance from their accommodation have to drive out of the Park to the nearest 'gateway'. This would severely delay start times and effectively restrict one to the region within walking distance of one's temporary home. In addition, small shops and pubs could not survive without custom brought in by passing traffic. No one is going to take the bus to a pub.
I could fill pages with objections but hope that sense will prevail. Many people like my family would just give up Snowdonia altogether, we wouldn't be able to park by our cottage anyway. Is that what is wanted - keep Wales for the Welsh and keep the English out?

Selsdo, Surrey: Park and ride may be OK as long as it is not compulsory. So it could be an additional feature in the provision of access to Snowdonia. It is unlikely to be used by mountaineers unless 
A) Car parking is patrolled by competent security staff & 
B) The buses run a 24-hour service!

Banbury, Oxon: A daft idea - I'll go to the Lakes or Peak District instead

Wrexham: Have people forgotten the devastating effect of foot and mouth, do they seek by manipulating tourists to create a similar long term situation.
I wonder if these same people would appreciate being treated in this manner on their holidays, tourism is the lifeblood of the region and to dictate travel and flexibility to holidaymakers and walkers/climbers, will drive them away in large numbers to less restrictive areas of the country.

Shrewsbury: I am someone who uses the Snowdonia area every other weekend and have done so for some 4 years. I live 1 1/2 hours away by car and it is an easy drive enabling me to have an early start (7 am) and to be off the mountain by about 3 pm. That suits my style of mountain use. This scheme would provide me with additional cost and add greatly to the time spend in the Snowdonia area. Unfortunately that additional time would be spend on the bus. It takes me some 2 1/2 hours to get up to Cumbria and I have a larger degree of scope in terms of the mountains available. If travelling to North Wales becomes an inconvenience, particularly with the aim of simply lining someone else's pockets, then I won't be visiting. I could undoubtedly make that same claim for those I walk with, a group of about 6 people. This is an idea devised by someone sadly lacking in commonsense. Whilst it may benefit those visiting Betwys-Coed and under larger towns it will have a devastating effect on such places as Capel Curig. The tourists are not the ones who support the local economy, it is the walker, climbers, canoeists and all the other mountain users who visit every day and month of the year. Any organisation who seeks to question this move towards sanitising a park that belongs to us all, then I wholeheartedly support. Please keep up your opposition.

Llanbedrog, Pwllheli: Area of sensitive parking could be increased, but adequate public transport is necessary, encouraging some to abandon their cars. Not everyone is happy driving to Pen y Pass from either direction for instance.

Wirral, Cheshire: I am a mountaineer and often come down off the mountain late at night when all buses have stopped. In winter we are on the mountain long before dawn so as to reach a climb by daylight. I.e. long before buses start for the day. If this goes ahead climbers will just go to the LAKES instead of to Wales !!!

Datchet, Windsor: As a visitor from near London, I have to arrive in North Wales by car. As a mountain walker, I often walk less popular walks which do not necessarily start from the most popular tourist centres. Will the sherpa buses visit all these quiet spots every 20 minutes? I think not. It appears that this scheme is designed to force hill walkers to travel to the Lake District instead. A simpler and less bureaucratic way to discourage visitors would be a surcharge of say 20p a litre on all non Welsh registered cars. This would get the message across that visitors are not welcome and raise money at the same time.

Halam, Newark: The proposed scheme is clearly unworkable and greatly to the detriment of local people and walkers alike.

Bangor, Gwynedd: I represent the Bangor university canoe club which has over fifty members who regularly use the Snowdonia national park for both canoeing as well as climbing and walking and everyone unanimously agrees that a park and ride scheme would be unworkable. In order to transport canoes to and from the river it is essential to be able to park by the side of the road. Are the buses on the park and ride scheme to be fitted with roof racks to enable canoeists to use them. It is also important for safety that we are able to park cars near the site of our activity. Dry clothes are left in vehicles so that people can get changed afterwards which in the which in the winter can make the difference between getting hypothermia or not. I also don't believe that either the bus companies or the other uses of a park and ride scheme would be to happy about a number of wet canoeist getting onto a bus in order to get to there cars. I have never noticed a particularly bad congestion problem within the park so am unsure for the reason for this venture. We always try to park as considerately as possible often only leaving one vehicle at the top or bottom of the river if parking is limited and leaving other vehicles elsewhere. The freedom to choose where to go is vital for our sport. The rivers change rapidly with the weather and often you will drive out planning to do one river and end up going to another, this would be very difficult with a bus system. I can't see anyway in which canoeists would be able to operate within the proposed green key system, possibly more so than canoeists and walkers due to the large amounts of bulky kit and need for dry clothes at the end of the river. I definitely think there should be an improved public transport system within the park but this is defiantly not it as it gives people very little freedom. A number of people have commented about how this scheme would cause people to go elsewhere to do there activities for students living in Bangor on a limited budget travelling further a field would be difficult. The universities closeness to Snowdonia and some of the best canoeing in the country was certainly the main reason for coming to this university as did a large number of friends , if that access is limited as it will be by this proposal then a number of people would chose to go to other university. This would mean less money coming into the local area

Swanage, Dorset: An inappropriate and unsatisfactory proposal which seems unlikely to benefit most leisure users of the National Park or many of the small businesses within it which depend on us.

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