Economic benefits: Walkers, Cyclists and Parkers

[EDNate]

Hello,

I would like to create this new post rather than add to the lengthy CPZ threads, however this is indeed in relation to the CPZ proposals. I am concerned that incorrect assumptions and statistics may be used to make decisions, and post this purely to create debate.

The CPZ proposal for parking to free up parking spaces seems to partly be based on the conclusion that residents who cycle and walk spend more on the high street, and should therefore be prioritised.

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/walking-cycling-economic-benefits-summary-pack.pdf

There a few assumptions made within this that I take issue with.

1) "Over the course of a month, people who walk to the high street spend up to 40% more" - TFL Study 2013

I have not read the full content of the TFl study, but are we confident about this statistic ? Maybe the people who drive to the high street ("and spend less") would spend considerably more if it was easier to park ? Hence the proliferation within the UK of American style "strip" malls/ shops where large stores are built with large car parks. Convenience prioritization.

2) "People who walk and cycle take more trips to the high street per month" - TFL Study 2014.

I have not read the full content of the TFL study, but how can we be sure that there are not "more" car drivers overall, and therefore that the net contribution to the high street by a larger number of car drivers is higher ? e.g. 3 cyclists spend 20? on average per month, whereas 100 car drivers spend 19? / month ?

I am a 40 minute round trip from the top end of LL, so sometimes park off the high st on a residential road. I am sure those in Forest Hill / West Dulwich visiting LL may do the same. If they cannot park, are we sure this will have a net economic benefit to our high street ?

Are we in danger of inflicting self harm to promote an idealistic vision of our high streets ? Sounds like Brexit to me...

-Nt

[Penguin68]

1) "Over the course of a month, people who walk to the high street spend up to 40% more" - TFL Study 2013

The dependent variable here is the distance walked. It is reasonable to assume that many people will walk short distances to a high street because they live close to it. So they will do their shopping there because it is convenient. People who have to travel to a specific high street by public or private transport may well be 'local' either to other high streets or take public transport or cars to e.g. a mall where there is parking. This statistic may be no better than the obvious - people who live close to a shop are more likely to spend more in it than people who don't. A more valuable statistic for LL would be the overall revenues driven by 'close' customers and by those who have travelled further. If LL shopkeepers and restaurateurs derive most of their revenues and profits from local walk-through trade then that's fine - a CPZ won't impact them. If not...

2) "People who walk and cycle take more trips to the high street per month" - TFL Study 2014.

See above - if you're local that's not surprising. But also - just how much can you carry walking and cycling? maybe you have to make more trips. Equally, maybe living close means that you tend to pop into the shops going to or coming back from work and only buy what you immediately need. Again - it is revenue and profit, not frequency which will be important to shop keepers.

Finally - the study being used is (as far as I can see) a general one on 'high streets' - LL is a very untypical high street (e.g. virtually no chains, high proportion of cafes etc. and specialist artisan shops) - so conclusions drawn from the study simply may not be locally applicable.

[ianr]

The entity used is the "town centre". Page 14 of the 2013 report http://content.tfl.gov.uk/town-centres-report-13.pdf (2.6MB ) lists the universe of such in London, and shows those sampled in 2013. I see Peckham and Camberwell are within the universe. ED isn't, I think understandably. Elephant gets mentioned, but as just a shopping centre.

The only way to answer your questions is to look at the source data. The average spend summary gives a rough idea of the spending pattern by travel mode over time. The report's not short of tables. ;) eg

Table 24: Average spend by mode on day

Table 25: Average spend by mode per visit

Table 26: Average total spend per week by mode

Table 27: Average total spend per month by mode

You can find some data on parking satisfaction too.

One percent of respondents admitted (Fig.49) to carrying a large awkward object.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Admin - have a word. How many threads do we need on the same topic?