Price hikes in Southampton council car parks begin

As reported in the Echo on September 19, the council are set to hike up parking charges in car parks and on street parking bays across Southampton. 

The revised parking tariffs only apply to specific car parks and the city centre inner zone pay-and-display areas, such as Bedford Place, London Road and Commercial Road. 

For on-street and off-street parking, the majority of tariffs will increase by 10p for stays between 30 minutes and five hours.

Parking tariffs for stays exceeding five hours remain unchanged.

Councillor Eammon Keogh, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “The additional car park charges not only help us to manage demand but also provide a vital source of revenue which can be reinvested into improving our transport infrastructure, maintaining roads, bridges, enhancing our public transport systems, our home to school transport service and parks maintenance.”

READ MORE: Council announce parking charge increase across Southampton

The council has said that "residents, shoppers, visitors, families and workers can benefit from cheaper bus travel in and around the city by taking advantage of the £2 national bus fare cap and the local £1 evening bus fare for individual riders".

It also said residents can find alternative to driving by using rental bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters which are all available to find and hire on the Breeze Journey Planner app.

Steven Vallender, 66, drives from Bournemouth to Southampton once a month to go shopping.

When Steven found out that it now was costing £11 to park in some city centre car parks all day, he said: "That’s disgusting – high streets are already at breaking point and now the council are giving people more reason to steer clear of the city.

"Those fees are just too high. With the cost of living people and energy prices through the last couple of years I can’t believe the council would do this."