Another solution that Chester City Council has proposed is congestion charges. This is where the council charge people to take their cars into the city centre. This is an excellent solution for the government because they gain money from the cars that choose to enter the City Centre and they reduce pollution from the cars that do not enter. However, the public may not be of the same opinion as the government. This is because that as well as road tax and petrol, they will have to pay the additional congestion charges. In my opinion, this would be an unsatisfactory solution for the government. Even though they gain a great deal from it and not a lot of road closures or public inconvenience is caused, the public may not feel that it is fair to charge them high road tax, high petrol prices and then congestion charges on top. In addition, such a solution is expensive to set up and all entry points into Chester would have to have staffed toll-booths plus alternatives for those that do not want to pay to enter.
An additional solution that has been considered is introducing a park and ride system from major sites around Chester. The advantages to this resolution are that you reduce the number of vehicles in the city centre, which is the main objective of reducing congestion, but also the government gain money from bus fares. Moreover, no public inconvenience is caused whilst introducing this system. Nevertheless, members of the public may feel that this is not a sensible way to travel because of time delays and/or uncomfortable journeys with shopping, so they would not primarily use this method of entering Chester. Personally, I feel that this is not a wise solution to the problem on its own but maybe introducing congestion charges to all vehicles except park and ride buses would prompt people to think about using the buses instead of being charged to use their car.
A total ban on cars entering Chester and increasing petestrianised areas is another solution that also needs to be considered. The advantages to this solution is that it would definitely reduce congestion and as a consequence, pollution. In addition, this solution would make shopping a great deal safer as busy shoppers would not have to worry about traffic. On the other hand, it may cause severe public unrest because they lose the convenience of driving their own car into the Centre of Chester. This resolution would by coincidence cause problems over deliveries and shops would have to be designated specific times when the pedestrian barriers would be lowered. I feel that this solution is possibly one of the best that has been suggested so far, however the advantage and public inconvenience would have to be considered.
Another proposed solution is to introduce Trams into the City. Introducing this system into Chester would be a very extensive job. This is a widely debated choice and is yet undecided. The advantages to this solution are that over a long period, government would begin to gain money as well as reduce traffic and provide an effective alternative for shoppers. In addition, it would reduce congestion greatly. As well as this, Trams can carry a great deal of people at once. However, introducing Light Rail Transits would require a great deal of government time, money and effort. Additionally, many road closures will have to be imposed which could cause inconvenience to the public and land would have to be bought to provide the additional space needed. Overall, considering all aspects of this option, I feel that the public inconvenience and money spent would not be put to full use. This is possibly the least likely solution as initially this would be very expensive with no guarantee that it will be used.
A further solution suggested is increasing the number of bus lanes. This would cause a faster flow of public transport through the city and would be able to carry many people. However, because of this, car lanes would be reduced and possibly cause more congestion than there currently is, which is the opposite of what the Council is trying to achieve. In addition, the public may oppose to this suggestion and the cost of bus fares would have to be considered. In my opinion, this is not the most sensible choice out of the suggestions proposed. It is also not the best use of government money and available road space.
One other proposed suggestion is constructing access roads at the back of future business parks. This would help relieve the main roads of congestion as deliveries could take place away from cars and shoppers. This is a good solution for both government and public as it reduces congestion and ensures deliveries are on time for the shops. However, building the roads would mean that more space would be needed. I feel that this is one of the best solutions so far because it has benefits for both public and government and does not cause any public unrest or inconvenience.
Another solution that has been proposed is to charge for people to park on the roadside. However, although this has a few benefits, such as, government gaining money, it has more disadvantages. For example, installing parking meters would cost a lot of money and government would have to employ wardens to check that the meters were being used correctly. It would also further reduce space for pedestrians. This, I feel, is another inappropriate solution.
The proposed solution to convert most long-stay car parks to song-stay car parks would increase the speed up the flow of shoppers, as they would not be able to leave their car in one place for too long. This proposal would also benefit the government because the more shoppers, the more items get bought so more VAT gets paid. However, this would not benefit commuting workers as they may have to find somewhere else to park their car for the day and this may be miles away. This could also disadvantage businesses because the less time shoppers have to buy, the less they will purchase. This solution could possibly coerce shoppers to shop at out-of-town retail parks where they can shop at their leisure. This could be a good method but the results of imposing this could work either way so this is an unreliable method.
One final solution that has been planned is to computerise the traffic lights in the approach to Chester and in the City Centre. The advantages to doing this are that you would maximise the traffic flow in and around Chester, therefore reducing congestion. In addition, you would be able to manage the flow at peak times, such as rush hours. However, a large disadvantage to using such a method is the cost of introducing such an advance system into the City, I feel that this is an effective but costly solution to the congestion problem.
To conclude, I feel that increasing pedestrianised areas supported by park and ride systems is possibly the best solution to the congestion problem in Chester. This is because it will definitely reduce the congestion in the areas where cars are banned and in consequence, reduce pollution as well. Additionally, constructing access roads at the rear of future business parks would reduce congestion and mean that lorries would be taken off City centre Roads. If I were to choose one of the two solutions, I would propose that increasing the pedestrianised areas linked with park and ride access would prove most cost-effective, manageable and above all, would relieve most congestion without causing too much public inconvenience.
