The Park and Ride Bus Lane - Did PCC simulate it?

Portsmouth City Council has just announced that "Controversial" Portsmouth bus lane will be scrapped

From the News

What strikes me about this is that there is Simulation software available that can to a degree predict the effect of changes to the roads. You can learn about it on this Wikipedia Traffic simulation article
It uses some complex mathematics and is not the kind of software you are likely to find on your phone or pc,and it is expensive. I fiist came across Discrete event simulation back in the 80's when I was involved in the design of manufacturing processes such as Soups and Automated Guided Vehicles
But if it can help with making road layout decisions rationally then I think it should be used, or at least investigated.
So did PCC use such software when they originally designed the Park and Ride or have they used it in the process of making the recent decision?
And if they did not, did they at least try it?

Another point
How will they determine whether the change makes things better or worse?
It is not straightforward, for example how do you measure this?
Intuitively, it will probably make things worse for the users of the Park and  Ride and marginally better for drivers coming into the city at peak times.
So what Metrics has PCC to answer this?

Portsmouth Parking Zones and "Free" Permits

Much has been made of the issue of charging residents who live in a Permit Zone for their first parking permit.
So far they have been "Free"
But what do we mean here by Free?
First even those who have these permits are still having to pay for additional passes, and scratchcards for their guests and any traders that need to spend more than two hours at their residences. 
Secondly the fact that these residents agreed to be in a parking zone  (yes we voted for it) actually enabled the council to make money from their streets.
Thirdly the council receives a not inconsiderable sum from fines:
In 2011 they made £1,184,884, yep well over a million quid a year! (Note, the statistics do not seem to be being kept up to date)
However, they are not allowed to use that money in place of general taxation and that includes fines for those times when they are late renewing their 'free' permits.
The £40 proposed charge is of course a substitute for raising council taxes but let's face it council taxes have been frozen for so long that there must come a point when they should go up. Just compare your council taxes with all your other expenses - or even the TV License over the last decade.

Finally I received 2 letters, one for each ticket, granting my appeal.
Great, but I do wonder why it was not granted in the first place.

The appeal process goes on

The appeal process goes on



I have also heard from a councillor explaining why they cannot get involved

"As an elected member I am able to take matters up with council officers on their behalf, albeit with a very few exceptions. One of the exceptions unfortunately is the issue of Penalty Charge Notices issued by the council. The Traffic Management Act  makes clear in section 11.21 that elected members may not under any circumstances play a part in the challenges or representations that people make to the council. We can only get involved in formulating policy regarding how residents parking zones work, and how they are enforced and I will certainly pass on your thoughts to the cabinet member for Traffic and Transport."

I have also had some support from the ParkingChampions people, who said

However, I am surprised that you did not win the appeal. I would hope in these situations to see common sense prevail. As long as you can prove that your normal car was under repair and the loan car was provided as a temporary replacement, then it is illogical to punish a city resident simply for not understanding the proper process - you live in the zone, you have a permit for your normal car and in this specific circumstance, your normal car was different to the one registered with parking.

Thanks, quite right too.

Now we we see if sense prevails

Council now muzzling it's councillors

I have spoken with my local councillors about this, one is sympathetic, the other claims they must be neutral. I fail to see why.
But the worst thing is that I have just heard that the Council's legal eagles have now told them not to get involved.
WHAT ? Since  when can a council shut up it's councillors, least of all over what is a minor, and very local issue.

How much do they make from Parking Fines

You can see the Portsmouth Penalty Charge Notice Statistics online
I did a few calculations
In 2011 they made £1,184,884, yep well over a million quid a year! 
I guess that pays for quite a few Parking Charge Assistants
Pity they don't spend  bit on training them as to what are reasonable grounds for granting an Appeal - actually at this point it is called an Informal Challenge

The Parking Penalty Enforcement Process.

Soon after I emailed the Council parking department I received an email saying that my appeal was rejected. This came from a "Parking Charge Assistant"
Attached to the Email was a file - C0946897 DOC.docx
Now, as it happens I can read docx files, but not everyone can. They should use pdf files and I have advised them of this.
It said

Thank you for your letter recently received. 

On receipt of a Penalty Charge Notice the driver of the vehicle is given a fourteen day period to either pay the reduced rate of the Charge or make an informal appeal, as you have already done with your initial letter.  The appeal is then considered, taking into account all the available information in relation to the contravention and a decision is made.

In this instance, a non-cancellation letter was sent to you on 16 October 2012 in which you were advised that you were able to pay the reduced charge within 14 days of receiving the correspondence or await the Notice to Owner form and make a second appeal.  The Notice to Owner will be sent after the Parking Office has received confirmation of the registered keeper of the vehicle from the DVLA and will be issued after a twenty-eight day period from the issue of the Penalty Charge Notice.

The Notice to Owner form allows you to make a formal appeal, which is then reviewed by another member of the Parking Office staff.  If the appeal is accepted the Penalty Charge Notice will be cancelled and a letter sent to the keeper of the vehicle.  If the appeal is rejected a Notice of Rejection will be sent.  A Notice of Appeal form will be included with this letter in order for you to make an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, who are independent adjudicators.  The adjudicator has the final decision on the case. 

 As such, I have noted your comments but am unable to take them into consideration at this time and have added your letter to the case file.

Yours sincerely

I immediately replied

"There really is no need for any DVLA checks as the facts are not in question

Why waste money on a futile exercise?"

 

Now, quite why they need to send a notice to the owner of the Loan car I have no idea (it's the RULE) since they know that the owner was not using the car as I was.
But investigating this it seems to be required by the The Parking Penalty Enforcement Process.
Here it is, a copy came with each of the two penalty rejections

I suggest that since it involves the DVLA and the prvious owner when there is no reason to it is actually unfit for purpose.
Or maybe Portsmouth Parking department are wrong to rely on it.