Park and ride
Parking and Travel (colloquial English: park = " park" ride = "drive" ) or short: P R, P & R, P R or P & R, refers to a principle of traffic planning, in the near stops public transport (LPT ) parking facilities for cars, motorcycles and buses in some cases, be made available. Especially working people at all are given the opportunity to park their car on the outskirts and to reach by public transport in the city without traffic jams and parking problems. In addition, P R helps overcome traffic problems at major events such as football league games, rock concerts and festivals downtown.
A similar goal has bike and ride, provision of bicycle racks or boxes at bus stops. At major stations there is covered parking facilities and bicycle parking garages. However, the park offered long-distance transport and rail has a different objective and is not comparable.
Constructional plant
The P R facility differs structurally from the usual park facilities Parking Deck ( car park or underground garage ), car park or garage. The main distinguishing feature is the proximity to the stop of the public transport, usually with specific, possibly signposted, access routes. Popular is the arrangement of a parking garage on the side facing away from the reception building side of the tracks belonging to a through station, so that the transfer or the cross tunnel leads directly to the parking facility.
Characters 362 and 316
The character was introduced in the Federal Republic of Germany during the second half of 1972 as a symbol for parking and travel. The trigger for its regulation were traffic problems that had arisen during the 1972 Munich Olympics. In fact, it had already given a detailed recommendation on the establishment of the sign by the Federal Minister of Transport on 23 November 1971.
The literature in the GDR repeatedly rumored allegation that the P R signs had been introduced in West Germany under the Anglo-American designation park and ride is wrong and apparently due to propagandistic reasons.
The P R - sense picture was taken at the time as a sign 362 in the catalog of the Highway Code. The Highway Code Designing amendment of 1992, the character was given the number 316 in 2009 and finally in 2013 was with the new version of the Highway Code the sign for parking and travel from Regulation deleted.
Transport policy objectives
A political goal of P R is to reduce vehicle traffic in urban areas and to increase the share of public transport at rush hour. The construction and operation of P & R facilities is mostly funded by taxpayers' money. In Germany, the construction of P R facilities is funded by the Municipal Transport Financing Act.
P R is politically controversial. In addition to the investment and maintenance costs of parking spaces is criticism that P R facilities, especially those in the suburbs, encourage urban sprawl, as they represent an attractive proposition for commuters from regions with few developed public transport. It is believed that the departure from the centers more attractive and thereby made the investment of P R facilities is therefore urban and traffic planning counterproductive. However, playing a lot of factors for the " urban flight " a role, and so can also be argued that without P R offers the already existing car would be used for direct directions to the city center.
In particular, by small P R facilities a little relevant increase in demand for public transport is achieved: in the rush hour is a car with an average of less than 1.5 persons occupied ( at P R occupation rate is usually even lower ), so that P R facility with 200 parking spaces than 300 passengers can bring to the train. Already a small S-Bahn station, however, easily reached daily Zusteigerzahlen in the four digit range. P R is thus inherently a niche service and thus spatial planning without greater impact. On the other hand can, especially for larger systems the lost to P R passengers for thinning or even cessation of shuttle (bus) lines and thus lead to a deterioration of public transport in the area.
An example: When removing the S- Bahn Rhein - Main to Rodgau 1059 car parking spaces were created in the new park-and- ride facilities. However, the passenger earnings by expanding amounted to over 13,000 daily (February 2005). At full capacity the plant so only use about 12 % of passengers P R.