Help needed - which study do I need?

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  • I'm attending a community forum on Monday and will be arguing against easing parking restriction in a local shopping area.

    Can anyone point to a UK study that supports that making an area more pedestrian/cycle friendly is good for business? I've found some overseas ones but a UK one would carry more weight in an discussion.

  • @PsiMonk might be your man.

    Have you spoken to lcc or cycling UK?

    1. There's not much in UK study, although there's a good quote from Gilligan when he launched the Enfield mini-Holland schemes that he went looking for studies and he couldn't find a single example where reducing traffic, putting in bike lanes etc. caused long-term decline, quite the opposite.
    2. There's loads of US examples. Just do a quick google.
    3. That said, British folks tend to be incredibly hyperlocal about stuff. When the modal filters were going in in Walthamstow, then no evidence from Hackney counted, let alone Groningen, Utrecht, Barcelona etc. Even when I found old filter cells in Walthamstow and Leyton, the cry was still "well, they're the right, good ones" - so older = OK.
    4. Given this, I wouldn't try too hard - anyone determined to hate cycling schemes or in favour of easing parking restrictions won't listen to any studies or data from even the next road over. What is more achievable however is to ask them if they actually have surveyed and carefully identified parking need. Look at the Lea Bridge Road parking survey results on Enjoy Waltham Forest site - they went and asked businesses what proportion of customers arrived by car, then asked customers (massive disparity), but also then went back and checked who was using the parking spaces - it was the business owners, parked up for the day very often.
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Help needed - which study do I need?

Posted by Avatar for The_Seldom_Killer @The_Seldom_Killer

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