h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Our local park & ride charges to park, uses ANPR; I am registered with an online billing system supposed to deduct payments monthly.
This has mostly worked OK but suddenly has stopped auto renewing & has not charged me for a couple of months - doesn't appear to have logged me parking (once a week at most).
This happened once before & I re-activated the bill per usage, but never got billed for the unlogged use.

Do I re-activate to be honest, or enjoy a bit more free parking? I'm keeping all my bus tickets to show when I was there & am perfectly willing to pay if requested.
My hubby thinks I should tell the local council in charge of the car park.

You should probably re-activate.

I had a similar thing with the Dartford Crossing which goes N<->S across and under the Thames. I go Northbound in the morning and Southbound late afternoon/evening every few weeks.

My prepaid "tag" beeps on crossing, which shows it's been recognised. But one day last year the online statement showed I'd done a Southbound journey only, the morning hadn't been recognised. I emailed to explain, adding I didn't want a fine, so I was reporting it had beeped but this wasn't on the statement.

I had a very speedy personal reply reassuring me that they double check the ANPR cameras and promising I wouldn't be fined, which I haven't. But I've still never been charged for the crossing either. But my conscience is clear, I was trying to be honest.

Thanks, my inclination is to be honest, despite begrudging paying to park - it's been a big bone of contention locally!

Its not worth the sleepless nights

It would be doing them a favour to report it, as you are possibly not the only one who's parking free at the moment and they might be losing quite a bit of money. Presumably the parking fees fund the shuttle bus so it is in everyone's interest to ensure that payments go through.

Mind you, councils don't work like that, do they?

You're lucky if they work at all.

Actually the bus service is run by another company, who pay the council to use the car park. Council introduced the parking charge (£1 per 18 hours) - because some people were parking & not getting the bus!! They park & walk or park & cycle.
It's caused no end of annoyance, especially because the ticket machines are so complicated to use. For some people it works out cheaper to drive into the city & park.
So I'm not inclined to point it out to the council, but I have re-activated my account to pay my charge.
We have a big problem with congestion at peak times & the bus gets caught up in it, so not a speedy option. The general feeling of the public is that park& ride should be encouraged, not deterred!

Isn' the solution to that to simply charge a parking fee that includes a 'free' bus fare?

I see nothing wrong with using a park and ride to park and walk or park and cycle - provided you actually aren't freeloading.

Or am I misreading what happened?

I think that was the problem - council reckoned those not using the bus weren't paying anything towards upkeep of the facility. Bus company didn't mind - even offered to take over the site.

Lots of people have suggested a parking charge & 'free' bus. I expect the arguments will go on & on!

Well that's what everywhere else does - certainly this is how it works here and everywhere else I've paid attention to it.

There's a general point about being honest when you realise you've been undercharged. So long as it's not my fault, my honesty in these situations varies as the payed organisation needs the money. Hell, I get overcharged enough by high-profit corporations with questionable morals, it's nice to get some of it back.

IIRC you pay on the bus in Cambridge at the P&R. But they are really so far out of town that there is no way you could walk or cycle into town from them.

Well, cycling may be possible, but on those roads, I wouldn't fancy it.

I just catch the bus from my village...and use my OAP bus pass.I use my car for those occasions when I need to carry lots of stuff such as the weekly shop or to go somewhere I'd rather not have to catch 3 buses to get to, or somewhere that doesn't have a bus service.

I see no reason to drive to park and then catch a bus..when I have free bus travel already.

Well indeed but it's probably not meant to cater for those with a free bus pass to be fair.

Actually lots do use it with bus passes, because then it is cheaper than parking in town. If you can't catch a bus where you live, or they're not frequent enough, then P&R is a good option.
Lots do cycle (into Cambridge) too, especially now we have a guided busway. From two of the P&R sites the hospital is accessible by foot or cycle too.
For a while I did consider buying a scooter to avoid the bus fare...