York Footstreets: Access for Blue Badge Parkers

As part of a wider plan to reduce vehicular access in its historic “footstreets” during the daytime, York City Council wished to understand the impact of extending the current general traffic exclusion to also include those with Blue Badges.

Galle Saliman worked with Parking Perspectives and the City to design and execute a survey of Blue Badge parkers. The survey would provide evidence of the quantity that would be affected and the likely scale of impact on their accessibility to the centre of the city.

Parking beat surveys and face to face interviews with over 100 parkers using Blue Badges were conducted over three days in the summer of 2018. Beat surveys provided key evidence on numbers and durations of stay. Respondents were asked about their trip, including their principal destination and purpose. Respondents were also asked a number of questions about their needs when selecting parking.

The survey showed that, on average, Blue Badge holders were walking between 100 to 150 m to their principal destination, and the location of the destination was having a clear influence on where they were choosing to park. Closure of the footstreets could mean the shortest walking distances some locations could reach as much as 350m.

Subsequent to the work York City Council made a decision to proceed with closure of the streets to blue badge holders. This decision has recently (2023) been reversed.

Client: York City Council

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