Heard today don’t know if this is true the yearly pass is going up to £30 a year which is still great but the day one is going up to £7 is that right??????makes the yearly one a steal anyone else heard anything?

It’s true. Started this month.

haven’t heard the exact rate, well i have but forgotten, they are changing all the rates in the FoD as i understand it. rather than a flat fee they are looking at hourly rates i believe.

Thing is there is a free carpark about 500m towards the Monmouth road on the other side from…
So do you pay the increased charge or just use a different car park?

£3.50 > £7 at Cannop it taking the mick, unless it’s going to the trails and not FC’s pocket. I’ve bought a discovery pass but can see a big increase in road side parking.

If the money goes into trails and other facilities I’m quite happy to pay

It’s odd I spend money and time inc the bridge toll for the van to ride in wales. but a few extra pounds parking does put me off a bit despite being a small part of the cost of my day out

An yes I will park and ride in from now on

Yeah the all-day pass is doubling in price – makes the £30 a year season pass seem like good value, even for someone like me that only drops in one a month if that.

There is although cheaper tickets for 2 and 4 hour stops.

I have to admit though, as far as I can remember there’s a free car park just up the road on the other side, it wouldn’t take much longer to park there and pedal over than it would to queue up and buy a parking pass in the shop, because I struggle to find £3.5 in change never mind £7. I haven’t used cash day-to-day in years.

Is the yearly pass just for Cannop/Pedalaway, or can it be used elsewhere?
How do you get one?

I have to admit though, as far as I can remember there’s a free car park just up the road on the other side

yes and it is a short ride on the family trail to pedal a bike away.

found something that may help.

A new tiered parking charge is being introduced to the Forest of Dean from May 2017. This change to charges will help…

Posted by Beechenhurst on Friday, April 28, 2017

Yes it true the prices have gone up. According to FODmtb and Pedalabikeaway the FC have increased the prices despite very vocal, local opposition. They trail builders also don’t get funded from the parking revenue.

Haldon is £7. Was £3 only a few years ago.

is it enforceable?

is it enforceable?

Probably, not sure about FOD in particular, but I got a ticket in Cwmcarn for going over my time after a stack on Cafal.

Ticket came from the council like parking on a double yellow etc.

I was and still am a bit pissed off with it, firstly because they said if I’d gone into the centre to report my owey on my knee they would have let it go, but mostly because Caerphilly who gave me the ticket didn’t pay into the project that built the new trail or indeed the massive upgrade to the car park, but somehow got to put pay and display machines there when it used to be free. Where as Neath Port Talbot who did pay into the project actually reduced the car park fees at Afan.

Ive got a vested interest in this issue but I think it is still cheap. Us bikers spend £X Thousand on a trail bike and rock up to the trails in a van with the bikes in, after a lot of diesel burnt and bridge tolls, and road snacks. There’s prob 4 of us in it and then we moan about £7 to park all day, get access to bike shop, bike washetc use the toilets, and ride the trails. You’d be amazed how much it costs to empty bins, pick up litter and service toilets alone, let alone surface the car park and keep everything safe.

It costs £10 to park in a shopping centre car park for just over half a day round here!

It costs money to build and maintain trails. The reality is that there’s probably more money that goes into running the trails than is generated in the car park.

£35 per DAY for a family of 5 to park & ride at bpw now.

Parking is free at BPW.

Last time I was at Dalby it was £7. I haven’t been for ages (3-4 yrs). (but I doubt I’ve been missed) 😕

I have a Discovery pass for the FOD and still usually park in the free car parks as the main ones are rammed if the weather is remotely good. Maybe this’ll mean I can actually park in it as everyone else avoids it 😛

In all seriousness, the charge hike has pretty much been forced in them by a cut in funding. The locals, the shop and the cafe are very vocal about opposing it but there really isn’t much they can do about it. If numbers of visitors using the car parks falls dramatically a they will have to review it, especially if it makes the place empty.
If you want to buy one you can get it in Pedalabikeaway or at Bank House in Coleford during the week.

There’s prob 4 of us

Not an unreasonable price for 4 but us locals often show up alone…

…bridge tolls…

widely seen round here as having increased unreasonably of late

£7 to park all day

Which in most places I go is free already paid for by my vehicle excise duty

get access to bike shop, bike wash

Oh wow, paying money to access the opportunity to spend more money!

and ride the trails

which aren’t funded by parking in this case.

It costs £10 to park in a shopping centre car park for just over half a day round here!

Presumably in town? Land is considerably more at a premium there if you hadn’t noticed 😉

Regret sending the FC an honest survey response now.

Thing is the fc get money from govt to fund the stuff they do that is in their mandate from govt. conservation, free access on foot etc, land stewardship etc.

Anything else isn’t in the fcs mandate from govt (providing bike trails etc/ visitor centres etc) so those bits need to be as near as possible self funding. These days anything left over at the end of the yr gets put in a reinvestment pot to enable the business to invest in things that will bring in an income or save costs later on.

It’s not rocket science, someone has to pay for facilities, whatever they are. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

If you’re a local you can show your support for £30 a year as someone already mentioned on here. That’s less that a quid a week. And if you volunteer to help maintain the trails you can get a free yearly pass usually.

Oh, and the bridge fee is going down next yr apparently…!

And also don’t think your vehicle excise duty is paying for free parking anywhere….

Sideshow – what bike you riding, how much do you spend a yr on bikes and bits?

it’s an incentive to buy a pass.
there’s a very straightforward way around this, either ride to the trails, or do a few volunteer days, which will get you a pass that allows you to park for free at all FC centers.

Coincidentally, they’d run out of discovery pass applications in the shop yesterday. I guess most people are realising what a relatively good deal it is.

£35 per DAY for a family of 5 to park & ride at bpw now.

As P-Jay says, parking is free, and the fee is to ride the park.

At least you know at BPW your £7 is largely going towards the trail maintenance and facilities at that venue, and not into the FC coffers.

I really wish they would do a UK wide FC parking pass. Yes it will cost more but I’d happily pay more to not have to worry about digging around for change in different car parks all over the country. How much more is clearly open to interpretation as you wouldn’t be using your local carpark if parked elsewhere.

The increase in car park charges didn’t seem to make the car park any less busy yesterday!I agree its an awful lot of money to park all day, but people are not forced to park there. I pay my annual car parking discovery pass there are several benefits associated to it like the ability to park in all FC car parks within the FOD area, plus free or discounted entry to places like Puzzlewood, which is great for the kids.

Pedalabikeaway themselves aren’t happy about the increase. Looks like Speculation is going to get a whole lot busier in future. For anyone looking to park elsewhere for free but ride the marked trails, there is a donation box for DTV by the till in the PBA shop. Nip in and make a donation instead, this goes straight to the trail-builders.

Thing is the fc get money from govt to fund the stuff they do that is in their mandate from govt. conservation, free access on foot etc, land stewardship etc.

Is public recreation in general not in the FC mandate? I think it is with NRW (might be wrong) assumed FC was similar

If you’re a local you can show your support for £30 a year as someone already mentioned on here. That’s less that a quid a week. And if you volunteer to help maintain the trails you can get a free yearly pass usually.

True this doesn’t actually affect me directly; my riding buddy works for various people in the forest so has the pass, I’ve plenty of other places to park, and I have done some trail building though not officially enough to get one 😉

Yes the bridge is going down fortunately! But over the last 10 years has increased by about 65%, that’s well above inflation

And also don’t think your vehicle excise duty is paying for free parking anywhere….

Ok, inasmuch as all tax money goes into the same pot, you’re right there. Free parking on roads everywhere is paid for out of all my tax not just VED.

Sideshow – what bike you riding, how much do you spend a yr on bikes and bits?

A nice one cheers 😉 I reckon I’ve averaged about 400/yr over the last 10 years. If I was expected to spend another £7 every time I went riding that cost would more than double. Yes I know, annual pass etc, but it’s the principle of setting expectations as to how much stuff should cost. If the annual pass is such a great deal right now the price on that will probably rise too.

If the annual pass is such a great deal right now the price on that will probably rise too.

It did. Prior to April 1st it was £24 or £25 pounds. It increased to £30, then from May 1st the car park charges increased to those in the above notice.

Mmmm, I live relatively near by (an hour away on the otherwise of Gloucester). I go to FOD around 3 (maybe 4) times a year on my own, but £7 parking will put me off….
The ‘free’ riding locally is too good for me to warrant the £20 (7parking +fuel +coffee) round trip for me, unless I share cost with mates, I think I’ll give it a miss now.

Was lucky and bought a pass for £25 before they put the prices up. Even at £30 pa on the old prices it works for me.
It’s a great resource there and I hope the DTV get some of the increased uplift. That said, I imagine folks will flock to the free parking soon.
I can’t argue with an increase, but doubling the cost of a day ticket seems OTT.

You can use the pass at every car park in the Forest so that is good mind doesn’t run out till July this year if you know the Forest there are tons of fee parking down there I just think its safer parking at Pedalway thanks for the info.

Drumlanrig is approx £7….. per person!! FoD seems a bargain to me.

For anyone looking to park elsewhere for free but ride the marked trails, there is a donation box for DTV by the till in the PBA shop. Nip in and make a donation instead, this goes straight to the trail-builders.

Do this support the trails