Parking in Rotherham
Free Parking in Rotherham
Rotherham borough Council car parks are FREE on Saturdays from 17 November up to 22 December 2012.
The multi-storey car park above the Transport Interchange is is expected to re-open before Christmas. Watch for the signage on the way into town.
Now the government of Rotherham has long pursued an anti-car policy. This has been followed with almost religious fervour for at least thirty years with people been encouraged to walk, bus or cycle. Plans for new offices, surgeries, leisure centres and suchlike have been passed with severely restricted vehicular parking thus ensuring all the surrounding streets are choc-a-bloc. This is still continuing today with the new council offices off Don Street having parking for only a small proportion of the people likely to use the new facilities. Since the Central Library has moved here you can forget just popping in to take your books back 'cause you'll never get parked. When challenged Rotherham Council always, always fall back on the hoary old chestnut of an excuse that "the spaces provided fulfill government guidelines".
Somebody tells me that I am being overly pessimistic here. The plans for the new Rotherham United Stadium being built next door to the new council offices contain space for some 500 cars and that parking here will be available at a price to the ordinary punter whenever there is no home game. The Liquid and Envy car park seems to have been opened for regular daily parking.
A few years ago free parking was introduced on Saturdays after 10am. This concession was withdrawn after about a year as it was reckoned that it was not attracting more shoppers to visit the town. Well it certainly attracted me! I remember that it was well-publicised in the Advertiser however I spoke to many people who knew nothing about it until it had gone. In 2010 Rotherham Council introduced Free after Three and Free on Saturdays to try and encourage people back into town. A large grant from the government was expected to subsidise this. Since there was a change of government the necessary brass has not been forthcoming and both schemes have been withdrawn.
Rotherham town centre has 2,275 spaces in over 20 car-parks all within a short walk of the main shopping & leisure areas. There are one or two areas quite close to town where you can still park for free, but these are generally filled by the Peep O' Day boys. Other areas that were free until a couple of years ago have now been metered. Parking at Rotherham Railway Station, always in short supply, and is for the present non-existent (except for builders lorries) due to the redevelopment of the station.
For a map of Rotherham centre showing the car parks please visit Rotherham Town Map.
Parking 2011 - Pay-as-you-Park
RMBC has become the latest local authority to provide pay-by-phone parking with RingGo which means that Council operated on and off-street parking bays can now be paid for with credit or debit cards, in place of coins. The extra benefit of cashless parking means motorists can extend their stay without having to go back to the car park and without running the risk of getting a penalty charge notice. To use the new system, motorists park up and dial the local rate number 0114 299 1994 which is shown on pay-and-display machines. The car parks offering RingGo are located at: Civic Building, Drummond Street, Wellgate North, Clifton Hall, Douglas Street, Unity Place, Sheffield Road, Riverside, Scala, Fitzwilliam Road, York Road and Wellgate multi-storey, as well as all on-street parking bays. Don't help much if like me you don't have a mobile phone. What! Stands back in amazement! A human being without a mobile phone welded to their ear.