COMMUTERS face the prospect of longer traffic jams and parking problems as car park charges are introduced on a busy Valleys train line.

Caerphilly council will levy a £1.50 charge on people parking at nine Rhymney line stations from the autumn in a bid to raise £50,000 this year.

But critics have slammed the idea saying it could drive people off the train and into the car, at a time when millions of pounds have been invested in park and ride schemes to ease traffic congestion. There are also fears people will park on residential streets in a bid to dodge the new charges.

Hefin David, Labour councillor for St Cattwg ward, said: “It’s very short-sighted. We’re trying to encourage people to get out of the driving habit. Now we’re discouraging public transport. It goes against everything the Assembly is trying to do.

“It will worsen traffic congestion on the way into Cardiff. The people who use station car parks spend enough on the journey to work as it is.”

He said people living in Pengam – his ward – already complain about rail passengers parking outside their homes whenever the 46-space station car park is full.

And Mr David predicted passengers would park in streets near stations to avoid the charges.

Caerphilly council officers have suggested introducing a residential parking scheme to offset the problems but Mr David said each household would only be allowed one permit and multi-car households would be penalised for being near a station.

Stuart Cole, professor of transport at the University of Glamorgan Business School, said people might drive to a nearby free station car park – such as Taffs Well – but that would put more traffic on the roads, particularly the already-congested stretch of the A470 from Nantgarw to Taffs Well.

Cardiff’s Sustainable Travel City pilot aims to reduce car travel with the help of more park and ride - next page

“People might drive to Lisvane or one of the other car parks further in which don’t have charges,” he said.

“But that doesn’t achieve the real objective, which is the shortest possible journey by car and the longest possible journey by train.”

Cardiff’s Sustainable Travel City pilot aims to reduce car travel with the help of more park and ride.

But Prof Cole said rail passengers displaced by Caerphilly’s parking charges could drive straight into Cardiff.

“Once people start driving a certain distance, they will think, ‘I’ve got a parking space in the centre of Cardiff so I might as well drive all the way in’,” he added.

Caerphilly council currently spends £86,000 a year on CCTV, lighting, rates and upkeep for 12 station car parks on the Rhymney line.

Installing ticket machines and signs at nine car parks will cost an extra £115,000.

Maintaining and operating the machines, and enforcing the charges, will be an ongoing cost.

The £1.50 parking charge will apply from this autumn or winter at Caerphilly, Ystrad Mynach, Bargoed, Aber, Hengoed, Newbridge, Risca and Pontymister, Pengam and Rhymney stations.

There will be a discounted parking rate, which has not yet been finalised, for season ticket holders.

Stations at Llanbradach, Pontlottyn and Tirphil will be exempt because the car parks are too small to justify the cost of installing ticket machines.

A Caerphilly council spokesman said: “In this current financial climate we need to take tough decisions to protect budgets.

“These park and ride sites generate no income despite costing the council more than £86,000 per annum.”

The £1.50 charge would be “good value for money”, he said.