The bar chart illustrates how any car trips were made into the city centre by residents and non-residents from 1996 to 2005.
Overall, it is evident that more residents journeyed into the centre of the city in the first 4 surveyed years before non-residents’ car trips took over with the introduction of parking meters. Later, the figure for residents bounced back due to the closure of Westgate Street and Park Lane, except for the last year.
Upon closer inspection, from 1996 to 1999, the number of car trips made by inhabitants remained relatively steady with only a marginal decrease in 1997, registering between 9000 and 10000. The figure for car journeys of non-residents was about half that of residents, at 5000, before experiencing a gradual increase to over 8000 in 1999.
After parking meters were installed in the city centre in 2000, the quantity of journeys made by residents on car plummeted to 5000 and hovered around this figure until 2002. Outside visitors also made fewer car trips, despite their figure outnumbering that of residents, at about 8000. When Westgate Street and Park Lane closed to traffic, however, the number of car journeys of non-residents declined steeply to fewer than 3000, which was lower than that of residents. The year 2005 saw a recovery of the for non-residents’ car trips, exceeding that of residents by nearly 1000.