Salisbury Plain Access "Car Free Day"

[Peat]

2020 Salisbury Plain Access days:
April 10-13
Aug 15 "Car Free Day"
Aug 28-31
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"Car Free Day"!!!

Sound's good, doesnt it?

It's not:
"Saturday 15th August 2020. ‘Imberbus Car Free Day 2020’ In addition to no cars there will be no cyclists or pedestrians. The reason for this is because in 2019 there were too many people and vehicles which overwhelmed the bus operators and the volunteers at the church; also, many cars were parked at the points where the buses needed to park and turn. This decision has been made with the agreement of the Ministry of Defence at the request of the Bus Operators and Church Volunteers."

What a load of nonsense. 'Too many people came by car so were banning bicycles'. Of course the bus operator requested it, they want to make money. What's the betting that this becomes the norm for 2021?

- At present, this shouldn't affect great uncle Pats' excellent Old Roads & Drove Roads. But, as above, i fear for the future.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Does this refer to those heritage buses full of bus geeks or plain old commercial coaches? I'm wondering about the legality of this as the MoD are bound to maintain public access on a certain number of days a year – but does it specify how? And IIRC it might be two anyway, so the "Car free day" is a "bonus".

[Peat]

Upon further reading/discussion, this appears to be an extra day. But ONLY for the bus rides.

My initial outrage is quelled.

I still think 'car free' is a needlessly ambiguous title for such an event. The company is called ImberBus, why not call it 'ImberBus Day'?

'Car free' comes with certain connotations which they obviously recognize by separately stating that walkers and cyclists aren't welcome..

[mattc]

It still seems unnecessarily shit. reminds me of the "cyclists not welcome" signs at cafes.

I hope they wander onto still-live ordinance.

Bah!

[Cudzoziemiec]

needlessly ambiguous

unnecessarily shit.

Yes and yes.

[orienteer]

Imberbus is an annual event by volunteers giving rides across a normally inaccessible part of Salisbury Plain in historic London buses. All money raised goes to charities:

https://imberbus.org/2020/02/17/date-for-imberbus-2020/

[Peat]

I'm not against the bus service, I actually wish Imber was bus-only (sorry, 'car free') on the August BH weekend because having ridden through there a few times (on ORDR) it's been a mess.

I'm lead to beleive that this extra date will be the only date the buses run this year, so the Aug BH will be a total free-for-all.