Taxi !!!!

Walkers in Snowdonia's Nantlle Valley will be able to hop a taxi from the end of their route for just one of your English pound sterling thanks to an experimental scheme aimed at reducing pressure on car parking.

The scheme has been introduced in the Dyffryn Nantlle - map - where most routes tend to be linear and have led to walkers leaving cars at either end of the valley to save a trudge back to the start point. There is no bus service covering the route.

"Anybody who wants to enjoy the walk at the moment needs two cars - one at either end - which causes unnecessary car journeys, parking congestion and concerns for the users," says Hugh Percy, from Gwynedd council.

The taxi option is more environmentally friendly, reduces congestion on narrow mountain roads and frees up car-parking spaces. If successful, the scheme could be extended to other parts of North Wales, which suffer from traffic and parking problems.

Meanwhile, the Green Key Initiative which caused uproar a few years back with plans to ban parking in busy areas in Snowdonia, has come up with a new set of watered-down proposals.

According to a BBC article, drivers would be told when popular car parks like the one at Pen y Pas at the foot of Snowdon, were full while still several miles away giving them the option of parking further away and completing their journey by bus.

Bus services would be expanded to make this feasible and pay-parking would be introduced at some of the most popular car parks.

The plans are still under consideration and will be made available to the public later this month once approved by the Green Key Initiative which includes Conwy council, the Countryside Council for Wales, Gwynedd council, Snowdonia National park Authority, the Welsh Development Agency and the Welsh Tourist Board.

Hopefully the new, more reasonable schemes will prove to be less controversial than the original proposals which caused massive dissent in the area - see previous articles below.