COMMUTERS and residents are set to face a month long ‘nightmare’ as the Johnstone train station car park gets set to close for resurfacing.
Work will begin at the site on Saturday, January 5, for the car park to get a makeover – and it will not open again to the public until Monday, February 4.
This means commuters who use the station will have to park in the surrounding residential areas or in the town’s high street.
READ MORE: Johnstone businesses set to suffer during works
The Gazette spoke to commuters and local residents to find out what they think of the impending closure.
Duncan McInnes
Duncan McInnes said the closure would cause problems for a lot of people, but admitted it would make little difference to him personally, as he struggles to get a space anyway.
The 57-year-old said: “People arrive at the car park first thing, you see them racing round at five past eight to try and get a space.
“I think it will make a big difference to a lot of people. To be honest, when they closed it previously to add a second storey I wondered why they hadn’t added more.”
Carol Conway
Carol Conway lives across from the extremely busy station and already finds that congestion on the surrounding streets is a nightmare as a result of the overflowing car park.
The 41-year-old quite often finds people have parked along her street for access to the station.
She said: “It will be chaos everywhere if they close that car park. The surrounding area will be even busier than it is now.
“I see people arriving to try and get a space as early as half seven in the morning.”
Andrew Carmichael
Andrew Carmichael uses one of the disabled bays at the station every Thursday along with many others.
And he was shocked to find out that the car park would be closing for a month.
He told The Gazette: “I use the station when I am travelling to Glasgow and if I couldn’t access the car park I would need to walk and that would be really awkward for me as it is quite a distance.
“I will need to find out more about how this is going to affect me.”
Emma Halliday
Emma Halliday, 28, who travels to the station from Kilbarchan, reckons the closure will cause a considerable amount of upset with residents who are already complaining about the number of cars in the area.
READ MORE: Chaos looms with Johnstone rail car park closure
“As well as traffic increasing, it will be even more chaotic trying to find a space,” she said.
“Johnstone has the most frequent services and the best parking compared to Howwood and Paisley, so people from other areas come here and if they can’t park it will be a nightmare.”
Linda Mitchell
Linda Mitchell, who travels from Bridge of Weir to use the station, said the closure will be a big inconvenience, and reckons residents will be the ones who suffer most due to the work.
The former Johnstone resident said: “Those living on the residential streets around [the station] are not too happy when they look out to find a car across their drive.”
She added: “It just shows how much traffic there is coming into the car park each day if they need to resurface it.”
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