Car park use in the city centre is recovering “incredibly well”, and footfall on some shopping streets in close to pre-lockdown levels.
Councillors heard that footfall on Parliament Street, which dropped significantly at the start of lockdown, is climbing back to normal levels and currently 16 per cent lower than before the pandemic.
Micklegate has been slower to recover and is only at two thirds of its normal levels of visitors.
The number of people in the city centre has risen steadily in the past seven weeks, James Gilchrist, assistant director of transport at City of York Council said.
He added: “Car parking is generally recovering incredibly well.
“You can start to see how parking levels are increasing and are getting close to pre-Covid level.
“I think what we do recognise though, is that the car is the mode of choice.
“So car parking may be recovering quickly because public transport isn’t recovering anywhere like at the same pace.
“It’s recognising what we can and can’t do. The council obviously launched the car park incentive to try to encourage people back to the city centre.”
Bootham Row car park was back at nearly 90 per cent capacity in July, with Castle and Nunnery Lane car parks also seeing an increasing number of customers.