Park and Ride sites - how beneficial are they?

[TVC]

This is how Leicester works. If we get the bus from the end of our road it costs us £9.20 return. If I drive a mile further out of town we can park and get a return ticket for both of us at £3.50. The park and ride bus then drives past the end of my road on its way to town.

 

[Piemaster]

Another vote for York P&R. Actually seems like someone sat and thought about it, a subtle blend of discouraging driving into York, with an attractive alternative.

 

[Levo-Lon]

We go to Cambridge quite often ,love the place..
i wont work there ever again as its awful trying to do a drive or anything with one way ans sheer volume of trafic.
But the P&R is fantastic..worth every penny stress wise alone...

pboro has one at xmas time but i know how to beat the parking here as im local..

 

[Drago]

The fundamental problem is simply too many people using cars unnecessarily, and park and ride does nothing to address that. The link in the OPs post, If it is reported accurately, is disgraceful.

 

[Tin Pot]

The town I cycle commute into most days (Cambridge) has in the last 10 years or so had a smattering of Park and Ride sites dotted about the various fringes. Can't say I've noticed any drop in traffic levels in the centre ( in fact it was gridlock tonight coming home as usual).

It had me wondering whether all the hundreds of acres of prime farm land being tarmacked over for these things, lit up like Las Vegas all night, is really worth all the bother. Also, doesn't it mean some people in surrounding villages now choose to drive to these places rather than get the bus from home, thus putting other bus services at risk of cuts?

Then I read about this poor chap in this weeks Farmer's Weekly. Seems like a hell of a price to pay. So what do you good folks think - P&R waste of time or great idea?

So he's a landowner and the council are just going to force a sale of his farmland so they can build a car park?

What am I missing here?

 

[Ian H]

So he's a landowner and the council are just going to force a sale of his farmland so they can build a car park?
What am I missing here?

Two completely separate questions: 1) are park & rides a good thing; 2) is this farmer being treated fairly.

 

[Levo-Lon]

^^yes and No

 

[subaqua]

Yet judging by the occupancy of the Cambridge P&R carparks - and I admit I'm basing this on the Trumpington site which I know best - they are well used, an observation also supported by the long queues for the P&R buses out of town on a Saturday afternoon. Just imagine how much worse the traffic would be if all of those drivers tried to get into the centre in their cars. That said, Mrs rjh uses the Trumpington site to get to Addenbrookes (via the bus) rather than fight for parking at the hospital, so not all parking there is relieving traffic in the very centre of town.

Trumpington works well, the new homes sites over by the new papworth site all use it for contractors and when those that drive go into the centre for meetings they use the P&R.

it depends on how they are sited and run .

Chester P&R works well to. even in the mad christmas period

 

[vickster]

We go to Cambridge quite often ,love the place..
i wont work there ever again as its awful trying to do a drive or anything with one way ans sheer volume of trafic.
But the P&R is fantastic..worth every penny stress wise alone...

pboro has one at xmas time but i know how to beat the parking here as im local..

Walk from home

 

[seraphina]

The Cambridge P&R do my nut in. Like a pp, they are an expensive waste of time for me. If there are two of us,it's cheaper to drive in and park in town, and considerably less hassle. If I have the childerbeast with me, it's an utter nightmare - park car, get buggy out, wait until there's space on the bus for buggy, put up with miserable peanuts on the bus refusing to make any allowances for buggy or small children etc, etc.

I considered using it when I am on my own but then I am either on my bike, or only in for a quick visit so parking in town is cheap. I used it once to get to Addenbrooke's when enormously pregnant but the standing about waiting for a bus and then having to kick up a fuss to get a seat put me off it.

The charging to park also kind of makes a mockery of the idea that they are there to reduce congestion.

 

[midlife]

The one in Norwich seemed pretty good a couple of years ago. Cheap too iirc.

I guess the council are going for some form of compulsory purchase?

Shaun

 

[summerdays]

[QUOTE 3958088, member: 76"]There should be more encouragement to Park and RIDE in. I sometimes use the P&R at Long Ashton in Bristol, but you aren't allowed to park and cycle. If it is £x pounds to use the P&R with the bus, surely they could let you buy a ticket but cycle in? It's all about less cars after all isn't it?

View attachment 107162 [/QUOTE]
I agree. I get a lift with Mr Summerdays to a car park on the edge of Bristol (not P&R), and then cycle from there as I can take either the ring road or B2B path to complete my journey. And I usually see another handful of cars doing the same thing, getting the bike out of the car to finish their journey by bike.

 

[Tin Pot]

Two completely separate questions: 1) are park & rides a good thing; 2) is this farmer being treated fairly.

Indeed. I don't think I'm relevant to 1) so I'm interested in 2)

 

[Glow worm]

Except the P&Rs in Cambridge are hardly "empty, brightly lit tarmac". They're usually packed - even with the parking charge.

The one I'm most familiar with is Newmarket Road as the cycle route passes right through it. The car park at the back is always I would say well under half full. in fact I quite enjoy riding directly across it where all the cars should be, as it cuts a big corner!

I suppose the main question aside from the fact they are clearly useful in some circumstances, (weekend shoppers probably most) is how much impact on traffic volumes in city centres do they have during rush hour. My observations, purely anecdotal of course, suggests not very much.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Leeds, capital of the North, has 2 P&R sites, with a third in the pipeline.
The first (King Lane) is in the wrong place, has too few spaces and relies on normal stopping service buses to get you the 4 miles into Leeds. It's used by some but I've never seen it full and struggle to see why you'd divert to use it if you were already in your car.

Contradiction alert?

My own experience is limited to York and Oxford. Both seemed to work very well although I was tempted to ride my Brompton rather than the bus on the occasion I used the Oxford one for work. My Mother lives near one of the Leicester sites (Fosse Park) and reports that despite local scepticism at time it was built it's now working well.