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?
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.
Walk from homeWe 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..
Two completely separate questions: 1) are park & rides a good thing; 2) is this farmer being treated fairly.
Except the P&Rs in Cambridge are hardly "empty, brightly lit tarmac". They're usually packed - even with the parking charge.
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.