Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).

Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.

Moderator: Site Management Team

Post Reply
User avatar
Jim606
Member
Posts: 619
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:11

Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Jim606 »

Most P&R schemes are generally accepted as being a good thing and Colchester is one of the latest places to join the club with a new terminal and car park opening in April 2015 in connection with the new northern approach road and A12 (Col Utd. football ground) junction. Ones I've used elsewhere such as Oxford and Cambridge were fine and certainly made lift easier than attempting the difficult / highly restricted task of driving into the their respective centres. But nationally I am sure not every P&R scheme has been successful - wasn't there a case of a failed P&R in Preston and under-utilised ones in Dorchester/Weymouth?
mfmman
Member
Posts: 201
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 19:12

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by mfmman »

Whilst it's successful enough, I do think the A4 P&R in Brisligton, Bristol https://goo.gl/maps/gs5j1 would have been better sited a bit east at the A4/A4174 interchange,

Traffic from three directions has to funnel up the A4 along with all other Bristol bound traffic

The A4/A4174 interchange was relocated as part of the Avon Ring Road works so the P&R perhaps could have been located at this roundabout instead
mercer
Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2011 17:48
Location: Preston

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by mercer »

Jim606 wrote: But nationally I am sure not every P&R scheme has been successful - wasn't there a case of a failed P&R in Preston
Sure was - Junction 31A of the M6 (link). Can't remember how long it lasted but the main issues revolved around no dedicated bus route to the City Centre, and based at a limited access junction, ie Exit N/B entry S/B only so it didn't cater for those coming from the north, whereas those coming from the south would use the Park and Ride at the Capitol Centre at the end of the M65.

Trampower Ltd want to use it and run a tram line from here via the old railway line through Deepdale and into the City Centre, however that seems to have stalled at Planning.

Edit: Judging by GSV it opened Late 2009 but was closed by 2012.
Last edited by mercer on Sun Mar 01, 2015 18:50, edited 1 time in total.
Andy33gmail
Member
Posts: 3941
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 09:26
Location: Littleport, Ely, Cambridge

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Andy33gmail »

I wonder if anyone uses Cambridge's ones now they're no longer free?
User avatar
Ben710
Member
Posts: 82
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 14:20
Location: Coventry

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Ben710 »

Weren't Park and rides discussed in another thread? (Which I can't find)

In this thread: http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/vie ... t=CoventryI mentioned Coventry's horrible failure at Park and rides.

I'll be obnoxious and quote myself.
Ben710 wrote:Coventry had two Park and ride services. One was cut completely. The other, which had previously received investment in the form of dedicated electric buses, was cut to the point that a through bus merely calls, at a much lower frequency.
Patronage seemed to be the problem in both cases, news articles below:
Park And Ride North
Park And Ride South (Electric buses introduced)
Electric buses withdrawn. The latter article does state that some of the buses may have been sent to Leicester but that has not proved to be the case. (They now work between the railway station and the hospital).

Its a complete blow for Centro (The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive).
User avatar
crowntown100
Member
Posts: 738
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 21:13
Location: Helston, Cornwall

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by crowntown100 »

It's not a failure this one. Truro's P&R to the west was very successful! So much so they are build a new one to the east and expanding the original one. It seems to have done really well for itself, even though you've always had to pay for it!
Harry
Piatkow
Member
Posts: 2174
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 13:59

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Piatkow »

I remember using P&R for Colchester when my daughter was small (she's 32 now). Is this just a change of terminal or have they restarted a previously abandoned service?

Romford tried a temporary one for Christmas once using a school near the A12. Nobody driving into the town except from a small area on the east side of Collier Row would naturally pass it and it was never repeated.

I don't know how successfuly the Milton Keynes P&R is. It looks very convenient if approaching from the M1 or Bedford but from within Bucks you would end up driving past your destination to get there.
SteveA30
Member
Posts: 6006
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 12:52
Location: Dorset

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by SteveA30 »

The Poole P&R next to the A35, is closed all year, except for 4 or 5 Saturdays before Christmas.
It was used by staff at Poole Hospital and Council but, that stopped. Now it is a deserted space, with occasional use by gypsies.
Roads and holidays in the west, before motorways.
http://trektothewest.shutterfly.com
http://holidayroads.webs.com/
User avatar
IAN
Member
Posts: 1491
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2001 19:07

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by IAN »

Worcester (6 ways) was never popular and has been (or is about to be) scrapped.

Ian (M5 Driver)
AKA M5 Driver
User avatar
michael769
Member
Posts: 11413
Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 20:36
Location: Polbeth, West Lothian
Contact:

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by michael769 »

West Lothian's "Fast Link" has never been well used. One of the car parks has for the last 6 months been home to a works compound for council house refurbishment.

Before that average vehicle occupancy was 1 car.
Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open
Thomas Robert Dewar(1864-1930)
Take the pledge
jmbillings
Member
Posts: 255
Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 15:58
Location: Ely
Contact:

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by jmbillings »

Andy33gmail wrote:I wonder if anyone uses Cambridge's ones now they're no longer free?
fras
Member
Posts: 3583
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 18:34

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by fras »

There is one signed at Ludlow when one drives along the by-pass on the A49.

Ludlow, a Park-and-Ride ? Surely not !

Basically, P&Rs almost never work, and have been almost impossible to make work since bus privatisation. Because bus operators can put on buses when and how they like, and are in business to make money, most of them require a subsidy, and councils can no longer afford them.

I believe the Metrolink P&Rs work better in Manchester, but only convey a tiny proportion of the traffic needed to make them economic.
User avatar
skiddaw05
Member
Posts: 2034
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 21:33
Location: Norwich

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by skiddaw05 »

For its size Norwich's tally of six P&R sites seems remarkably high, but as far as I know they're all well used This may be due to the city centre being made progressively more difficult for non public transport users to drive through!
WHBM
Member
Posts: 9696
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 18:01
Location: London

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by WHBM »

Andy33gmail wrote:I wonder if anyone uses Cambridge's ones now they're no longer free?
We have used the one at Trumpington, by the M11, over the years. Was free to park but a bus fare. It used to have its own buses and was well used. Then the buses started to do intermediate stops on the way into town, then the fares rose way beyond inflation (fares per person, not like the town car parks, per car), now they charge for the parking as well.

Despite being a major one, it starts at 7 am and is given up by 8 pm, so if you suddenly work late, or fancy a meal in the city, you're stuck. If you work where shifts are done, 6 am to 2 pm or 2 pm to 10 pm, it's useless.
User avatar
JamesA44
Member
Posts: 2253
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 16:39
Location: West Midlands

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by JamesA44 »

IAN wrote:Worcester (6 ways) was never popular and has been (or is about to be) scrapped.

Ian (M5 Driver)
Sixways now only goes to the hospital, not into the City Centre. I'm not sure how long that will/can last.

The other P&R, Perdiswell, closed last September.

Both have been the victim of Council cuts, but were very under-used, making them obvious targets.
User avatar
c2R
SABRE Wiki admin
Posts: 11155
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2002 11:01

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by c2R »

Andy33gmail wrote:I wonder if anyone uses Cambridge's ones now they're no longer free?
This was mainly done to penalise NHS staff who walk from Babraham Road park and ride to work at Addenbrooke's (owing to parking at Addenbrooke's itself being prohibitively expensive).

I did read an interesting article that looked into the effects that the park and rides have, and it appears that they are well used, but that they have the effect of reducing overall public transport, with people that would have got busses from outlying villages driving to the park and ride sites to get into the centre.
Is there a road improvement project going on near you? Help us to document it on the SABRE Wiki - help is available in the Digest forum.
Have you browsed SABRE Maps recently? Get involved! - see our guide to scanning and stitching maps
Jeni
Banned
Posts: 7313
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 22:28

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Jeni »

JamesA44 wrote:Sixways now only goes to the hospital, not into the City Centre. I'm not sure how long that will/can last.
Sixways only ever officially went to the hospital, access to the city centre was only ever by re-routed local buses.

Worcester mixed things up badly, the Park and Ride for the city centre was Perdiswell, which was badly sited on the A38 to the north with difficult access from the M5, no wonder it failed!
Andy33gmail
Member
Posts: 3941
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 09:26
Location: Littleport, Ely, Cambridge

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Andy33gmail »

c2R wrote:
Andy33gmail wrote:I wonder if anyone uses Cambridge's ones now they're no longer free?
This was mainly done to penalise NHS staff who walk from Babraham Road park and ride to work at Addenbrooke's (owing to parking at Addenbrooke's itself being prohibitively expensive).

I did read an interesting article that looked into the effects that the park and rides have, and it appears that they are well used, but that they have the effect of reducing overall public transport, with people that would have got busses from outlying villages driving to the park and ride sites to get into the centre.
Which is excellent. Fewer buses == less suffering for passengers and other road users. Plus more people walking. It's win win win.
Pilgrim Dan
Member
Posts: 387
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 18:22
Location: Plymouth

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by Pilgrim Dan »

Plymouth - Ivybridge Park & Rail
Merge posts in turn
WHBM
Member
Posts: 9696
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 18:01
Location: London

Re: Under-utilised, badly sited or even failed Park & Rides

Post by WHBM »

c2R wrote:I did read an interesting article that looked into the effects that the park and rides have, and it appears that they are well used, but that they have the effect of reducing overall public transport, with people that would have got busses from outlying villages driving to the park and ride sites to get into the centre.
I've written about this before, but back in the 1970s we did a study into putting a park-and-ride on the M4 just where it narrows down from 3 to 2 lanes as it enters the Chiswick Flyover and passes under the Piccadilly Line Underground. There were several issues, but a key one was that many from Reading, Windsor, etc going into London used the train to do so, as being the "most practical", but if this became the "most practical", as it seemed for many it would, they would abandon the train and drive down the M4 and complete on the Underground. In other words, people were wanting to drive as far as the could before transferring to public transport (which in this case was significantly cheaper).

Other issues were that, although there was capacity on the M4 then (not now), there was little suitable ground for the car park, little capacity on the Underground itself, which was being extended to Heathrow at the time, and an anticipation that once the Underground to Heathrow was opened it would form a cheaper car park for air passengers, and a better car park for the many working at and around the airport.

An interesting close analogy I have noticed in Russia, at the major cities of Moscow and St Petersburg, is there are longstanding electric rail services to the outer suburbs, relatively infrequent, but in the completely deregulated transport world that came there a large network sprang up very rapidly of dilapidated Ford Transit-type minibuses ("Marshrutkas"), about 12 passengers, operated at very high frequencies, connecting all the towns and villages that surround the city with the outermost Metro station at the city edge, from where you can continue into the centre. The suburban trains lost a lot of usage to these.
Post Reply