A bumper Christmas for Stratford Park and Ride
Stratford Park and Ride is celebrating a bumper Christmas with three times as many passengers using the service as during the same period last year.
The Park and Ride service, which operates out of a site at Bishopton off the A46, saw passenger journeys jump from 2,965 in December 2005 to 9,201 this December.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Environment Portfolio Holder said: “I’m delighted to see more and more people taking advantage of Stratford Park and Ride. The benefits are clear to see with free parking at the site and then just £1.30 return into the centre of Stratford.
“We always knew this was not a quick fix solution to traffic congestion in Stratford, indeed we’re in this for the long haul. Our responsibility is to anticipate the problem of increasing traffic congestion over the next five years. Our Local Transport Plan anticipates the growth of traffic, from both residents and visitors to Stratford, therefore we are acting now.”
Stratford Park and Ride has already won acclaim, winning the West Midlands Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Sustainability Award 2006.
Warwickshire County Council developed the scheme and manages its operation at the site near the junction of the A46 with the A3400 Birmingham Road. Buses operated by Johnsons of Henley run from the site into Stratford town centre every ten minutes.
Stratford Park and Ride forms a key element of Warwickshire County Council’s Local Transport Plan which, over the next five years, seeks to improve people’s access to services and facilities while managing the impact on society, the environment, our economy and resources.
The county council’s Local Transport Plan specifically links Park and Ride with its Decriminalisation of Parking scheme in Stratford. This is because similar schemes operating in Cambridge, York, Nottingham, Chester, Oxford and Coventry have delivered a shift from vehicle congested urban centres to sustainable public transport. In achieving this they have also created a better, safer, cleaner environment for everyone to enjoy.