Promoting park and ride schemes

Well designed park and ride schemes reduce the number of cars entering urban centres and lead to an overall decrease in private car mileage. Schemes need to be carefully designed and seen as one measure in a wider transport strategy for an area.

A 1998 UK study investigated the effectiveness of bus-based park and ride in response to growing concerns that schemes could lead to an overall increase in private car mileage. It examined a cross section of schemes serving eight urban centres and found that park and ride resulted in a net reduction in private car use and car mileage in each case.

The size of the reduction in each urban centre depended on the extent to which: sites are located further out from the urban area which they serve; and, services are complemented with bus priority measures and restraint measures on private car use in the urban centre. Users indicated that they found park and ride easier and cheaper than parking in the town centre, and that the service available was convenient, quick and reliable.