- Norwich park and ride
-
Volvo B7TLs formally used on the Harford park and ride service when operated by First (First lost out on the contract for 2010, although seen on a different route.
Norwich park and ride is a park and ride bus service in the city of Norwich, East Anglia. The first of the park and rides was opened in the early 1990s at Norwich International Airport in Hellesdon,[1] while the sixth (and currently final) site was opened in Thickthorn in 2005.[2] With the addition of the final site, the Norwich Park and Ride became the largest park and ride services in the United Kingdom,[3] and provided the scheme with over 5000 permanent car parks – at the time the highest number for a park and ride scheme in the country.[2] The scheme has proven to be quite successful, winning the British Parking Association Park and Ride award in 2004,[3] and in the 2006/2007 financial year, 3.3 million people used the service, keeping 940,000 cars out of the city centre.[4]
Contents
Description
There are six purpose-built sites operating into Norwich bus station using colour-coded buses offering some 5000 parking spaces. Services begin running into the city at 06:40 Monday to Friday, with the last buses returning from 19:25 (20:30 on Thursday).
- Norwich Airport (off the A140) to the north via Aylsham Road; 620 spaces, mint blue buses.
- Sprowston (off the A1151) to the northeast via Wroxham Road; 788 spaces, purple buses.
- Postwick (off the A47) to the east via Thorpe Road; 525 spaces, red buses.
- Harford (off the A140) to the south via Ipswich Road; 1088 spaces, blue buses.
- Thickthorn (off the A11) to the southwest via the Newmarket Road; 786 spaces, pink buses.
- Costessey (off the A47) to the west via Dereham Road; 710 spaces, green buses.
All sites operated by Norse and services are run by Norse and Konectbus. In 2006 a total 3.4 million passengers used the service.
Proposed development
Expansion of Postwick site
It is proposed to add 500 places to the Postwick site as part of the Postwick Hub development which is associated with the Norwich Northern Distributor Road development.[5]
Bus types
All buses used on the services are low-floor and are colour-coded, for easy finding.
Norfolk County Council operates the Norwich International Airport, Postwick and Sprowston services, using turquoise and red Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton President double deckers and purple Irisbus Agora Line single deckers.
Konectbus operates the Harford, Thickthorn and Costessey services, using pink DAF DB250/Wright Pulsar Gemini double deckers, blue Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 double deckers and green Optare Tempo single deckers.
References
- ^ "Park and ride site too busy for own good". Norwich Evening News. 5 January 2006. http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=enonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED05%20Jan%202006%2012%3A30%3A50%3A140. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- ^ a b "800-space park and ride to open". BBC News. 29 March 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/4389389.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- ^ a b "Work starts on new park and ride". BBC News. 19 June 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3820385.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- ^ "Figures for park-and-ride double". BBC News. 12 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/6649831.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- ^ "NATS/Northern Distributor Road - Progress Report". Norfolk County Council. 2008-01-28. http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/groups/public/documents/committee_report/cabinet280108item20pdf.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
External links
Categories:- Norwich
- Park and ride schemes in the United Kingdom
- Transport in Norfolk
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
