Letter: Why Not Use Park & Ride Services for Railway Commuters?

Published on: 21 Mar, 2022
Updated on: 21 Mar, 2022

From: Lisa Wright

In response to: Joint Committee Agrees Changes to On-Street Parking in Guildford

Why don’t all the Park & Ride sites run services directly to the railway station between 6.30 and 9am and again between 5 and 7.30pm?

Parking at the station is very costly, causes a lot of traffic congestion and sometimes one has to park quite far away from the actual platforms, surely it’s obvious that the Park & Rides are the answer to this?

Users would pay less, need to walk less while decreasing town centre pollution and congestion.

Responses to Letter: Why Not Use Park & Ride Services for Railway Commuters?

Bibhas Neogi Reply

March 22, 2022 at 8:11 am

Apart from the Onslow Park & Ride buses that connect the west entrance of the railway station, other buses and P&R buses do not. The gyratory is part of the problem and the route out of Walnut Tree Close into the gyratory would also cause further delays and hence buses do not connect the railway station.

If the revised route proposal of ‘north-in and north-out’ for the retained bus station goes ahead (I think it shouldn’t), it would add to the delays even more.

If the bus station is relocated in Bedford Road as I have suggested, all buses including P&R buses from the north and the east could connect the mini-hub close to the location of the existing bus station, without getting caught up in the gyratory traffic. Access to the railway station via the new Walnut Bridge would also be much better for all bus users.
Robert Douglass Reply

March 22, 2022 at 8:25 am

The Artington Park and Ride stops at the bottom of The Mount from where it is a short walk to the railway station. Is it too much to ask commuters to walk from the bus station to the railway station? What about walking across the new bridge from Walnut Tree Close into the town? As walking is good for health, surely this should be encouraged rather than rolling out of a car straight on to a train.
- Jim Allen Reply
  
  March 22, 2022 at 6:41 pm
  
  Integrated transport is attractive because you don’t get wet, you don’t have to struggle with luggage or shopping. If you want exercise or get wet, walk to the next bus stop!
Janet Moorhouse Reply

March 22, 2022 at 11:27 am

This solution is far too sensible for the authorities in Guildford to agree. I have always thought the disconnect between the railway station and the bus station very odd.
Ben Paton Reply

March 23, 2022 at 8:01 am

A “joined-up” transport network is the beginning of a sustainable transport network. It’s just too obvious.

It’s funny how the architects of the Local Plan didn’t think of it.

But then again not so surprising since it seems to have been written for a few housebuilders and their A3 car-dependent greenfield sites, not for the public.
John Lomas Reply

March 23, 2022 at 2:25 pm

Those in Guildford should think themselves lucky that the bus and railway stations are so close together.

When I lived in Guildford they were even closer, the bus stations were in Onslow Street, next to Rodboro Buildings, and “Farnham Road Bus Station” in what is now the car park next to the George Abbot pub.

In Preston they are nearly a mile apart and in Bristol over a mile.