Conservative Park & Ride is Failure (Windsor Liberal Democrats)

Windsor Liberal Democrats <info@windsorlibdems.org.uk>

Conservative Park & Ride is Failure

December 3, 2009 8:15 PM

As predicted by some of their own councillors and the Lib Dems, Windsor Conservatives' mini Park and Ride at Windsor Racecourse is proving a complete flop with visitors to Windsor. Only 50 people a day are using the the shuttle bus into Windsor with the result that the buses are often travelling empty, whilst on average there are 2 passengers per per bus.

"We warned from the outset that this was the wrong location for the Park & Ride," says Windsor's Lib Dem spokesman Julian Tisi. "It seems that with the Conservatives' free Christmas parking offer they can't even give away spaces at their Park and Ride."

Despite the scheme's lack of success the Conservatives seem determined to push ahead with making the temporary Park and Ride Scheme permanent at high expense. Previously the Conservatives had denounced the Lib Dems plans for an M4 Park and Ride as "statist" and even "communist" in one case, in what was clearly an ideological driven rejection of any public initiative.

Council figures show that 53% of traffic entering Windsor does so along the M4 spur road. Transport research shows that Park & Ride schemes placed most directly in the way of the main traffic flows and near to major arterial roads like motorways are by far the most successful. The Conservative scheme simply doesn't fulfil the necessary preconditions for it to work.

"It is time the Conservatives had the maturity to admit they got this policy wrong and looked again at finding a site for a larger and more economic Park & Ride near to the M4 and able to use the railway to bring visitors into Windsor." says Lib Dem campaigner Julian.