City of York Council and First York
are set to extend their partnership delivering York’s Park & Ride
service after the bus operator successfully bid for the seven year
contract commencing in early 2018.
The new partnership agreement will see fully electric buses operating on three of the six routes, with brand new Euro 6 diesel buses completing the Park & Ride fleet. To help make journeys quicker and easier for passengers, First York have committed to complement the existing range of cash, smartcard and mobile ticket options with contactless bank-card technology.
Alongside this the new buses will
also have displays providing useful information for passengers including
details about the next bus stop, service data and other useful local
information.
Overnight parking will also be
introduced at the Askham Bar and Monks Cross Park & Ride sites
giving visitors the ability to park at the site en-route to their hotel
accommodation, or to access the rail network for a journey elsewhere
lasting more than one day.
Executive member for transport and
planning, Cllr Ian Gillies, said: “Since 2016 we have seen over 4.6
million passenger journeys on the city’s Park & Ride service. This
new agreement between the council and First Bus York will help to
reaffirm our position as having one of the best and most well used Park
& Ride services in the country.”
Marc Bichtemann, Managing Director at First York, said: “We’re proud to have been selected to continue to operate the York Park & Ride scheme, which is one of the most successful in the country. We will continue to offer customers a high quality and reliable service through the strong and effective partnership that we hold with City of York Council. In line with the new contract, we will be introducing new ultra-low emission vehicles onto the network which will improve air quality for York residents.
“We will be trialling a new electric
double decker over the next month with a view to introducing these to
Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar in the New Year, as we continue to support
the council in its aim to improve air quality by reducing emissions and
encouraging car users to switch to bus travel.”
The bid was approved by the
executive at a council meeting on Thursday 18 May and the new contract
arrangements are set to commence in February 2018.
The competitive tender process took
place earlier this year with bus operators given the opportunity to bid
for the new contract.
York is one of only a handful of
P&R operations which returns revenue (income) back to the council,
generating £39k in 2017/8. However, because the income will be lower in
2018/19 than in previous years, the council will need to allocate an
additional £85k in its budget in that year.
For more information about York’s Park & Ride service visit www.itravelyork.info/park-and-ride
NOW SEE THE LATEST ON THE NEW FOCUS FLICKR SITE
The first set of a veritable miscellany of pictures from a recent visit to Edinburgh have been placed into an album on the flickr site, which can now be viewed by clicking here
NOW SEE THE LATEST ON THE NEW FOCUS FLICKR SITE
The first set of a veritable miscellany of pictures from a recent visit to Edinburgh have been placed into an album on the flickr site, which can now be viewed by clicking here