Skip to main content.
« Previous entry: Rowan Williams | Main page | Next entry: Bargain basement / Adventures in Flat-Pack »

November 18th, 2006

Advice to Guildford Council about the operation of their Park and Ride scheme

bus routeI have a degree in Transport so I am qualified to give this advice.

  1. Have some signs from the main A3 explaining where the Park and Ride is. There are no signs from the A3 explaining where the Park and Ride which makes it difficult to know where it is if you are approaching from the A3.
  2. Have some signs from other roads that explain where the Park and Ride is. There are only a few poorly situated signs on other roads explaining where the Park and Ride which makes it difficult to know where it is if you are approaching from other roads.
  3. At the Park and Ride have a sign explaining where people should park. At the University Park and Ride there is no information about the Park and Ride anywhere except the single sign at the entrance to the University. The car parks say Pay and Display, but does that apply to Park and Ride people and is this even the car park for Park and Ride anyway? The result is that people do not know where to park.
  4. At the Park and Ride have a sign explaining where people should ride. There is no information about where to get a bus at the Park and Ride. The result is that those people who have managed to park do not know where to ride.

My advice to people going to Guildford. Go by train if you can. If not make sure you have a leaflet before you go. If you do not have a leaflet your visit is likely to be filled with misery.

I have sent this report to Guildford Council for their perusal.

Update: Well, I tried to contact them. The website feedback form gives an error.

5 Comments »



This is a single Cartoon Blog entry, posted by Dave on Saturday, November 18th, 2006 at 11:05 am.

If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy these (possibly) related articles:

Know someone else who might enjoy this post? Click here to send this to a friend. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

The technologically advanced may like to trackback from another site, follow responses to this post via the RSS 2.0 feed, or bookmark this post on del.icio.us or digg.

5 Responses to “Advice to Guildford Council about the operation of their Park and Ride scheme”


  1. Karin says:

    I didn’t know there was one at Ladymead. There is one at the uni on Saturdays, which is where I’m heading soon.

    Of course we should use the train in order to save the planet, but I need to get used to the hill on the way home first, and have the extra time it takes, plus I want to go the the cathedral, which is an extra trek if you’ve already been around Guildford, which is the opposite side of the station.

    If you have a degree in transport you should have developed special antennae to detect park and ride schemes!!

    November 18th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
  2. Chris Clark says:

    5. Don’t go to Guildford?

    November 18th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
  3. yay says:

    Yes I was wondering why I should go to Guildford in the first place. And how a Park and Ride scheme works anyway.

    November 19th, 2006 at 11:51 am
  4. Ellen says:

    please forward your advice to all major towns in the UK. Park and Ride only works if you a. can park and b. can ride!

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:47 am
  5. Paul says:

    It may be deliberate. I work in Chelmsford and live in Bedford (don’t ask…) Both have a newish P&R scheme: in Chelmsford the car park is full by around 8.30 and stays full all day. People who work in the town have opted for it in a big way which has hugely improved the rush hour traffic. So THEY are trying to make it harder to use because the buses during the day are empty.

    In Bedford almost no-one uses it, as the car park is in an odd place and the bus doesn’t go anywhere very useful very quick either (despite removing mature trees to fit in an extra bus lane for part of the way into town). But some people are parking there for free and biking to work. So THEY are trying to make it harder to use because cyclists don’t pay.

    Perhaps Guildford has what THEY would see as a good reason for making it hard for you to use…

    November 21st, 2006 at 2:42 pm