CHESTER, one of the first cities in the country to provide a Park & Ride service, celebrates 25 years of a scheme that has helped revolutionise the way people travel to work, do their shopping and go on day trips.
The first site was opened at Boughton in November 1983 and since then Chester City Council has opened three more sites covering all sides of the city. The sites at Sealand Road followed in 1986, Upton in 1992 and Wrexham Road in 1998.
Over the 25 years the service has carried nearly 14 million passengers and currently is the fourth largest service in the country.
The Upton Park & Ride is the smallest of all the locations with 450 spaces. Demand, especially at Christmas, has meant that additional spaces are needed and in the past Chester Zoo has allowed the use of their car park as an overspill.
With the successful introduction of the Frost Fair on the zoo car park, the overspill facility is being moved to this new location adjacent to the Park & Ride site and the city council has expressed its gratitude to the zoo for its co-operation to enable this facility to continue. Improvement work will provide an all weather surface on the over spill car park.
Councillor Stephen Mosley, Executive Member for Customer Service said: “The Park & Ride is an essential part of Chester’s transport infrastructure and after 25 years Chester City Council now runs one of the major Park & Ride operations in the country.
“We are particularly grateful for the support and encouragement we have received over the years from our friends at Chester Zoo enabling us to extend the service to more people with this additional parking facility.”
Chester City Council is committed to the Park & Ride service and in conjunction with the Cheshire County Council is looking forward to the extension of the service with a fifth site on the east side of the city in the next few years.
