Park and ride set to take 6,000 cars off road

THE first privately-funded bus park and ride in Britain has opened in Hazel Grove, near Stockport and is expected to take 6,000 cars off the road every month.

Stagecoach Manchester’s £3m facility is also the first its kind in Greater Manchester.

The new 400-space, which has a cycle parking space part-funded through Transport for Greater Manchester, will be served by a £12m fleet of 40 hybrid electric buses equipped with free Wi-Fi.

Located on a stretch of the heavily-congested A6, the facility links Stockport and central Manchester.

Following its departure from Hazel Grove, the service stops at Stepping Hill, Heaviley, Stockport, Heaton Chapel, Levenshulme, Longsight, Ardwick before completing the journey in Manchester city centre.

Stagecoach Manchester managing director, Christopher Bowles, said: “This substantial investment by Stagecoach in Greater Manchester’s first bus Park & Ride facility demonstrates our commitment to provide affordable and accessible transport for the region.

“The £12m fleet of hybrid electric vehicles (part funded by the DfT in 2013) which will serve the Hazel Grove Park & Ride, will enable our customers to benefit from the latest green technology the industry has to offer while they travel to and from one of the most exciting cities in the UK.

“In the long term, this Park & Ride will also relieve the region’s roads of an estimated 6,000 cars per month, helping us to significantly reduce the level of carbon emissions in the local area.”

Greater Manchester is also set to benefit within months from multi-operator smart ticketing as part of a pledge by the country’s major public transport groups.

Stagecoach Group chief executive Martin Griffiths said: “We are fully behind plans to make Greater Manchester a real economic powerhouse of the north. Transport is central to making that happen and the bus is the most important and accessible form of public transport.

“This ground-breaking investment in the country’s first privately-funded bus park and ride initiative demonstrates the importance of the private sector in making the government’s devolution plans and Greater Manchester’s aspirations a reality.

“We have a shared responsibility to get the most from the nation’s bus network. It connects people with work, health and education, and is crucial to the economic health of the high street. With continued austerity and stretched public funding, the private sector more than ever has to be part of the solution.”

Developed in association with Manchester-based transport consultants SCP, the facility has been built on former wasteland at the junction of Buxton Road and Macclesfield Road. The supervised facility includes toilets and a covered waiting area.

Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee (TfGMC) Cllr Andrew Fender said: “I congratulate Stagecoach Manchester on the completion of its long-term aspiration to open a Park and Ride at Hazel Grove. It will complement the previous investment we have made to improve passenger journeys along the A6.

“I’m particularly pleased to see the new cycle parking facilities incorporated and hope that it will encourage more people to consider cycling for part of their journey. Linking different modes of travel together like this helps to build an integrated transport network which will make it easier for people to travel into and around Greater Manchester.”

Bus minister Andrew Jones said: “I applaud Stagecoach Manchester for investing in this bus Park & Ride scheme which will make it easier for people travelling to Manchester to get to work, do their shopping and visit friends and family.

“This facility will link communities and the cleaner, greener buses will also help improve air quality by reducing traffic congestion in surrounding areas, and encouraging people to take public transport rather than driving their cars into town centres.”

Manchester comedian Justin Moorhouse performed an impromptu gig aboard the bus at the opening ceremony