Service area Preston Destinations Preston Operator Preston Bus | Service type Bus services Fleet Optare Solo SR | |
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Website Preston Bus Park and Ride | ||
Preston park and ride is a park-and-ride scheme in the city of Preston in Lancashire, England, operated by Rotala subsidiary Preston Bus (formerly Stagecoach in Preston).
Contents
Services
The park and ride system consists of two car parks at Portway and one at Walton-le-Dale, connected by bus routes to the city centre; the Portway route also serves Preston railway station. The services do not run on Sundays, and a reduced service operates on bank holidays. The car parks are free, with users paying for the bus journey.
Before 4 March 2013, the Portway and Walton-le-Dale sites were served by separate routes:
Preston Bus took over operation of the park and ride service in 1991; services had previously been provided by Ribble. It originally consisted of one site, at Portway in the Riversway Docklands area. The second, at Capitol Way in Walton-le-Dale, was opened on 1 December 2002.
In 2009 a third site was opened, at Bluebell Way in Fulwood. Served by the "Orbit" routes 88A and 88C rather than having its own dedicated service, it was unpopular due to higher fares and infrequent bus service and was closed in January 2011.
In February 2013 it was announced that the two park and ride routes would be combined from 4 March to create a route (Route 1) through the city centre.
The through route was affected by congestion along Fishergate when the street was being made into a shared space, and in May 2016 the routes were separated again to improve reliability. Most journeys from the Portway site (which became Route 2) were replaced by a diversion of Route 89.
Fleet
The park and ride service is run using Optare Solo SR buses. In 2011, hybrid Optare Versa buses were introduced on the Walton-le-Dale service but these were transferred to other services when the park and ride was run as a through route. Preston Bus was the first operator of Optare Solo SR buses, as eight were acquired for the Park & Ride routes, five of which entered service in May 2008. They have leather seats and when you enter the bus there is a display of pictures of Preston's best. Minibuses will be used on the combined service replacing the Versas until the Portway site is redeveloped. Buses formerly used on the park and ride routes include Dodge minibuses, and Optare's MetroRider and Solo.
Livery
The previous livery had consisted of pink with a dark blue skirt and a broad light blue 'swish' towards the back. All of the buses are now in green, cream and blue livery.