All aboard for changes to city's park and ride

Double-decker buses and a reduced timetable are some of the changes to a city's park and ride service which are due to take effect from Friday.

A new operator - First Bus - will take over running Chelmsford's two park and ride schemes from 6 March for an initial four-year contract.

The service runs from two sites - Sandon and Chelmer Valley - and there were more than 720,000 passenger journeys last year.

But Essex County Council confirmed the Saturday service from Chelmer Valley would no longer be running, following a consultation last year.

Other changes taking effect from Friday include:

• Lowering the child ticket age from 18 to 16 years old
• A new £2 student ticket to sit between the child £1 fare and the £3 adult day ticket
• No service from Chelmer Valley after 19:30 Monday to Friday
• Four double-decker buses will operate from Sandon from Friday, as well as one from the Chelmer Valley site, with others coming into service shortly afterwards

Essex County Council said the cancellation of some services from Chelmer Valley "reflects the very low use… at these times" but added that it would be kept under review.

The authority had previously said the Chelmer Valley site received a quarter of the passengers that the Sandon site gets, putting the average cost per passenger at more than £12.

First Bus will take over the contract which has been managed by Central Connect.

The council confirmed the shuttle service between the Chelmer Valley site and Broomfield Hospital would be unaffected by the changes.

Mark Platt, council Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport, said the authority was "strengthening our bus services by investing in services and infrastructure".

"We want to make sure that using the bus in Essex is as simple, modern and as accessible as possible," he said.

James McCluskey, commercial director of First Bus in Essex, said the firm was "delighted" to have been awarded the contract.

"We have an excellent track record of operating other park and ride networks in the region, and our team of drivers is ready to deliver a high-quality journey experience for customers, starting this Friday," he said.

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