Norwich park and ride is a park and ride

Park and ride

Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...

 bus service in the city of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

, East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

. The first of the park and rides was opened in the early 1990s at Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....

 in Hellesdon

Hellesdon

Hellesdon is a thriving suburb of Norwich in the District of Broadland in Norfolk, England. It lies approximately 4 miles north-west of Norwich and has 11,177 inhabitants.- History :...

, while the sixth (and currently final) site was opened in Thickthorn in 2005. With the addition of the final site, the Norwich Park and Ride became the largest park and ride services in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and provided the scheme with over 5000 permanent car parks – at the time the highest number for a park and ride scheme in the country. The scheme has proven to be quite successful, winning the British Parking Association Park and Ride award in 2004, and in the 2006/2007 financial year, 3.3 million people used the service, keeping 940,000 cars out of the city centre.

Description

There are six purpose-built sites operating into Norwich bus station using colour-coded buses offering some 5000 parking spaces. Services begin running into the city at 06:40 Monday to Friday, with the last buses returning from 19:25 (20:30 on Thursday).

• Norwich Airport (off the A140) to the north via Aylsham Road; 620 spaces, mint blue buses.
• Sprowston (off the A1151) to the northeast via Wroxham Road; 788 spaces, purple buses.
• Postwick (off the A47) to the east via Thorpe Road; 525 spaces, red buses.
• Harford (off the A140) to the south via Ipswich Road; 1088 spaces, blue buses.
• Thickthorn (off the A11) to the southwest via the Newmarket Road; 786 spaces, pink buses.
• Costessey (off the A47) to the west via Dereham Road; 710 spaces, green buses.

All sites operated by Norse and services are run by Norse and Konectbus

Konectbus

Konectbus is a bus operator based in Dereham in Norfolk, England. From 11 March 2010, it became a part of the Go-Ahead Group. It currently operates 27 services including three of the Norwich Park and Ride routes, Costessey, Harford and Thickthorn. They have a fleet of almost 50 buses, the majority...

. In 2006 a total 3.4 million passengers used the service.

Expansion of Postwick site

It is proposed to add 500 places to the Postwick site as part of the Postwick Hub development which is associated with the Norwich Northern Distributor Road

Norwich Northern Distributor Road

The Norwich Northern Distributor Road is a proposed 8.7 mile dual-carriageway linking the A47 to the south east of the city to the proposed Rackheath Eco-town and to Norwich International Airport to the north of Norwich...

 development.

Bus types

All buses used on the services are low-floor and are colour-coded, for easy finding.

Norfolk County Council operates the Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....

, Postwick and Sprowston

Sprowston

Sprowston is a small town bordering Norwich in Norfolk, England. It is bounded by Heartsease to the east, Mousehold Heath and the suburb of New Sprowston to the south , Old Catton to the west, and by the open farmland of Beeston St Andrew to the north.It was the largest parish in Norfolk and the...

 services, using turquoise and red Dennis Trident 2

Dennis Trident 2

Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally built by Dennis in the United Kingdom, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow...

/Plaxton President

Plaxton President

The Plaxton President was a double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was unveiled in 1997 and built between 1999 and 2005. When Plaxton became part of TransBus International, the body was sold under...

 double deckers and purple Irisbus Agora Line

Renault Agora

The Irisbus Agora was a low-floor bus designed and built by Renault from 1996 to 2002, date upon which it has been built by Irisbus, firstly a joint-venture with Fiat subsidiary Iveco from 1999, with Iveco engines...

 single deckers.

Konectbus operates the Harford

Harford

-Places:United States:* Harford, New York, a town in Cortland County* Harford County, MarylandUnited Kingdom:* Harford, Carmarthenshire* Harford, Devon-People:* James Harford, British diplomat* John Scandrett Harford, banker, benefactor and abolitionist...

, Thickthorn and Costessey

Costessey

Costessey is a civil parish situated west of Norwich in Norfolk, England. The parish comprises two settlements: the long-established village of Costessey , and New Costessey , which developed during the first half of the 20th century and has become a suburb of Norwich...

 services, using pink DAF DB250/Wright Pulsar Gemini

Wright Pulsar Gemini

The Wright Pulsar Gemini is a type of double-decker bus body built for VDL DB250 and used in the United Kingdom since 2003.It has been ordered almost exclusively by Arriva and largely in London, although several batches were ordered for use by Arriva subsidiaries outside London, and by smaller...

 double deckers, blue Alexander Dennis Enviro 400

Alexander Dennis Enviro 400

The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a 2-axle double-decker bus built by Alexander Dennis from late 2005. It is designed as the replacement of the Alexander ALX400 body....

 double deckers and green Optare Tempo

Optare Tempo

The Optare Tempo is a full-size single-deck bus manufactured by Optare and was launched in late 2004. It is marketed and sold as the replacement for the Optare Excel.It is designed as a lightweight bus, to use less fuel than traditional heavy duty integrals....

single deckers.

External links

• Norfolk County Council - Norwich Park and Ride