Carbon and congestion-busting park and ride opens it doors

A carbon-cutting, congestion-busting park and ride offering convenient travel hits the road next week.

At 7am on Monday (18th July), Birstall park and ride opens its doors to commuters and shoppers, providing a service every 15 minutes in and out of Leicester city centre.

A full bus can take up to 50 cars off the road, which helps reduce congestion and carbon emissions.

East of the A6 and south of the A46, buses will link up with the 1,000-space park and ride in Enderby, to provide a connecting service and reduce costs.

Funding for the joint county and city council project has come from the government and developer Jelson.

Lesley Pendleton, Leicestershire County Council cabinet member for environment and transport, said: "Tackling congestion is one of our main priorities and I'm pleased that by securing funding from the government and a developer, we've been able to build this key project. By investing now we will reap the benefits in the future."

"Linking up the two park and rides significantly reduces costs and enables us to run two sites for the price of one, whilst opening it up to Charnwood and Melton residents and visitors arriving from the north of the county and beyond.

"The park and ride has been constructed on time and within budget and I'm pleased it's opening its doors to the public."

Leicester Assistant City Mayor, Councillor Ted Cassidy, who is attending the launch, said: "One of our key priorities is to cut carbon emissions in the city, and this is a big step in the right direction, so I am delighted the new service is due to be up and running.

"This latest Park and Ride side is helping to establish an efficient and easy to use transport for the city which makes it easier than ever for visitors and commuters to leave their cars at home.

"I hope it also encourages more people from outside the city to visit, knowing they can park safely and travel into the city cheaply to enjoy everything that it has to offer."

Extensive landscaping has been carried out at Birstall including over 4,000 trees, 450m of hedgerow and 9,500 shrubs.

New timetables for the Birstall and Enderby park and rides, which run from Monday-Saturday from 7am-7pm, are available at www.quicksilverbus.co.uk  

Birstall park and ride is at: 801 Loughborough Road, Birstall, LE4 4NP.