Nearly 2000 people used St Edmundsbury’s park and ride service to travel to the 2006 Christmas Fayre this weekend, in turn helping to make sure spaces were always available in the town’s car parks.
Statistics show that although car parks throughout Bury St Edmunds filled up quickly over the weekend, there was a constant turnover of spaces. On top of the park and ride service, which will run every Saturday until Christmas, the new Variable Message Signs (VMS), installed last week, helped ensure visitors were able to find a space.
In total, ten VMS have been introduced around town. Positioned on the approach to car parks, they tell motorists if the car park is full or has space available, and helped spread traffic between sites over the busy weekend. The VMS cost £250,000 to install and was funded by £200,000 from Suffolk County Council’s on-street parking fund, with the remaining £50,000 coming from Cattle Market developers Centros Miller. In addition to these measures, staff were also on hand in the Cattle Market car park to direct motorists to empty spaces and pay machines.
Cllr Terry Clements, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Transport and Leisure, said:
“The Christmas Fayre weekend is one of the busiest in the town’s calendar and the extra measures we have put in place helped us to cope well with the increased traffic. We are extremely pleased with the VMS, which has already proved invaluable in helping to keep the traffic flowing, and felt the park and ride was very well received. We had no problems or complaints over the weekend and are delighted the event ran so smoothly.”
The park and ride service will run from Denny’s on Moreton Hall and West Suffolk College, on Out Risbygate, from 10am to 6pm each Saturday.
ENDS
ISSUED BY LIZ HEARNSHAW, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tel 01284 757033. liz.hearnshaw@stedsbc.gov.uk
