Fresh delays as Colchester park and ride opening pushed back to Autumn 2014 (From Gazette)

It may have been a good idea to have the High Street closure and the park and ride start together!

Snoooze.......wake me up when it arrives. OTOH I might be dead.

But Derrick Louis, councillor responsible for highways at Essex County Council, revealed a planned bus lane running along the Northern Approach Road will not be built in the near future.

eh? they have started digging up the waste ground and put gates in for the heavy machines...

Very few people are going to use this park and ride, so does the delay really matter? Anyway it seems there won't be a dedicated bus lane so that puts the kibosh on it anyway. Still, nice work for some contractors, and jobs for drivers of bulldozers and the like, so it's not entirely useless.

Tend to agree with Boris, there will be few takers for the P&R and without the dedicated bus lane or the improvements to traffic flow under North Station Bridge, that were never planned anyway, it's likely to be a nightmare for anyone thinking they can get into Colchester quickly using the P&R.

It is a very bad use of the english language to place the words planning and council in the same sentence.

Whenever, or if ever, this so-called Park & Ride actually opens few will use it!
If drivers take the trouble to go to A12 Junction 28, they will surely find it much quicker and easier to continue on to Ipswich, where they will have a much more pleasant shopping environment, AND an efficient Park & Ride system.

ICareCol wrote:
Whenever, or if ever, this so-called Park & Ride actually opens few will use it!
If drivers take the trouble to go to A12 Junction 28, they will surely find it much quicker and easier to continue on to Ipswich, where they will have a much more pleasant shopping environment, AND an efficient Park & Ride system.

The position of our P and R is meant to attract mainly people from the Ipswich area, so, as you say, very few people are going to come our way.

How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

The thing is that there is no point spending money unless it achieves the desired outcome. Which is to cut down the traffic in the town, without driving people away completely.

The NAR extension needs to be completed first. When that is built, why not have a Park + Ride which uses the spaces at the football stadium? Give it a go, see if it works, and then decide whether to build the 1000-space site. The only days it could not be used would be match days - 23 home games, but some of those are midweek evening games, so perhaps 18 Saturdays in the year.

With NAR2 built, it should draw away a lot of the traffic that currently has to use Ipswich Road and Cowdray Avenue.

My own view is that P+R can work, but it needs to be sited in a different place - probably Tollgate area, with another one on the East side of town.

On a wider level, plenty of people could actually get rid of their cars and use public transport, car shares, cycling or walking. Not everybody, but plenty could do that. The solution is not to just more and bigger roads.

romantic wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

The thing is that there is no point spending money unless it achieves the desired outcome. Which is to cut down the traffic in the town, without driving people away completely.

The NAR extension needs to be completed first. When that is built, why not have a Park + Ride which uses the spaces at the football stadium? Give it a go, see if it works, and then decide whether to build the 1000-space site. The only days it could not be used would be match days - 23 home games, but some of those are midweek evening games, so perhaps 18 Saturdays in the year.

With NAR2 built, it should draw away a lot of the traffic that currently has to use Ipswich Road and Cowdray Avenue.

My own view is that P+R can work, but it needs to be sited in a different place - probably Tollgate area, with another one on the East side of town.

On a wider level, plenty of people could actually get rid of their cars and use public transport, car shares, cycling or walking. Not everybody, but plenty could do that. The solution is not to just more and bigger roads.

Well if the money isn't spent here it will be spent in Chelmsford.

I can't see how a trial at the football ground would work when it would have to be closed on Saturdays. 18 doesn't sound many but that's just under a 1/3.

CUFC might like the extra income though.

As you say one at each end of the town would be a better idea.

Park and ride to where? A town with very little to attract appreciable numbers of visitor's.get the new na road built so the people north of colchester can get access swiftly to the a12.to shop elsewhere.

TheCaptain wrote:

romantic wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

The thing is that there is no point spending money unless it achieves the desired outcome. Which is to cut down the traffic in the town, without driving people away completely.

The NAR extension needs to be completed first. When that is built, why not have a Park + Ride which uses the spaces at the football stadium? Give it a go, see if it works, and then decide whether to build the 1000-space site. The only days it could not be used would be match days - 23 home games, but some of those are midweek evening games, so perhaps 18 Saturdays in the year.

With NAR2 built, it should draw away a lot of the traffic that currently has to use Ipswich Road and Cowdray Avenue.

My own view is that P+R can work, but it needs to be sited in a different place - probably Tollgate area, with another one on the East side of town.

On a wider level, plenty of people could actually get rid of their cars and use public transport, car shares, cycling or walking. Not everybody, but plenty could do that. The solution is not to just more and bigger roads.

Well if the money isn't spent here it will be spent in Chelmsford.

I can't see how a trial at the football ground would work when it would have to be closed on Saturdays. 18 doesn't sound many but that's just under a 1/3.

CUFC might like the extra income though.

As you say one at each end of the town would be a better idea.

Putting it another way, it would be potentially available 295 days out of 313 (not counting Sundays).

It would be just a trial, to see how it goes. If it works, then we go the plan of building the 1,000-space permanent site. If not, we think again. It just seems more sensible to do that than spend the millions first and then find nobody wants to use it. It sounds a strange thing to say, after all the years this has already taken, but in a way we don´t need to rush these things. Stage one has to be getting NAR2 open, as that may have the effect of unblocking some of the routes which are currently overloaded.

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

ECC spent £250,000 on a cycle lane in Crouch Street, which is hardly used by cyclists.
ECC spent an estimated £3,500,000 on a so-called bus station which is nothing of the sort.
ECC should be spending money repairing Colchester's potholes, but does not repair them even in the street where a Tory county councillor lives.
How can we have any confidence in how ECC spends its money?

romantic wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:

romantic wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

The thing is that there is no point spending money unless it achieves the desired outcome. Which is to cut down the traffic in the town, without driving people away completely.

The NAR extension needs to be completed first. When that is built, why not have a Park + Ride which uses the spaces at the football stadium? Give it a go, see if it works, and then decide whether to build the 1000-space site. The only days it could not be used would be match days - 23 home games, but some of those are midweek evening games, so perhaps 18 Saturdays in the year.

With NAR2 built, it should draw away a lot of the traffic that currently has to use Ipswich Road and Cowdray Avenue.

My own view is that P+R can work, but it needs to be sited in a different place - probably Tollgate area, with another one on the East side of town.

On a wider level, plenty of people could actually get rid of their cars and use public transport, car shares, cycling or walking. Not everybody, but plenty could do that. The solution is not to just more and bigger roads.

Well if the money isn't spent here it will be spent in Chelmsford.

I can't see how a trial at the football ground would work when it would have to be closed on Saturdays. 18 doesn't sound many but that's just under a 1/3.

CUFC might like the extra income though.

As you say one at each end of the town would be a better idea.

Putting it another way, it would be potentially available 295 days out of 313 (not counting Sundays).

It would be just a trial, to see how it goes. If it works, then we go the plan of building the 1,000-space permanent site. If not, we think again. It just seems more sensible to do that than spend the millions first and then find nobody wants to use it. It sounds a strange thing to say, after all the years this has already taken, but in a way we don´t need to rush these things. Stage one has to be getting NAR2 open, as that may have the effect of unblocking some of the routes which are currently overloaded.

True I suppose. I was thinking how annoyed people would be, turn up for park and ride on a Saturday and can't use it as it's the football car park.

Boris wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

ECC spent £250,000 on a cycle lane in Crouch Street, which is hardly used by cyclists.
ECC spent an estimated £3,500,000 on a so-called bus station which is nothing of the sort.
ECC should be spending money repairing Colchester's potholes, but does not repair them even in the street where a Tory county councillor lives.
How can we have any confidence in how ECC spends its money?

Yes it would be great if they repaired the roads.

However I'm glad they are spending money in Colchester rather than Chelmsford etc.

I believe you are making up the costs of the bus station again. And whilst it may not be a bus station in the conventional sense (loads of parking for out of service buses) I can say that it has improved my daily bus journeys

TheCaptain wrote:

romantic wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:

romantic wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

The thing is that there is no point spending money unless it achieves the desired outcome. Which is to cut down the traffic in the town, without driving people away completely.

The NAR extension needs to be completed first. When that is built, why not have a Park + Ride which uses the spaces at the football stadium? Give it a go, see if it works, and then decide whether to build the 1000-space site. The only days it could not be used would be match days - 23 home games, but some of those are midweek evening games, so perhaps 18 Saturdays in the year.

With NAR2 built, it should draw away a lot of the traffic that currently has to use Ipswich Road and Cowdray Avenue.

My own view is that P+R can work, but it needs to be sited in a different place - probably Tollgate area, with another one on the East side of town.

On a wider level, plenty of people could actually get rid of their cars and use public transport, car shares, cycling or walking. Not everybody, but plenty could do that. The solution is not to just more and bigger roads.

Well if the money isn't spent here it will be spent in Chelmsford.

I can't see how a trial at the football ground would work when it would have to be closed on Saturdays. 18 doesn't sound many but that's just under a 1/3.

CUFC might like the extra income though.

As you say one at each end of the town would be a better idea.

Putting it another way, it would be potentially available 295 days out of 313 (not counting Sundays).

It would be just a trial, to see how it goes. If it works, then we go the plan of building the 1,000-space permanent site. If not, we think again. It just seems more sensible to do that than spend the millions first and then find nobody wants to use it. It sounds a strange thing to say, after all the years this has already taken, but in a way we don´t need to rush these things. Stage one has to be getting NAR2 open, as that may have the effect of unblocking some of the routes which are currently overloaded.

True I suppose. I was thinking how annoyed people would be, turn up for park and ride on a Saturday and can't use it as it's the football car park.

Well, that is true, but in a way, it just means we´d be back to how it is now. It would need to be signposted off the A12, with signs saying "Closed on match days: next closure **** ". Clearly, it would need a bit of thought and liaison with CUFC, and it is just an idea to see how it goes first.

what a stupid comment saying that people would continue to Ipswich as there park and ride is better. ITS NOT EVEN OPENED you gimp. Get a grip of your sad sorry life, you miserable moaning troll.

TheCaptain wrote:

Boris wrote:

TheCaptain wrote:
How very sad you all are. Essex CC are spending money in Colchester and all you can do is moan.

ECC spent £250,000 on a cycle lane in Crouch Street, which is hardly used by cyclists.
ECC spent an estimated £3,500,000 on a so-called bus station which is nothing of the sort.
ECC should be spending money repairing Colchester's potholes, but does not repair them even in the street where a Tory county councillor lives.
How can we have any confidence in how ECC spends its money?

Yes it would be great if they repaired the roads.

However I'm glad they are spending money in Colchester rather than Chelmsford etc.

I believe you are making up the costs of the bus station again. And whilst it may not be a bus station in the conventional sense (loads of parking for out of service buses) I can say that it has improved my daily bus journeys

I'm pleased to know your bus journeys have been improved. Not many people can say that.
As for the cost, CBC and ECC have both refused to confirm this, despite Freedom of Information requests. I said my figure was estimated, and I used the most plausible estimate. If you have better information, please tell us.

Moan, moan, moan.

Boris and co, I completely disagree that a park and ride would go unused. It might appear to be a rubbish town centre to some locals, but Colchester has a great shopping reputation to those people that live as far as the east end or Norwich in the opposite direction.
At the moment, Colchester has some great tourist attractions. The Zoo, The football stadium, the Castle and Firstsite (I understand it is not everyones cup of tea) will all attract visitors to colchester. Why not link them all together????
There is so much potential in Colchester, if only small minded people would open up their minds a little, especially to what might suit others above themselves.

best comment super, totally agree. is it perfect, no, should the bus lane be built, yes. however this is a start. the bus lane will mean that people from the surrounding villages and small towns that already use Colchester will have another option rather than parking in town centre, therefore hopefully having a knock on effect on traffic in town, which I know the majority of people on this site would believe is grid lock but for those of us that actually travel will know it is the same as any other town/city, and having lived in Ipswich for some years thankfully is not as bad as Ipswich generally.
theres plenty to moan about the council but this is def not one of them.

I have cycled on the Crouch street route but could not see much of a gain over the faster route using the roads. Also pedestrians come first and do not expect to see a bicycle so you have to be cautious.
.
I remember visiting Chelmsford, by car, and loved their Park&Ride by the A12. Easy to access and a fast bus to the centre on almost empty roads.
.
We could have had temporary Park&Rides around Colchester, decades ago, using simple porous ground sheets with gravel on top. A risky gamble to opt for a single site with expensive construction costs and traffic clogged road access to Colchester.

It is not Colchester's first park and ride. There used to be a park and ride from North Station into the town and another from a car park in Butt Road. The buses were numbered C1 and C2. The service was stopped through lack of use.
One of the buses used to stop opposite Marks and Spencers. I only ever saw half a dozen people on it at the most.

PROOFREADER wrote:
It is not Colchester's first park and ride. There used to be a park and ride from North Station into the town and another from a car park in Butt Road. The buses were numbered C1 and C2. The service was stopped through lack of use.
One of the buses used to stop opposite Marks and Spencers. I only ever saw half a dozen people on it at the most.

The problem with those Park and Rides is that you were almost in the town centre anyway

The way things have gone and are going in Colchester perhaps the 2014 P&R opening is timed to coincide with the closure of the last of the Town Centres retail outlets.
Thats the sort of planning we see nowadays.

PROOFREADER wrote:
It is not Colchester's first park and ride. There used to be a park and ride from North Station into the town and another from a car park in Butt Road. The buses were numbered C1 and C2. The service was stopped through lack of use.
One of the buses used to stop opposite Marks and Spencers. I only ever saw half a dozen people on it at the most.

C1 & C2 were not the first either, there was a park & ride from Cavalry Barracks in December 1971 branded Lancer Buslink