SOME ticket prices at Colchester's Park and Ride are set to be slashed in a bid to encourage more people to use it. 

Essex County Council is looking to reduce the adult ticket price after noon each day. 

County Hall is looking at lowering the price from £3 per person to £2.50 between 1pm and 3.30pm each day. 

At all other times it would remain at £3. 

This move, if approved, would apply to Colchester, Chelmer Valley and Sandon park and rides. 

Essex County Council says the cost of weekend day visits to Chelmsford and Colchester city centres will now be in line with weekday prices at all three park and ride sites.

The council is also proposing the following changes at Chelmsford only:

  • Reduce the weekday adult ticket from £3.60 to £3.
  • Increase the Saturday adult ticket from £1.50 to £3 (this will make it the same as Monday to Friday).
  • Increase the current Saturday group ticket from £3.50 to £5 (this will make it the same as Monday to Friday). A group can be composed of up to two adults and three children.

The decision follows a fall off from 2019/20 time period, where there were 257,524 park and ride uses, with only 93,149 uses during 21/22 time period and just 59,719 uses during the 2022/23 time period.

The figures for park and ride use hit their lowest during the 2020/21 where just 25,944 rides were taken throughout the year.

A consultation has now opened giving residents and service users the opportunity to have their chance to comment on the proposed changes.

The consultation period closes on Friday, December 9. The responses will then be studied before Essex County Council decides on the changes they will enact.

All views proposed will be taken into consideration before a final decision is made.

Lee Scott, the council's sustainable transport boss, said: “Covid-19 has changed the times people are using the park and ride services.

“Commuters are not using the three park and ride sites, two in Chelmsford at Sandon and Chelmer Valley and one in Colchester, in the numbers they were pre-pandemic.

“However, road usage is equalling pre-Covid volumes, and people are travelling at different times of the day. 

“This increased car usage is resulting in increased congestion and higher pollution in our city centres.

“These price changes seek to encourage people to use the Park and Ride at all hours of the day, a move which we hope will bring down emissions.”

To have your say, visit bit.ly/3NkhODa.