Scarborough park and ride service needs radical shake-up to save taxpayers’ money

It’s great to see that North Yorkshire County Council has sensibly chosen to consult with residents over the park and ride provision.
Seamer rd Park and Ride . pic Richard PonterSeamer rd Park and Ride . pic Richard Ponter
Seamer rd Park and Ride . pic Richard Ponter

As many Scarborough residents are aware, the Weaponness Valley coach park provided a basic service for several years before the decision was made to provide two new sites on Seamer Road and Filey Road.

I attended several meetings at the Royal Hotel held by Scarborough Council discussing the proposed routes and how state-of-the-art traffic lights were going to be introduced to fast track the buses around the town with a 15 minute turn around.

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The bespoke buses’ proud logo, One bus takes as many as 30 cars off the road, subsequently came into service. Perhaps, that was not the best of logos.

The surprising fact is that the Seamer Road site usage is much lower than the Filey Road site.

The A64 site should have been located further out, preferably with better signage and perhaps using the train network in a shuttle operation.

The site was built on a former tip often camped on illegally by travellers and the lower part seems to act as an overflow storage for a nearby business.

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Electronic signage opposite Dean’s Garden Centre has never been properly utilised and thankfully additional traffic lights intended for the junction of Stoney Haggs Road and St Thomas Street/Castle Road were not implemented.

The entire scheme was reported to have cost £30m and could be argued to be money thrown down the drain.

The implementation caused long delays, and those delays still exist at the Queen Margaret’s Road lights, several years later.

Roundabouts worked far better at both ends of that road.

The North Bay has not gained from the park and ride service which is disappointing when major acts are at the Open Air Theatre and the site closes at 7pm, possibly affecting the night town economy.

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I feel that the whole scheme was far too adventurous by operating it for 364 days of the year and it should have been initially introduced for the school holidays and following review, daily from March to October with flexibility for provision of other festivals or Christmas events.

If the South Bay terminus had better facilities than the open sided small shelter opposite the Rotunda, which has no seats and some adjacent free toilets, the service might prove more friendly to our day trippers.

The ordinary service buses could provide a connecting link entering town diverting into the park and ride sites without using the presently plain unmarked buses that are carrying a handful of people hourly duplicating and wasting fuel.

People in Ramshill often comment that the A165 park and ride buses could have stopped and picked up there and also a connecting route could have been provided to the new Weaponness Sports Village and adjacent colleges with the A64 service.

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I have completed the online survey and if residents feel like I do, that the service needs a radical shake-up to save council taxpayers’ money I recommend views are submitted as soon as possible.

Would it be too much to ask if the residents’ parking scheme could be reviewed next?

Guy Smith

Peasholm Drive

Scarborough