Problems over park and ride

MOTORISTS are today threatening to abandon Ipswich's successful park and ride network because of serious problems following changes to the system.

A cross-town link between the London Road and Martlesham park and ride sites was introduced last week giving people from the south of Ipswich the opportunity to catch a park-and-ride bus to Ipswich Hospital and those from the north to catch a service to the railway station.

However since their introduction there have been major problems with delays, meaning passengers have sometimes had to wait up to 30 minutes between buses.

The London Road park and ride site is in Liberal Democrat Kathy Pollard's division, and she said she had heard many complaints from passengers and warnings from staff about disgruntled users of the service.

She said: “The problem with the cross town routes is that any problem can be magnified and ends up as a major bottleneck. With the shorter routes in and out of town that was not such an issue.

“Now there are often such long delays at rush-hours that some people are talking about ditching the service and driving into the town.”

Mrs Pollard said another problem was that buses no longer looped around the town centre. “People can no longer get off at various stops in the town like at Marks and Spencer or Tower Ramparts. That is very difficult for people who are very old or suffering from disabilities.”

County transport spokesman Guy McGregor said the new system had only been introduced last Monday and it was not surprising if there were teething troubles with it.

“We shall certainly be keeping things under review and we are aware that there have been some early problems - but we feel the benefits outweigh the problems.

“However we certainly shall be looking at how the system operates and that will be something we look at when the whole park and ride contract goes out to tender again at the end of the year,” he said.