Norwich Park and Ride is a park & ride bus service in the English city of Norwich, East Anglia. The first of the park and rides was opened in the early 1990s at Norwich Airport in Hellesdon,[1] while the sixth (and currently final) site was opened in Thickthorn in 2005.[2] With the addition of the final site, the Norwich Park & Ride became the largest park and ride services in the United Kingdom,[3] and provided the scheme with over 5,000 permanent parking spaces – at the time the highest number for a park and ride scheme in the country.[2] The scheme was awarded the British Parking Association Park and Ride award in 2004,[3] and in the 2006/2007 financial year, 3.3 million people used the service, keeping 940,000 cars out of the city centre.[4]
Thickthorn Park & Ride is located near Thickthorn services in Hethersett (NR9 3AU), on the junction of the A47 with the A11. The site first opened in 2005, making it the newest Park & Ride site in Norwich.
It has 726 car parking spaces and is the only site to open 7 days a week.[5][6]
Harford Park & Ride
Harford Park & Ride is located on Ipswich Road, Norwich (NR4 6DY), and is accessed via an exit off the Harford Interchange where the A140 meets the A47.
The site has 1088 car parking spaces, including electric vehicle charging points, cycle parking and recycle facilities. A car boot sale is held at the site on a Sunday, when no services are in operation.[7]
In 2015, First Eastern Counties began to operate service 600 which travelled between the site and Norfolk County Hall on weekday mornings and evenings. This service was taken over by Konectbus when the new park and ride contract began in September 2015.
Airport Park & Ride
Airport Park & Ride is located on Buck Courtney Crescent, next to the entrance to Norwich Airport. The site has 620 spaces and is open Monday to Saturday. The site also has facilities for recycling and electric vehicle charging.
Costessey Park & Ride
Costessey Park & Ride is located next to the Royal Norfolk Showground in Costessey, Norwich. It has 1,100 spaces and is open Monday to Friday. From September 2015, it became the only site which has no service to the City Centre at all. Services instead run from the site to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and The University of East Anglia only.
Postwick Park & Ride
Postwick Park & Ride is located on Yarmouth Road at the eastern junction between the A47 and the A1270 (NR13 5NP). It is open Monday to Saturday. It has 552 car parking spaces.
Sprowston Park & Ride
Sprowston Park & Ride is located north-east of the city at Wroxham Road. It opens Monday-Saturday and has 792 spaces. A boot sale takes place there on Sundays.
2005-2010 contract
Between 2005-2010 the sites were managed and operated by three companies:[8]
Norse operated a fleet of Plaxton President bodied double deckers to operate all their services, with Airport having a light blue livery and Postwick and Sprowston sites being merged, operating via the city centre and Norfolk County Hall.
2015 contract
On 7 September 2015, Konectbus commenced a contract to operate all six park & ride service for a five-year period.[10][11][12] A fleet of 18 Alexander Dennis Enviro400s painted in a new green livery were purchased.[13]
2020-2025 contract
In 2020, Konectbus renewed the contract to continue running all routes on the park and ride. In March of that same year all park and ride sites were closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. All sites were reopened in 2022, except the Postwick site, which was not reopened until September 2023.[14]
In 2022, First Eastern counties took over the contract for the Costessey service, with them buying a fleet of Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC double deckers for the route. These have since left the fleet.
In early 2024, it was announced that the Postwick site was being planned for closure at it had failed to recover passenger numbers to pre-COVID levels.[15] However, the site will now continue to operate following alterations made to the 2025-2030 contract.[16]
2025-2030 contract
On 2nd October 2024, it was announced that Konectbus would not have their contract renewed for the 2025-2030 period, ending almost 20 years of Norwich park and ride services by the operator.[17] Commencing April 2025, the Thickthorn, Airport, Sprowston and Costessey services will be operated by First Eastern Counties, with the Postwick and Harford sites now being operated by Simonds.[18]
It is proposed to add 500 places to the Postwick site as part of the Postwick Hub development which is associated with the Norwich Northern Distributor Road development.[20]
Incidents
In May 2011, a Norse double decker operating on the Postwick park and ride service, caught fire on the A47. The bus was completely destroyed by flames after suffering an engine failure. Passengers were evacuated by the driver after stopping the vehicle on a roundabout, before the Broadland Business Park. Nobody was injured. Bus operator Norse, found the rest of the fleet to be in good working order[21]
In January 2013, passengers on board an Airport Park and Ride bus operated by Norse were evacuated while at the Airport Park and Ride site after the double decker bus caught fire. According to witnesses, black smoke was seen billowing from a vent above the drivers seat. Fire crews had extinguished the blaze within ten minutes and the bus remained in a decent condition.[22]
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