A new, improved park and ride bus service will be operating between the George and Derriford from Monday 5 November.
The PR3 service, which currently runs from Monday to Friday between the George, UCP Marjon and Derriford Hospital, is being extended to include the Tamar Science Park at peak times following consultation with key businesses in the area.
There will also be more frequent buses, meaning a better service for workers, students, hospital outpatients and visitors.
The service, which will continue to be operated by Target Travel on behalf of the Council, will offer modern, single-deck, low-floor and accessible vehicles with new branding that will make them easily recognisable for passengers.
The frequency has been increased from every 20 minutes throughout the day to every 15 minutes during the morning and afternoon peak periods and every 10 minutes (but only as far as the hospital) between 10.15am and 3.15pm.
- The first bus will leave the George Park and Ride at 6.30am and run every 15 minutes until 10.15am
- Between 10.15am and 3.15pm it will run every 10 minutes, but will not serve the Tamar Science Park
- It will then run every 15 minutes from 3.15pm until 7pm.
Fares will start from as little as £1 for a single journey and £1.20 for a return, with a weekly ticket costing just £5. Concessionary bus passes will be accepted on the service and special deals are also available for staff and students at Derriford Hospital and UCP Marjon.
Councillor Mark Coker, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: "We are really pleased to be able to announce these improvements to the PR3 service, which have been secured using Section 106 funding from the Kingdom Hall development in the Tamar Science Park. People working in and visiting the science park have a new, convenient travel option and existing passengers will benefit from more frequent buses on the route.”
Chris Rodham, Green Travel Manager at UCP Marjon, said he is delighted the Council has negotiated an enhanced service from the George Park and Ride.
He said: "UCP Marjon has worked closely with Target Travel over the past two years in conjunction with the development of our Green Travel Plan. We offer free use of the George Park and Ride for staff, students and visitors by issuing vouchers that cover the fare for each journey. Target Travel then invoice the University College to recover their costs. The support and flexibility offered by Target Travel has been excellent and has ensured that the number of vehicles visiting the campus on a daily basis has been reduced by approximately 15 per cent.”
For more information about the PR3 service call Target Travel on 01752 242000.
Staff at Derriford were emailed the new timetable which confusingly referred to the timetable as route 60 whilst the poor photocopy / pdf clearly states its the PR3. Two Newish Enviro 200s buses have been purchased by Target for the service which will be lettered up so hopefully they will settle on PR3 once and for all. Presumably a full and hopefully better presented timetable will eventually appear on the Target Travel website by the start date.
Bloggers
- Been a really busy month with an even busier one to come as we get ready for our Winter Running Day on Saturday December 1 Ensignbus Blog
- The last of the recently refurbished Enviro 200s, 44513 DK57SXG, was noted on the Caister Road forecourt this morning East Norfolk Bus Blog
- This is not the first time that Velvet have attempted to spread their wings from running Eastleigh local routes. One attempt to run between Eastleigh and Southampton was very quickly "seen off" by Bluestar's Beep Bus. Public Transport Experience
- “Two pure electric buses will be introduced to routes 507 and 521 next summer following agreement between TfL and Go-Ahead London to lease them up until the end of each route contract,” said Hendy. The Bus People
- Sources within First are publicly stating they want around 7 or 8 low floor double deckers for the X4 (Portsmouth - Southampton), although I'm sure Volvo Olympians aren't what was envisaged Southern England Bus Scene
- European passengers who visit the Megabus website can now access new French and Dutch language websites as well as the original English language sites. The Bus People
Target really are doing well on this route. The 1710 one from Derriford Wednesday evening had a standing load. They're currently using low floor MPD Darts, which mostly display 'Park and Ride' on the front LED display while they have a manual number blind on the side which says 60, though have seen it referred to as PR3 a few times.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope their success with this route continues - always nice to see a smaller company doing well!
Sorry to bring up an old (ish) post, though recently found this text from the 'Access Derriford' campaign as part of Plymouth's 'Better Bus Area Fund'.
ReplyDeleteBus services 14, 28B, 46/47 and service 52 are financially supported by
Plymouth City Council. The service 60 also receives de minimis payment from
the Council until March 2012. Plans are in place for Derriford Hospital to
relocate a significant number of staff to use the Park & Ride site which will
negate the need for subsidy from 2012/13. There are also plans to use Section
106 funding to boost the frequency from every 20 minutes to every 10, and re
branding the service as PR3 (Park & Ride) offering an easy link from the
George Junction Park & Ride site to the University College and Derriford
Hospital. Neither these plans nor the continuation of existing subsidised bus
services in the Derriford area are dependent upon the Better Bus Area Fund.
It's worth noting that their plans/proposals weren't accepted though Target carried through with the PR3 anyway.
http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/access_derriford_better_bus_area_fund_bid.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/3228/summary.pdf
This was meant to be included in that above comment...it's been a long day!
ReplyDeleteIt does say that revamping the 60/PR3 wasn't dependant on funding from the Government, and I assume the route continues with council subsidiary.
Personally, I'm not surprised it was turned down. All they were going to do was supposedly install one (!) extra Real Time display (which this being Plymouth would probably fail in a few weeks!) , an easier link from Marjons to Derriford through a two-way bus only road, 2 extra bus stops for passengers heading to Marjons, and some foot/cycle paths.
If it were to go ahead, it would be at a cost of £1.5 million, with near enough £1m contribution from the DFT.