(a)

Plymouth currently had the following Park and Ride services; PR1for Milehouse and the George Interchange, PR2 for Coypool and PR3 from the George to Derriford Hospital and the University of St Mark and St John;

(b)

the strategic purpose of the Park and Ride is to help with traffic congestion into the city;

(c)

the Park and Rides run up to every 10 minutes;

(d)

the total costs for all sites in 2012/13, including maintenance and National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) was £178,447; this was partially offset by income for the Motorcycle Training School at Coypool, a departure charge paid by the bus operator and the NHS Trust contributions for the George Junction Park and Ride;

(e)

passengers currently paid on the bus; car parking was free;

(f)

First Devon and Cornwall staff the George and Coypool sites;

(g)

the decline in patronage of the PR1 service was not as significant as expected; patronage for the PR2 had slightly increased;

(h)

although the PR3 had grown in patronage, following the end of section 106 funding was likely to reduce to a 20  minute service;

(i)

officers had undertaken a summary of 26 other local authorities that run a Park and Ride service; this was contained at appendix a of the report;

(j)

the Park and Ride accepted concessionary passes; members were advised that in 2009 an amendment was introduced to The Travel Concessions (Eligible Services) (Amendment 2009) in which local authorities could consider if specific could be excluded from the concessionary travel scheme where an amenity element within the fare could be demonstrated;

(k)

the park and ride sites were also used for car-boot sales and charity events

(l)

car-pooling was encouraged at other Park and Ride sites across the country;

(m)

initially the Park and Ride service was subsidised by the Council however since the service went commercial in 2010, the Council was not involved in the setting of prices;

(n)

customers were encouraged to use Park and Ride buses at the Park and Ride sites however this was not enforced; it was understood that some people were parking at Milehouse Park and Ride and were using other bus services nearby;

(o)

several services had been withdrawn from the George Interchange since it was built;

(p)

it was not considered that revenue generating services such as car washing services would be viable at the Park and Ride sites as especially on weekdays there was not a lot of churn of users;

(q)

there was a proposal that cycle hire may be available at Coypool Park and Ride in the future;

(r)

wi-fi facilities were not available on Park and Ride buses; so far in Plymouth this had only been introduced on services that had longer journey times;

(s)

the capacity for the Park and Ride car parks was as follows: Milehouse, 650, the George, 750 including 250 spaces for the hospital and 450 for Coypool including the overflow spaces;

(t)

a sum had been secured through the planning process from the Higher Home Park development to allow for measures to be implemented should parking issues arise as a result of the development;

(u)

there was no contribution from Plymouth Argyle Football Club on occasions when the Park and Ride site was used for parking for spectators;

(v)

the inbound Park and Ride bus at Milehouse no longer drove around the car parks perimeter road; passengers caught the bus from the main road;

(w)

in 2012/13, 44% of users for the park and rides were concessionary users.