Letter published in the Eastern Daily Press on 4 January 2023 about the closure of the Park and Ride service at Postwick. Norfolk County Council say this is a temporary closure but the service is clearly under threat.
Letter Text:
Dear Sir
The Postwick Park and Ride service was reinstated, after being closed during the pandemic for use as a Covid Testing centre, from 21 November 2022 and ran up until 24 December. Unfortunately limited time had been allocated to advertising it and signs on the highway to inform motorists that it was open were conspicuous by their absence. A few days later I received notification via a local parish council that Norfolk County Council intended to close the service. It has since been clarified that the intention was to enable shoppers to access the city during the festive period (rather than offering a viable service for those working in the city) and that this may be a temporary closure if it can be proven that passenger numbers will recover. It has not been made clear however, how this can be evaluated while the service ceases to run.
The Norwich P and R services were apparently self-financing pre-Covid and passenger levels have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. It is not clear whether they will ever do so, and I would argue that they may not unless a new approach is taken to this service provision. Residents will use a bus service if it is convenient, comfortable and financially advantageous for them to do so. The Postwick P and R service only runs from the site into the city. It is, however, fast and efficient. If a stop at the Broadland Business Park was added at one end of the route, with stops at both the NNUH and the UEA at the other end, if may well prove to be far more of a success. The benefits for many residents living east of Norwich of being able to park at the Postwick site and take a direct rapid bus route to the hospital would be considerable. With the area surrounding the Broadland and Broadland Gate Business Parks marked for significant growth both in terms of housing and business development, this would provide increased passenger revenue.
Instead, it seems the response is to close the service and blame residents for a failure to use it, rather than to look at other more viable and imaginative options. This is hardly the approach that a business would take. A successful business would produce a business plan which included a range of costed options taking into account both short and long term forecasts. P and R services reduce congestion in cities and carbon emissions. If the service is never reopened which I suspect is likely to be the case, the opposite will happen.
Kind Regards
Eleanor Laming
Councillor for Brundall Ward, Broadland District Council
