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downsmail.co.uk Park and Ride service ‘ruined’


THE future ofMaidstone’s Park andRide hangs in the balancewith numbers falling and costs rising.Now the council hopes to strike adealwith a private bus operator to run its own services fromLondonRoadand Willington Street, asDoug Kempster examines the issues…


MIKE Davidson leans wearily on hiswalking stick. “This allusedto be full,” he says,


making an expansive gesture to- wards the deserted rows of park- ing bays.“It was all working so well, but they just ruined it.” It is themiddle of the day, in the


middle of the working week, and there is something desolate about the Willington Street Park and Ride. A 501 sweeps in. A handful of


people shuffle off and merge into the collection of vehicles huddled near the front of the car park. One person waits at the bus stop to board for the return trip. “Park andRidewas an easyway


to get intoMaidstone,” saysMike, who travels in regularly from GraftyGreen. “Andit kept cars out of the centre of town.Why would anyonewant to change that?” Maidstone Borough Council


maintains that public appetite for the scheme is on the wane and its changes have been a last ditch at- tempt to keep the taxpayer-sub- sidised service viable. Mike (83) believes the local authority’s “med- dling” hastened the demise. He cites the time lag between


buses and the inability to use his bus pass on the service. But his most damning criticismis levelled at the new cashless “pay to park” system. “I missed my bus the first day


thatwas introduced,” he said. “My fingers aren’t so good these days. I was still trying to use the payma- chinewhen the busdrove offwith- out me. I had to wait another 20 minutes.” The council’s own officers


Fear for jobs


FIFTY council staff are among those likely to be hit hardest if Park and Ride is scrapped, bor- ough transport officerswarned. In addition, by Maidstone’s


reckoning, many of the scheme’s existing customers are onthemin- imum wage, with travel being a “significant expense to them”. Following a survey earlier this


year, the council concluded: “Many people felt not having a ParkandRide servicewouldhave a major impact on their life, and some said they would have to consider leaving their job.”


4 Maidstone East December 2018 Mike Davidson relies on the Park and Ride when he visitsMaidstone


warned prior to the cashless sys- tem’s implementationthat,while it couldbe amajordrawforprospec- tive customers, about a quarter of existing core passengers could desert the service. Councillors took a punt. New


custom did not materialise. Car sharing improvedslightly.Existing customleft. Councillor Eddie Powell calls


this “lopsided thinking”. He says the council failed to attach enough weight towhat existing customers wanted. “I’ve no doubt the newcharging


scheme suited the council, but did it suit the customer?” he says. “The feedback I get is that people want to use the service, but they are un- easy about using (or don’t have) a credit card, or a phone, or a com- puter to pay with – so they use their cars instead.” Councillor Denis Spooner con-


cedes that the new charging sys- tem probably had not helped, but adds: “You’ve got to use it or lose it.Ultimately, the council’spercep-


tion is Park and Ride hasn’t been used in high enough numbers for the benefits to outweigh the costs. I would notwant to see it go.” Best value for the taxpayer is the


laudable mantra trumpeted by councillors of every political per- suasion – after all, local taxpayers subsidised Park and Ride to the tune of £242,000 last year, and this year’s projections suggest that fig- urewill exceed £310,000. The council has to balance the


books and look at the bigger pic- ture, they say – but that is no great comfort for people like Mike. Whether it is the Tories and their former LibDemcoalition partners who are to blame for austerity, or Labour, for presiding over the fi- nancialmeltdownthatnecessitated it, the ongoing concern among those outside theWestminster po- litical bubble is the sense that everything is falling apart. Maidstone is not alone as au-


thorities across the country strug- gle to operate like businesses, while the commercial sector pro-


vides an increasing number of the services the public sector once of- fered. Even before Maidstone’s coun-


cillorsmade their decisions on the future of Park and Ride, the bor- ough’s officerswere lockedin talks with bus operators about the via- bility of a commercial takeover. They reported there “is interest in providing (a) specific service” and that “a more frequent service at peak times…could be provided if opened to the market”. However, they added ominously that further work would need to be done “to understand the ticket costs of a market-led provision”. If that fails and Park and Ride is


scrapped completely, council pa- pers suggest that ‘sustainable transport’ alternatives to car traffic could ease pressure on Maid- stone’s creaking infrastructure. Back inWillington Street,Mike –


a retired fruit grower who has lived in the borough formore than half a century – raises an incredu- lous eyebrow as he considers the council’s aspirations for “modal choice” – a perceived silver bullet for traffic problems, predicated on “enhanced public transport” and the assumption that there are hun- dreds of latent cyclists and hikers out therewho, but for thewant of a bike lane or footpath,would ditch their cars in their droves. He looks down at his walking


stick and shakes his head. “Bonkers.Crazy.B***dy awful,” he mumbles. “I feel very let down.” For him, andthousands likehim,


his “modal choice” has already been made – Park and Ride or no more trips toMaidstone.


THE FIGURES BEHIND THE PARK AND RIDE DECLINE


390 - the number of cars taken offMaidstone’s streets each day by Park and Ride. 537 - the average daily number of passengers recorded between June 1 and September 30. 170,000 - the projected number of passengers expected to have used Park and Ride by the end of the 2018/19 financial year. This compares to 217,000 the previous year which included 132,542 passengers travelling free under the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme. 160 metres - the nearest alternative bus stop to Willington Street car park. 350metres - the nearest alternative bus stop to London Road. £242,000 - taxpayer subsidy for last year’s service. £300,000 - the cost to the taxpayer if the council re-procured the service. £100,000 - taxpayer funding if the council retains the car parks but strikes a deal with a commercial operator to run the Park and Ride bus services. £200,000 - the cost to the taxpayer if the council continues to run the car parks but finds an “alternative, sustainable”way (not specified) to link themwith the town centre.


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