JUSTIN’S THUMBS-UP FOR PARK-AND-RIDE PLAN :
ANEW park and ride scheme in Hazel Grove is set to ease congestion on the A6 – and take around 6,000 cars off the region’s roads every month.
Stagecoach Manchester has opened the £3m facility, the first privately-funded park and ride in the country. With spaces for cars and bikes and based on the most congested stretch of the A6, it will be home to a fleet of 40 hybrid electric buses with free wi-fi.
They will take drivers into Manchester from the 400space facility, with cycle spaces funded by Transport for Greater Manchester.
Linking Stockport and Manchester city centre, the route will stop at Stepping Hill, Heaviley, Stockport, Heaton Chapel, Levenshulme, Longsight and Ardwick.
Christopher Bowles, Stagecoach Manchester managing director, said: “This substantial investment by Stagecoach in Greater Manchester’s first bus park and ride facility demonstrates our commitment to provide affordable and accessible transport for the region.
“The £12m fleet of hybrid electric vehicles which will serve the Hazel Grove Park and Ride, will enable our customers to benefit from the latest green technology the industry has to offer while they travel to and from one of the most exciting cities in the UK.
“In the long term, this park and ride will also relieve the region’s roads of an estimated 6,000 cars per month, helping us to significantly reduce the level of carbon emissions in the local area.”
Martin Griffiths, Stagecoach Group chief executive, said: “We are fully behind plans to make Greater Manchester a real economic powerhouse of the north. Transport is central to making that happen and the bus is the most important and accessible form of public transport.
“We have a shared responsibility to get the most from the nation’s bus network. It connects people with work, health and education, and is crucial to the economic health of the high street.
“With continued austerity and stretched public funding, the private sector more than ever has to be part of the solution.”
Developed with Manchester-based transport consultants SCP, the car park has been built on former wasteland at the junction of Buxton Road and Macclesfield Road.
The supervised facility includes toilets and a covered waiting area.