York park and ride

York Park and Ride is a park and ride system operated by City of York Council, in the city of York. It is the largest in the United Kingdom with 4,970 car spaces. There are six park and ride sites across the city, these being located at: Askham Bar, Grimston Bar, Monks Cross, Poppleton Bar, Rawcliffe Bar and York Designer Outlet.
History.
The first park and ride site was established on Tadcaster Road in 1990. Since then, the network has expanded, and now serves six park and ride sites around the city of York.
Bus services have been operated by First York, under contract to the City of York Council, since the late 1990s.
In June 2016, the York Park and Ride contract was put up for tender. However, as none of the bids met the council's criteria, First York was granted a twelve month extension, until January 2018, with a fresh tender process to commence.
Subsequently, First York made a successful bid to retain the York Park and Ride contract, and is now contracted to operate the service until February 2025.
Buses operate frequently, with a frequency of up to every 10 minutes. There are seven routes, forming part of First York's network of local bus services.
The service operates with a flat fare (currently £3.30 return) between all park and ride sites and York city centre, as well as offering a range of season tickets, which are valid for use on all First York services.
As of March 2020, the following York Park and Ride services, operated by First York, are:
Fleet and operations.
All services are operated from a single depot, located at James Street in York. Vehicles are in the process of being re-branded in to the new the dark blue and gold "York Park and Ride" livery.
Vehicles were formerly painted in a silver colour scheme, with the fully electric Optare Versa vehicles also featuring green detailing. Prior to this, vehicles were painted in a variation of First's magenta and blue "Barbie" livery, featuring the York Park and Ride logo.
York Park and Ride services are currently operated by a combination of Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 (York Hospital Shuttle Bus), Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLE (routes 7 and 8), articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro (routes 2 and 3), and fully electric Optare Versa (routes 9 and 59).
Prior to the current fleet, York Park and Ride services operated using a combination of Wright Eclipse Metro bodied Volvo B7L and articulated Wright Eclipse Fusion bodied Volvo B7LA – the latter of which left the fleet following the delivery of articulated Mercedes-Benz Citaro vehicles in 2008.
A fleet of 21 electric double-deck Optare MetroDeckers were introduced on to York Park and Ride services in July 2020, with these being originally scheduled for delivery back in October 2019.. Five of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro articulated buses have been retained for use on service 2 to Rawcliffe Bar only, whilst 9 of the others transferred to First Aberdeen in October 2020.