Cowes park and ride is a park and ride

Park and ride

Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...

 scheme on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

, featuring a 85-space car park and bus stop on the outskirts of Cowes

Cowes

Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...

 in Somerton, on a former industrial site. It is currently served by Southern Vectis

Southern Vectis

The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited is the dominant bus operator on the Isle of Wight. It was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group in 2005 and is a part of the company's Go South Coast division. The firm employs 299 staff, with 105 single deck, double deck and open-top buses and coaches...

 buses on route 1

Southern Vectis route 1

Southern Vectis route 1 is a bus service operated by Southern Vectis between Cowes and Newport on the Isle of Wight. The daytime frequency of the route is every 7-8 minutes. There are two route variants between Northwood and Cowes Pontoon, running either via Cowes Round House or Cowes Park and Ride...

 every 12 minutes during the day. From the Park and Ride, a £2.50 return journey is available to Cowes Pontoon for the Red Jet boat to Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

. This is one of the few return journeys Southern Vectis offer.

History

The park and ride scheme for Cowes was launched in 2004 as part of a joint venture between the Isle of Wight Council

Isle of Wight Council

The Isle of Wight Council is a local council. It is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, South East England. It is currently made up of 40 seats, with the Conservatives as ruling party with 24 councillors at the latest local election in June 2009....

, Southern Vectis

Southern Vectis

The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited is the dominant bus operator on the Isle of Wight. It was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group in 2005 and is a part of the company's Go South Coast division. The firm employs 299 staff, with 105 single deck, double deck and open-top buses and coaches...

 and Red Funnel

Red Funnel

The Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited, which trades as Red Funnel, is a ferry company that carries passengers and vehicles on routes between the English mainland and the Isle of Wight...

. It was built on a former council depot on the Somerton Industrial Estate. The scheme went ahead largely due to losing a car park in Denmark Road for development, resulting in a lack of parking around Cowes. During the first few weeks of operation, before any Southern Vectis routes stopped at the park and ride, a temporary shuttle service was put in place, subsidised by Red Funnel, with a 15 minute frequency timed around morning and evening peaks.

To begin with, the scheme suffered with a huge lack in the number of people using the service, receiving no passengers in its first few days of operation.

Prior to the network revision by Southern Vectis in April 2006, the park and ride was served by routes 1

Southern Vectis route 1

Southern Vectis route 1 is a bus service operated by Southern Vectis between Cowes and Newport on the Isle of Wight. The daytime frequency of the route is every 7-8 minutes. There are two route variants between Northwood and Cowes Pontoon, running either via Cowes Round House or Cowes Park and Ride...

, 2 and 3, with routes 2 and 3 running under the Route Rouge

Route Rouge

Route Rouge was the name of a network of bus services operated by Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight. For details on these routes, please see the individual articles for:*Routes 2 & 2B*Routes 3, 3A and 3B...

 branding. All services to Cowes served the site, with buses using Three Gates Road to pass between the two current alternate routings, except route 1, which ran via the current park and ride branch but along Mill Hill road as opposed to Newport Road.

After the network revision, routes 2 and 3 no longer served Cowes leaving only route 1 at an increased frequency of every 15 minutes to serve the site, taking passengers right to the entrance of the Red Jet terminal. Due to the higher frequency, buses no longer serve Three Gates Road to cross over the routings, so buses on the Round House leg do not serve the site.

When the scheme was first launched, the price of a return ticket was £1, however, in April 2008, the price increased for the first time, doubling to £2 by Southern Vectis. This was due to a rise in costs and substantial cut in payments for free travel by the Isle of Wight Council. This later increased again on 2 February 2009 along with other £2 fares to £2.50 as part of Southern Vectis' annual fare review.

Later in 2008, there were some instances of vandalism at the site, with one woman's car having its windows smashed after she left it in the site overnight. Police are working with the Isle of Wight Council to try to improve security at the site. The council have been told that members of the public are leaving their valuables inside cars at the site, which could be targeted by thieves.

The site was remodeled over the turn of 2009 and 2010. A new entrance was built directly off the roundabout, with a new bus stop and shelter, and a raised kerb. The previous entrance and exit was widened as an exit, and buses are now able to use the site without doing the large turn or being affected and forced to reverse by badly parked vehicles. The rearrangement also provides more spaces. A new bus shelter was due to be installed at the site on 24 November 2009, leading to the closure of the site to buses from 11am, with temporary bus stops on the main road outside, although this didn't happen as planned. The site was closed at a later date for a longer period, with buses using stops on the main road for around a month. The newly remodeled site was completed on 22 January 2010, at which point buses started to enter the site again.

Services

Unlike some other park and ride schemes, there is no dedicated bus route. All services are run on route 1, due to its high frequency. A daytime frequency on Monday-Saturday of every 6 minutes is currently in operation, meaning the park and ride is served every 12 minutes, by alternate buses, with the other buses serving Cowes Round House. The Night bus services all run in a loop around Cowes, running via the Round House into Cowes and the park and ride site on the way back to Newport. This gives the car park a half hourly service, but in one direction only.

Route		| Frequency (mins)
No.	Description	Mon-Sat Daytime	Mon-Sat Evening	Sunday	Nightbuses
1 Southern Vectis route 1 Southern Vectis route 1 is a bus service operated by Southern Vectis between Cowes and Newport on the Isle of Wight. The daytime frequency of the route is every 7-8 minutes. There are two route variants between Northwood and Cowes Pontoon, running either via Cowes Round House or Cowes Park and Ride...	Newport Newport, Isle of Wight Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...  – St. Mary's Hospital St Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight St Mary's Hospital is a 477 bed hospital located on the outskirts of Newport on the Isle of Wight. As the only NHS hospital on the Island, all NHS services are provided or commissioned from there...  – Northwood Northwood, Isle of Wight Northwood is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. It lies south of the town of Cowes and has been occupied for about 1000 years. The Church of St. John the Baptist in Northwood, was first built between the 11th and 13th centuries....  – Four Cross, Round House/Park and ride, Cemetery Gates – Cowes Cowes Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...  (link to Southampton Southampton Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...  via Red Funnel Red Funnel The Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited, which trades as Red Funnel, is a ferry company that carries passengers and vehicles on routes between the English mainland and the Isle of Wight...  Red Jet and Uni-link Uni-link Uni-link is the brand for bus services run under contract for the University of Southampton in Southampton, Hampshire, England, by existing bus companies...  City-link to Station for trains to London).	12	30	20	30 (to Newport only)

External links

• Route 1 details on the Southern Vectis website - islandbuses.info