BOOK REVIEW: Park and Ride Bus Services

Malcolm Batten reviews the history of dedicated bus-based park and ride operations in England, the first successful attempt at which is credited to the City of Leicester with a Christmas shopping service in 1966. In the subsequent six decades, schemes have come, and often gone again, in around 60 towns and cities, some lasting little more than a few weeks or being replaced by customers being directed to regular passing bus services. Park and ride has, however, thrived in many of the smaller historic cities where all-day tourist demand reduces the tendency to carry little more than fresh air off-peak. Not surprisingly then, Malcolm’s book extensively covers the growth of, among others, the Cambridge, Oxford and York systems which now feature electric double-deck operation.

A large variety of vehicle types are featured in the book, from Transit sized minibuses in Exeter through to Mercedes-Benz Citaro artics and the longest two axle AD Enviro 400MMC model in Bristol. What makes this book particularly attractive is the sheer variety of colour schemes carried by the vehicles illustrated. Often a dedicated scheme, sometimes professionally designed, is applied with colour variations in localities with multiple sites. In other cases, a simple vinyl or slip-board on a standard fleet colour scheme has to suffice. In some more recent images, such as in Stratford-on-Avon, only the destination screen gives the park and ride message. Space prohibits the coverage of every operation and its detailed history but it provides a overview of the concept with around 180 well presented images, the majority of them showing the offside of the vehicle for more impact of the branding applied.

Park & Ride Bus Services by Malcolm Batten is published by Amberley at £15.99. ISBN 978-1-3981-0890-5. It is also available in Kindle, Kobo and iBook formats.

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