Southport’s Park and Ride service will make one final stop later this month as Sefton Council looks to implement cost saving measures for taxpayers.
After a significant reduction in demand for the Park and Ride service over the last few years, the facility has undergone an extensive review and a decision was taken as part of the 2024/25 budget setting process to cease operations.
The ‘parking’ element of the service, based at the Esplanade, will remain and over 1,000 cars will still be able to use the site on a pay and display parking basis while they go about their business in the town and on the seafront.
However the ‘ride’ component of the service, which offered a £2 bus service running every 10 minutes to and from Southport Town Centre, will no longer be in operation after its last journey on Saturday, 30th March 2024.
It is the last of Southport’s three Park and Ride sites, with the other two at Fairways, next to the Marine Lake, and at Kew, having closed in previous years.
Sefton Council said that while proving initially popular with commuters, the service began to see a significant drop in usage by 2023.
Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton’s Cabinet Member for Locality Services, said:
“Ultimately this is something that no longer provides good value for money for our taxpayers and we had to take a long hard look at the viability of the service compared to ever reducing resources.
“Our hard working officers often have to make decisions like this to ensure council taxpayers know their contributions are being used wisely and, while this decision may be disappointing to those relatively small numbers who still used the Park and Ride service, I know this is the right thing to do.”
The Southport Eco Centre Education Service will continue to operate as normal for pre-booked schools and other educational purposes however there will no longer be any public use facilities available. More information about booking a visit can be found at www.southportecocentre.com.
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