Will park and ride drive cars away?

11:23am Tuesday 1st April 2008

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PARK and ride is one of the suggestions being considered by the council to tackle the borough's congestion problems.

Bromley has the third-highest level of car ownership in London, with a ratio of one car for every two people in the borough.

In May last year, the council put together the Congestion Working Group to come up with ideas on how to tackle traffic problems in built-up areas.

It has been suggested a park and ride scheme for Bromley town centre would help reduce the number of cars visiting it.

A park and ride scheme already exists but only runs in the winter months.

According to the working group, the location of the park and ride car park at Norman Park, Hayes Lane, Hayes, is not ideal.

Group member Councillor Denise Reddin says an out of town site would be sought so commuters from outside the borough could park there and avoid driving into built up areas.

She said: "It's very difficult to get people out of their cars.

"There is a hope this would work and help reduce congestion."

It was also recommended businesses allow employees to work more flexible hours, so they would not travel to and from work at the same times, which would ease rush hour traffic.

The group also looked at the success of the Walk on Wednesday initiative, which has encouraged 14,000 children in the borough to walk to school on Wednesdays.

Such initiatives cut car usage and are environmentally friendly, according to group member Councillor Alexa Michael.

She said: "There are many people whose waistlines would benefit from this."

Other suggestions include promoting car sharing websites and getting residents to join car clubs, in which people can pay a rental charge to use a communal car.

The working group's report will now go to the council's environment and leisure, local economy and scrutiny committees in the next two weeks to be discussed.