Football fans want later buses and more toilets

More football fans would consider using a city park and ride service to travel to matches if it operated until later, a meeting has heard.

Cambridge United supporters said buses finished before the final whistle of weekday evening matches, making it impossible to use.

The claim was heard at a meeting of Greater Cambridge Partnership's (GCP) joint assembly on Thursday.

The meeting was also told toilets at the Newmarket Road park and ride side were locked at other times, which was also deterring fans from using the service.

Neil Shailer, a Labour county councillor, told the meeting the League One club had surveyed fans to ask what would encourage them to use public transport.

The information was relayed to the assembly during discussions about the relocation of the Newmarket Road site.

A GCP report says the current site is too small and too close to new residential areas of the city.

Its preferred option for an alternative site is at the junction of Airport Way and Newmarket Road, just north of Teversham.

Members discussed the need for the new park and ride site to be a "travel hub", instead of purely a car park where people caught a bus to the city centre.

Councillors heard the new hub could include localised bus routes and cycle and scooter hire.

Mr Shailer said he would like to see facilities for supermarkets to use the new hub for "click and collect" services, giving shoppers an alternative to driving further along Newmarket Road.

Heather Williams, a Conservative member of South Cambridgeshire District Council, asked why the site could not be further out of the city to "encourage drivers to get out of their cars earlier".

Peter Blake, interim director of the GCP, Peter Blake, said it was important the new site was "a hub, not just car-to-bus" site, so it could not be "too far out of the city".

Officers at the GCP will now start preparing the planning application.

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