Hospital park and ride scheme 'not viable'

A proposed park and ride scheme for staff and patients near Barnsley Hospital would operate at a loss, a report has found.

The scheme was aimed at addressing the lack of parking provision and would have included a dedicated car park with a shuttle bus service.

However, a feasibility study found the park and ride would run at an estimated deficit of more than £140,000 per year.

The findings will be discussed at a meeting of Barnsley Council next week.

The annual operating costs were estimated at £275,000, against projected revenues of just £128,000, the Local Democracy Service reports.

Commissioned by the council's overview and scrutiny committee, the study found that the potential capital costs associated with buying land and building a car park would be between £3-10m.

It was estimated at least 540 trips a day were needed to break even, with the local authority saying it had no cash to subsidise the project.

The study also found that a single site might not attract sufficient patronage to be sustainable, and proposed that at least two locations would be necessary to serve the travel patterns of hospital staff and visitors.

The report also highlighted that 11 bus routes currently operate to or near the hospital, but these services have been experiencing low usage.

It concluded that it was “unlikely” passengers would switch to a new park and ride route, further complicating the feasibility of the proposed scheme.

It also underscored the impact of the upcoming Health on the High Street project, which will relocate some outpatient services to the Alhambra shopping centre, which is in turn expected to decrease demand for hospital parking.

The report will be discussed by the overview and scrutiny board on 8 October, where recommendations will be made to the council.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.