First York and City of York council announce fare change on park & ride

First York and City of York Council have announced a change to fares on the Park & Ride network, which they operate in partnership. The new prices are effective from Sunday 6 February 2022.

The changes are the first to be made to Park & Ride fares in two years and reflect the impact of inflation over this period with a broadly similar percentage increase applied to all tickets except concessionary fares, which are frozen at £1.20.

Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First York, said:

“We have looked carefully at how, in the first change for two years, we can limit price increases for customers as much as possible and balance this with the challenge of maintaining a sustainable network as we build back passengers to pre-pandemic levels.

“Using the Park & Ride for leisure and work-related travel provides excellent value with free parking and we have continued to ensure that the average cost per trip of making multiple journeys remains low.”

He added:

“Our zero-emission fleet also makes this a more sustainable way to travel into and around the city, reducing congestion and creating cleaner air.”

First York’s new 3-day fixed and Flexi tickets, launched on 16 January to appeal to new habits in commuting and hybrid working, can also be used on Park & Ride services. The existing Smart carnets with bundles for five, 10 and 20 days remain the best value for travelling over a longer period with the cost of a Day ticket on these packages working out at £3.15 compared with the new Adult Return fare of £3.50.

Cllr Andy D’Agorne, Deputy Leader at City of York Council and Executive Member for Transport said; “Our city’s Park & Ride remains one of the largest zero-emission bus services of its kind in the country.

“Our partnership with First York, and an investment totalling £9.3 million (including £2.7 million of funding we secured from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and £200,000 from the council towards the cost of charging infrastructure), has seen a total fleet of 21 new all-electric double-decker buses operating since May 2021. These now save a combined estimate of 1.6 million kg of CO2 each year. Maintaining a quality service is vital in attracting more residents and visitors to choose this sustainable way of getting around the city.

He added:

“This modern and attractive fleet is an important part of our city-wide offer of sustainable travel. We’re glad to see passengers returning to enjoy this great service and hope to maintain this sustainable travel option for many more years to come.”

Customer communications explaining the new fares will begin this week (Monday 24 January).

Full details of the new fares can be found by visiting the First York website https://www.firstbus.co.uk/york/news-and-service-updates/planned-changes/park-ride-fare-changes-6th-february or on https://www.itravelyork.info/park-ride