- published: 15 Jul 2014
- views: 920
Park-and-ride (or incentive parking) facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rapid transit, light rail or commuter rail), or carpool for the rest of their trip. The vehicle is stored in the car park during the day and retrieved when the owner returns. Park-and-rides are generally located in the suburbs of metropolitan areas or on the outer edges of large cities.
Relatively little current research exists on the benefits and disbenefits of Park and Ride schemes. Park-and-ride schemes are often marketed as a way to avoid the difficulties and cost of parking in the city centre, but it has also been suggested that there is 'a lack of clear-cut evidence for park-and-ride's widely assumed impact in reducing congestion'.
In theory, park-and-ride facilities allow commuters to avoid the stress of driving a congested part of their journey and facing scarce, expensive city-centre parking. They are meant to avoid congestion by encouraging people to use public transport as opposed to their own personal vehicles.[citation needed] They do so by making it easier for people to use public transport in an urban area with traffic congestion, and often to reduce the availability of car parks to encourage this behaviour.[citation needed]