Free park and ride service extended a month

Newcastle City Council will extend the free introductory period for our popular park and ride service by another month.

The $2 daily fee for the return trip into the city from McDonald Jones Stadium will now start on Monday 26 February, instead of next Monday as originally planned.

The extra time will be used to finalise an app designed to make the payment as convenient as possible for commuters.

"There's still some more work to do on the development of the app before it's ready to go," Newcastle City Council CEO Jeremy Bath said.

"That means that users of the service get one more free-month of park and ride.

"So far the service has proved to be highly popular, with more than 1,000 registrations."

Council recently surveyed users of the service to understand what improvements could be made.

More than nine in 10 of 243 respondents said they had recommended park and ride to a friend and more than half said they used it three days a week or more.

The vast majority of respondents or 86 per cent said the service times suited their commuting needs.

But earlier starting times were raised as a possible improvement for the return afternoon leg.

"We will look at the scheduling to see if we can move the pm starting time forward from 4.30pm to 3.30 or even 3pm in line with the feedback," Mr Bath said.

"Council is doing everything it can to make it easier for workers to get into the city during what is clearly a time of significant disruption, but which we know will ultimately lead to a vastly improved city for all."

Park and ride sees buses running weekdays from McDonald Jones Stadium every 15 minutes from 7am to 9am, with CBD stops designed to deliver commuters within a few minutes' walk of anywhere in the CBD.

The buses make the return trip from the CBD to the stadium every 15 minutes from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.

For more information or to register for the service, click here.

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