Latest News - 30 July 2018: Colchester Park and Ride extended opening hours
Longer opening hours are now in operation at Colchester Park and Ride.
Buses leave every 15 minutes – 20 minutes from Monday to Friday from 5:30am, with bus priority measures along the route and journey times of as little as 8 minutes to Colchester Station and 12 minutes to the Town Centre.
The last bus leaves the town centre shortly after 9pm in the evenings.
Latest News - 30 July 2018: Kids go free this August
Explore Chelmsford and Colchester with free travel on Park and Ride buses for under 16s when accompanied by an adult.
There are three Park and Ride services, two in Chelmsford (Sandon and Chelmer Valley) and one in Colchester. All these sites offer convenient transport on modern, air conditioned buses, using designated bus lanes into the City and Town Centres, with stops at key locations.
Facilities
The sites have high-quality terminus buildings with the following facilities:
- free and secure parking (1,500 spaces at Sandon, 1003 at Chelmer Valley, 1000 at Colchester)
- covered cycle parking facilities for 20 bikes
- waiting areas
- toilets including disabled facilities
- baby changing facilities at Sandon and Colchester
- helpful and courteous staff
The height restrictions at the sites are:
Chelmer Valley – 2.0m
Sandon – 2.2m
Colchester – 2.4m
The Park and Ride sites offer eco-friendly transport and parking solutions, improving congestion and CO2 emissions by significantly reducing the number of vehicles travelling into the urban areas. Wind turbines situated at both Chelmsford sites produce renewable energy, and all sites benefit from Sedum roofs to the terminus building offering natural insulation.
The sites have been landscaped to attract wildlife, with Chelmer Valley having designated wild flower beds to attracted bees and butterflies.
Both Chelmsford sites have been accredited with Park Mark – The Safer Parking Award and an HM Government Energy Performance Certificate rating of A+. In addition, the Chelmer Valley site has been accredited with the European BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology - 4 star, excellent) for post construction assessment of sustainable buildings and SBD (Secured By Design) - the official police security initiative.
Electric car charge points
You can charge your electric car at both Chelmsford Park and Ride sites. Currently they are on POLAR network. You need to use a POLAR Plus RFID card or POLAR Instant App to start charging. There is a £1.20 connection fee. For more information on the charging points, click here.