Plenty of room to manoeuvre as city park-and-rides lie half empty

HUNDREDS of parking spaces are lying empty every day at the city's park-and-ride sites, it has emerged.

Despite a good uptake at the Hermiston site, newer facilities at Sheriffhall and Straiton are sitting half and three-quarters empty on a daily basis.

The city council said it would take time for the more recently built sites to grow in popularity, but critics said the local authority needed to do more to promote park-and-ride as an option for commuters.

The most popular site, at Hermiston, has a maximum capacity of 500 and sees a daily average of 400 cars between Monday and Friday.

However, sites at Sheriffhall and Straiton, which both opened last year, recorded 50 per cent and 25 per cent take-ups.

The park-and-ride site at Wallyford, which is run by East Lothian Council, recorded a 34 per cent take-up rate.

The Straiton facility, which is next to the city bypass, was opened in October at a cost of £4.5 million following years of legal wrangling over the land. The Sheriffhall site, which cost £1.9m, opened in February.

Councillor Mark McInnes, the city's Tory transport spokesman, said the council needed to do more to boost usage at the newer sites. He said: "I am very disappointed by these figures. Given that the tram works are going on in the city centre, you would expect the park-and-ride sites to become even more attractive to commuters.

"I think the council owes it to people living in suburban areas to try to get as many motorists as possible to use the park-and-ride sites and not park in residential streets.

"The council has a big job to do to promote these sites."

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport convener, said the sites were performing in line with expectations.

He said: "The park-and-ride sites around Edinburgh offer commuters, and others, a high quality and reliable alternative to taking their cars into the city, helping to reduce congestion and journey times, while cutting harmful emissions into the environment.

"The more established sites, Hermiston and Ingliston, continue to perform exceptionally well while the growth in demand for our newer sites, Sheriffhall and Straiton, remains steady and in line with expectations."

Last month, the park-and-ride sites were blamed for taking customers away from city centre car parks.

Figures showed that car parks with up to 1000 spaces were on average two-thirds empty, despite the pressure being put on on-street parking by the city's tram works. Six car parks – all within a 15-minute walk of Princes Street and with a combined total of more than 3000 spaces – were included in the study.