Home   Maidstone   News   Article

Low take-up feared after free park and ride bus scheme for Maidstone Hospital launched without signage

There are concerns a new park-and-ride shuttle for hospital patients is being underused due to a lack of publicity.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust introduced the weekday service, which can also be used by staff and visitors, at both of the sites it runs.

The new hospital park and ride site is hardly being used
The new hospital park and ride site is hardly being used

The buses are all easy access and operate on weekdays from 6.40am.

In Tunbridge Wells, buses run from the Knight’s Park retail estate to the hospital in Pembury, five minutes’ drive away, until 9.34pm.

In Maidstone, those attending the hospital are invited to park on the former council-run park-and-ride site, off the A20 London Road, where they can catch a single-decker bus for a 10-minute journey to Hermitage Lane until 9.05pm.

They are at least every 30 minutes and sometimes more frequent.

However, at 11am last Tuesday (January 7), only 12 vehicles had been left at the County Town’s park and ride, which has the capacity for 518.

Cllr Chris Passmore
Cllr Chris Passmore

Cllr Chris Passmore (Lib Dem) said: “We should take that as an improvement. When I visited the day before there were only six.”

The hospital trust said the scheme was still in its first week of operation and that it was too early to give an assessment.

However, Cllr Passmore suggests more could be done to make people aware of the scheme.

There is no signage at the park and ride to say that it is back in use after shutting as a council-operated site in February 2022, and no bus timetable on display telling people when they might expect to be picked up.

Asked if it was planning on putting up signage, the trust said: “The information on park and ride locations is promoted on our trust communication channels and patient-facing channels.”

The hospital park and ride service in Maidstone
The hospital park and ride service in Maidstone

Cllr Passmore said: “The trust is making a genuine effort to both relieve traffic congestion on Hermitage Lane and to reduce parking problems at the hospital.

“But perhaps more needs to be done in the way of signage.”

While the park-and-ride scheme is free, visitors parking at the hospital have to pay, with rates currently at £5.30 for a typical four-hour stay.

The Maidstone park-and-ride site, in Beaver Road behind the DFS store, operated between 1999 and 2022 as one of four council-run park-and-ride sites in the town. The other three were at Willington Street, Sittingbourne Road and Coombe Quarry in Tovil.

None have operated since 2022 with Coombe Quarry closing even earlier, in 2007.

Close This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Learn More