Commuters and visitors to Maidstone are being further encouraged to car share on their way into the town as the borough council unveils new proposals for its Park and Ride service.

Under new plans, which will be discussed by the town hall next Tuesday, up to six passengers could travel on the bus service for £2.50 - the price of parking one vehicle. Previously, each individual passenger using the service has had to pay.

The £2.50 fee is a flat rate that would replace the previous peak price of £2.60 and off-peak fare of £1.60.

It comes after the council decided in January to potentially streamline the service to provide greater flexibility, longer operating hours and cost effective options to encourage car sharing.

Park and Ride would continue to operate from sites in Willington Street and London Road, which are situated on the outskirts of the County Town, and the service would operate six days per week (Monday–Saturday) from 6.30am until 7pm, with buses running every 20 minutes.

The £2.50 fee to park can be paid using a range of cashless payment options including contactless cards, Apple and Android Pay as well as the RingGo smartphone app.

Jeff Kitson, parking services manager at the council, said: “We want to increase the number of people who use the Park and Ride service and so have proposed a few changes in response to the comments we received as part of the initial survey.

"The new style service would be operated for 12 months, during which period we would monitor and measure its success.

"We hope, by raising public awareness about the service, changing operating times, encouraging car sharing and making it even easier to pay, people will see the advantages of travelling using Park and Ride."

The feedback and information gained will be used to assess what the Park and Ride service may look like in the future.

For further information about the proposed changes visit www.maidstone.gov.uk/PandR.