Cardiff & Vale Health Charity has announced they have agreed to fund the Park and Ride service at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW), helping to improve patient experience by making parking easier for patients, visitors and staff.
[aoa id=”1″]In June 2018, the Park and Ride service from Pentwyn to UHW was made free of charge. Since then, it has proved incredibly popular, with an average of 300 to 350 people per day using the service, meaning less cars are being brought on to site and more parking spaces are available for patients, visitors and staff. [/aoa]
To keep up with increasing demand, the Health Board is thrilled to announce that the service has been expanded using funds from Cardiff & Vale Health Charity, starting from the 3rd of June this year (2019).
The expansion of the service means that instead of buses running every twenty minutes, they will now run every ten minutes between 6.30am and 6.50pm when travelling to UHW and returning between 6.40am and 7.00pm. After these times, buses will continue to run every twenty minutes into the night with the last bus departing from the Park and Ride car park at 10.50pm and from UHW at 11.00pm. The journey between the hospital and the Park and Ride car park only takes around six minutes.
Director of Capital, Estates and Facilities, Geoff Walsh was delighted with the development saying, “Over the last year, we have seen the staggering difference made to not only onsite traffic at University Hospital of Wales but also to the lives of staff members by the Park and Ride service since it was made free of charge.
“Expanding the service is the right thing to do and I would encourage all staff and patients who currently drive and park onsite to consider using the Park and Ride service.
“By expanding the free service, we’re enabling more people to use sustainable public transport which will reduce environmental emissions, travel time and on-site congestion, and improve parking availability thereby easing patient and staff stress with regards to parking and improving their experience of the site in line with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.
“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Cardiff & Vale Health Charity for making this expansion of the service possible so that as many staff, patients and visitors as possible can benefit from it.”
Since its introduction, feedback received about the Park and Ride service has been really positive, with one staff member saying, “The Park and Ride has changed my life! I used to have to leave my house every morning at 6.30am to be on site at 7.10am at the latest to get a parking space. I don’t start work until 8am but if I arrived any later all the general parking spaces had already been taken. It was very stressful. Booking a doctor or dental appointment used to a nightmare due to the parking, and therefore I would have to book a whole day’s annual leave to attend a routine appointment. I now leave my house at 7.15 and still get into work in time.
“As a final note, I have made some lovely new friends on the bus from all different departments. It is a very sociable bus trip and puts me in a good mood for the day ahead. Thank you for this service, it has improved my quality of life immensely.”
The Health Board will soon be launching a Park and Ride service for University Hospital Llandough (UHL) departing from the old Toys R Us car park by Morrisons petrol station at Cardiff Bay. This new service has also been funded by Cardiff & Vale Health Charity along with a shuttle bus that will travel between the UHW and UHL sites.
