Good news for members of the public visiting the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
From Monday February 20 a brand-new park & ride service will be available – the Hospital park & ride 300.
This replaces the closed-door H3 service for hospital staff and University of Reading staff and students and is being renamed and renumbered to reflect that anyone can now use the service.
The Hospital park & ride 300 will run directly from Thames Valley park & ride to the Royal Berkshire Hospital then Christchurch Green and finally Mereoak park & ride, connecting the hospital and university area to park and rides in the south and east of the town.
The service will run up to every 20 minutes in the morning and afternoon peaks and every 30 minutes during the day.
The first buses from each site are timed to arrive at the hospital’s main entrance on Craven Road at 6.45 am and leave at 7.15 pm.
Fares on the bus will be part of the simplyReading zone allowing travel on all Reading Buses services. Customers can choose great value options for travel from tickets for occasional travel like easysaver10 and daysaver5 or tickets for regular commuters such as the weekly ticket, all priced at £17 on the Reading Buses app – with other fares available to also save customers money. Parking will be charged separately and can be bought on bus.
Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer Robert Williams said today: “I am very pleased that we have been able to continue developing services in the area to support the Royal Berkshire Hospital, and to help encourage a switch to more sustainable transport options.
“Free travel will continue to be available for Royal Berkshire Hospital and University employees, and now the public can also use the service so that they don’t have to worry about finding a parking space at the hospital.”
Janet Lippett, Acting Chief Executive Officer for Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, said; “We know the experience patients and visitors have travelling to hospital can make a huge difference to their health and wellbeing. We are really excited to be opening this park and ride service to the public – providing them with an easy and sustainable way to get to Royal Berkshire Hospital without having to drive.”