Park and ride schemes are playing an important part in helping to reduce congestion in many localities. During the first Local Transport Plan (LTP) period (2001-06), local transport authorities in England (outside of London) spent a total of £72.5 million of LTP funding on improving 92 existing park and ride facilities and delivering 76 new park and ride schemes. In recognition of this, the Department gave credit in its assessment of delivery of the first Local Transport Plans to those authorities that delivered substantial increases in park and ride facilities.
In the full guidance on the second Local Transport Plans (2006-11), published in December 2004, the Department indicated that tackling congestion remained a key priority and that a range of policy tools should be considered by local authorities. It then assessed how convincingly local authorities considered the range of available tools (including park and ride) before determining the final distribution of funding support for the Local Transport Plans.