THE axing of Worcester’s park and ride service has led to more than 1,850 extra vehicle journeys hitting the roads every week, it has been revealed.

For the first time since council chiefs controversially scrapped the Perdiswell service last September, a raft of detailed data has emerged revealing the effect on city traffic.

Two counters were placed down the busy A449 Barbourne Road recording each vehicle that went past, revealing:

- An average of 1,852 extra vehicle ‘trips’ were recorded down the congested road from Monday to Saturday, the same six days it used to be in operation

- On average, during the working week the route has had to handle an extra 287 cars each day, but the worst day is Wednesday, when 622 extra vehicles poured onto the route

- Congestion during the working week is up 2.4 per cent overall, and if you include the weekend it is up 3.4 per cent

The findings were made by comparing two weeks in January and February last year, when it was still operational, to a two-week period three months after the closure.

The data has been kept under wraps until now but has emerged after councillors started to query the impact of the closure.

Worcestershire County Council insists it considers the rise in congestion “minimal” and says the last few months have seen varying differences, with the weather, time of year and roadworks all likely to influence it.

In the comparisons, the worst affected day is actually Sunday, where vehicle use surged from 8,624 to 9,519 – 895 extra.

But the park and ride only ran Monday to Saturday, suggesting there must be other factors at play influencing the worsening congestion.

Because the data is only based on two snapshots in time, the council also says it is hard to ascertain anything more than that short-term impact.

Across the whole week average use of the route, which is a key arterial route for Worcester, went up from 11,411 vehicles a day to 11,803.

Critics have hit out the data, saying Worcester had a “fairly bad reputation” for congestion already.

Councillor Matthew Jenkins, speaking during a meeting of the economy and environment overview and scrutiny panel, said: “Worcester has got a fairly bad reputation for congestion at peak times.

“In the city the big issue is congestion, which leads to pollution, and it (no park and ride) leads to more people parking in side streets.”

Chris Holloway, development and planning officer at the council, insisted it was “extremely difficult” to make comparisons and blame it on the park and ride.

“Park and ride was never going to work unless there was co-ordination with parking in the city centre,” he added.

“In areas where it has worked, they’ve upped parking charges and reduced availability.”

Councillor Jenkins said he thought the figures were up on Sunday because “people know how bad it is, they say ‘let’s go shopping on Sundays’”.

Mr Holloway said any traffic data was hard to assess unless it was looked at over “10 year trends”.

The park and ride has been mothballed since September, when it was shut down as part of around £1.4 million in cuts to public transport.

Its usage which peaked at 450,000 drivers a year in 2008 but declined to 274,935 in 2014, with the service requiring a £186,000 subsidy.

Reductions in bus services were also debated at the meeting, with members of the public turning up to tell councillors of their concerns.

The £1.4 million of public transport cuts, from a budget of nearly £3 million, resulted in the scrapping of 13 services and 52 changing so in the main, pick-ups became less frequent.

Last year the council was considering scrapping the entire £3 million in subsidies but changed its mind after 8,000 responses to a public consultation.

Pensioner David Bateman, from Stourport, said: “I’m in my 70s and my wife is 80, the service in Stourport is diabolical, diabolical.

“The population of the Wyre Forest is on a par with Worcester, you should put services on a par.”

But Labour Councillor Pat Agar said Worcester’s evening services have got worse and worse in recent years, saying the cuts have created a “Swiss cheese” situation.

“The paucity of evening services in Worcester is a real concern, in this division (Nunnery, which covers Spetchley and part of London Road) we’ve lost all of them.

“The public service ethos has virtually gone, it feels like Swiss cheese, frankly.”

Mr Holloway said the council has worked furiously to save as many as it possibly could, revealing that talks were ongoing with commercial operators to shore things up.

He also said more and more volunteer-led community transport is up and running, especially in “hard to reach, rural areas”, a situation which he expected to improve further in the months ahead.