It will cost just £2 for a return ticket on Taunton’s park and ride after long-running roadworks on the A358 finally come to an end.

Somerset County Council decided in August 2021 to make the park and ride free of charge during the ongoing upgrade of the Creech Castle junction, where the A358 Toneway meets the A38 Bridgwater Road.

The move has led to a sharp rise in passenger numbers, with around 9,000 people a week opting to use either the Gateway or Silk Mills facility to access the town centre and associated facilities.

The council has now said it will charge £1 for a single and £2 for a return ticket once the roadworks finish at the end of the summer – around half the original ticket price.

Before the free service was introduced, around 2,700 people a week used the park and ride service, paying £4 for a return ticket (or £3.50 using the app).

Since the free fares were introduced, the number of weekly passengers has risen to around 9,000 – a rise of more than 330 per cent.

The new lower fares will be in effect from September 1 and are being funded as part of the Somerset bus service improvement plan (BSIP) through the Department for Transport (DfT).

The DfT announced in early April that Somerset would receive £11.9M to improve its bus services – less than one-tenth of what the council had bid for – with the final amount due to be confirmed in September.

In addition to the new, lower fares, concessionary pass holders will be able to ride for free on the park and ride any time after 9.30am.

Natasha Bates, the council’s service manager for commissioning in highways and transport, said: “If the higher fares were introduced in September and then followed up with lower fares later in September or in October, there is a high risk that patronage will have already been lost and it will be much harder to re-engage passengers.

“This will support the [park and ride] scheme for a three-year period and provide time to promote the service and grow patronage further.

“Reinstating fares at a lower level is intended to make this a more affordable option for people travelling into the town centre to access employment and services, making it more viable.