In message , at 09:17:09 on Tue, 6
Jul 2010, Paul Terry remarked:

I should think that rather more arrive by car and then use their
passes for a free trip to and from the city centre on the
park-and-ride buses - that's certainly how I use my own Freedom Pass,
the cost and difficulty of parking in central Cambridge all day.

How far away from Cambridge do you live,

"Freedom pass" means that I must be a resident of a London borough.

Fair enough, but I'm not sure why we are supposed to know that.

and to what extent do you define yourself as a "tourist" when visiting?

I generally go there on academic business - but the National Bus Pass
scheme doesn't differentiate, providing that I don't need a Cambridge
bus before 9.30am on a weekday.

Do you use free buses to do the whole trip, or is the "bit in the
middle" on a train, or even a car?

I'm sure there are some - although tourists are perhaps less likely to
use P&R than shoppers from Scambs, being less familiar with the
system.

Possibly, although Cambridge P&R is well advertised -

All of them are pretty well advertised, but they never advertise the
gotchas. Experience of different P&R round the country says service
levels are pretty patchy, and as a first time visitor to Cambridge it's
always going to be a gamble.

and drivers who ignore the signs often regret it.

You've done a survey which told you that?

I imagine that there is also considerable use of the National Bus Pass
from people arriving by train, as the station is a long walk from the
city centre.

Those are the ones I mentioned originally.

And are these tourists just "up for the day", or staying locally.

They have to be day-trippers to use the Park and Ride car parks.

Agreed.

Of course, being only an hour or so from London makes Cambridge a
popular destination for day trippers.

If you say so. I'm still unconvinced that this is a major drain on
resources, compared to people living within a 10-mile radius coming to
Cambridge to shop.
--
Roland Perry