A new contractor has taken over responsibility for parking at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, with prices rising to discourage commuters from using the site.
Photo courtesy of the RUH
The new contract with Saba UK will see pay stations at the Combe Park hospital replaced with easier-to-use machines, which feature more payment options for users.
New barriers are being introduced in the main patient and visitor car park to improve traffic flow and give people the option to pay before they leave.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will log the time a vehicle has entered the car park.
On leaving, all visitors will need to do is enter their car registration number into a payment machine to find out how much they need to pay.
Parking for blue badge holders will remain free of charge and free parking will remain in place for those patient groups who need to make frequent visits to the RUH.
The new parking charges are as follows:
- Up to 20 minutes – Free
- Up to 1 hour – £2.00
- Up to 2 hours – £3.30
- Up to 3 hours – £4.80
- Up to 4 hours – £5.50
- Up to 6 hours – £7.10
- Up to 8 hours – £10.00
- Up to 12 hours – £11.20
- 12 – 24 hours – £15.00
A 20min grace period will remain in place in the patient and visitor car parks and existing time-limited pick up/drop off points also remain.
Larger price rises will apply to people parking for four hours or longer, to deter non-hospital users from parking on site, taking up spaces needed by patients and visitors.
Brian Johnson, Director of Estates and Facilities, said: “We’re confident that the new infrastructure provided by our contractor will really improve the experience of visiting the hospital site.
“The new machines will be easier to use and there will also be new ways to pay too, including the option for visitors to pay by debit or credit card, Google Pay and Apple Pay as they leave.
“While we understand that nobody likes an increase in parking charges, it has been 10 years since the RUH last increased its parking fees and we have made every effort to keep price rises to a minimum.
“Paid parking ensures a regular turnover of spaces for patients and visitors and discourages people who are not using the hospital from parking there all day and commuting into the city centre.
“Money raised will be used to cover the cost of the car parking contract as well as maintenance, lighting and staffing costs.
“The model is not designed to raise profit but any additional money that is raised will go back to the RUH.”
