ALMOST 10 years of planning came to fruition today with the opening of Worcester's first park-and-ride scheme.

A trickle of passengers took advantage of the new service with rush-hour numbers down after the Bank Holiday.

Around 25 vehicles had arrived at Perdiswell by 8.30am, and commuters gave the service - which has attracted opposition from nearby residents and 'green' groups - the thumbs-up as they boarded the new purple and orange buses.

Travel is free until Saturday, with the CrownGate Shopping Centre picking up the bill.

"I'd normally come by train from Droitwich," said Graeme Sinclair. "I'm going to continue using the park-and-ride as it's cheaper."

Hazel Jepson had switched from using the car to commute from Hartlebury.

"It usually costs me £1.60 a day to park in the centre, but the park-and-ride is £1 return," she said. "It's also less hassle than driving into Worcester."

Mark Hudson, Worcestershire County Council's passenger transport manager, described today's opening as "momentous".

"The fact it's relatively quiet is useful, as it means we'll be able to iron out any teething problems," he said.

"I'm pleased most of the people arriving here today are women, as that suggests they're happy with the security."

He claimed commuters could save up to £300 a year by using park-and-ride in preference to city car parks.

The low-sulphur diesel buses, which will run from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday, took 10 minutes to travel from the 450-space terminus to CrownGate bus station today.

First Midland Red has been awarded the contract to man the bus fleet and given 15 staff two days' training at Kidderminster in disabled awareness and customer care.

"This is better than driving to Birmingham each day," said driver Chris Matthews.

Perdiswell was chosen as the site in May, 1998, infuriating residents who wanted Blackpole Road to be chosen instead.

Friends of the Earth and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England also became involved, claiming that park-and-ride schemes could encourage traffic.

6 Cont on P3

From P1 / 6 City councillors said the Blackpole site was in the Green Belt and decided that the Droitwich Road site should go ahead, despite the meeting being brought to a standstill by jeering protesters.

Perdiswell is the first of three park-and-ride schemes planned to crack Worcester's congestion problem.

Another is likely to be built on the southern and western approaches to the city but, so far, no locations have been decided.

Plans for a park-and-ride in Worcester started to take shape in 1992 when the county council tested the water during an exhibition on transport issues.

In 1995, the council began a leaflet campaign and followed that with another exhibition.

And in 1997 the then Hereford-Worcester County Council referred specifically to a list of sites, before deciding on Perdiswell the next year.

When the matter came to be rubber-stamped at County Hall in 1999, planning committee chairman Margaret Wills used her casting vote to pass the application.

She told the Evening News the next day that the issue had been "researched to death" and forecast the Perdiswell site would remove up to 14 per cent of traffic from the city centre.