Arup, with Accent and the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds were jointly appointed by Transport Scotland to explore the effect of park and ride parking supply and pricing on public transport demand.

The study objectives were:

• to investigate the extent to which (if at all) changes to park and ride supply and pricing affect public transport patronage and what alternatives would be used in the absence of formal parking facilities (Objective 1)
• to assess the extent park and ride can influence modal shift to public transport, plus the impact on emissions and congestion (Objective 2)
• to assess the relative importance of the factors which influence the use of park and ride facilities (Objective 3)
• to establish the extent park and ride leads to undesirable outcomes including increased car usage (Objective 4)
• based upon the analysis to support the above aims, to provide metrics to assist the development of guidance for appraising the impact on rail and bus demand and revenue of changes to park and ride parking policy and provision (Objective 5)
• to identify the optimum pricing policy to maximise rail station car parking revenue (Objective 6)