- The exact number of spaces available at a host of SWR station car parks can now be found via the company’s app.
- The move will create a more convenient customer experience by allowing passengers to check availability in real time before they travel – and plan accordingly.
- This tool comes as restrictions are eased and passenger numbers begin to rise again.
The exact number of car park spaces available at key local train stations, at any given moment, can now be found out via the South Western Railway (SWR) app.
The feature has been in place for some months but is expected to be used more as coronavirus restrictions are eased and more people return the railway.
The number of spaces available, and the number of spaces occupied, across each of SWR’s 59 biggest car parks is captured and published on the app in real time. It means that customers can check the status of around 1200 spaces right across the network, before embarking on their journey, and plan accordingly.
The data is made available through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology, which has been installed at certain stations. The technology ‘counts’ cars as they arrive and leave a station car park and calculates the number of vacant spaces.
Eighty per cent of all car park spaces across the network are being monitored.
Alan Penlington, SWR’s Customer Experience Director, said:
“We know that there are lots of things that feel uncertain at the moment, that’s why we’re doing all we can to make travelling with us as smooth as possible.
“Making this information available to customers will enhance the service we offer and enable people to travel with confidence across our network”.
Full list of stations with real time information on car park capacity:
- Aldershot
- Andover
- Ascot
- Ashford
- Basingstoke
- Bentley
- Bracknell
- Brockenhurst
- Brookwood
- Clandon
- Claygate
- Cobham and Stoke D’Abernon
- Dorchester South
- Eastleigh
- Effingham Junction
- Egham
- Esher
- Ewell West
- Fareham
- Farnborough
- Farnham
- Fleet
- Fratton
- Gillingham
- Godalming
- Grateley
- Hampton Court
- Haslemere
- Havant
- Hook
- Horsley
- Isleworth
- Liphook
- London Road Guilford
- Milford
- New Milton
- Oxshott
- Petersfield
- Poole
- Richmond
- Salisbury
- Southampton Airport
- Southampton Central
- Sunbury
- Sunningdale
- Surbiton
- Swanwick
- Walton-On-Thames
- West Byfleet
- Weybridge
- Whitchurch
- Winchester
- Winchfield
- Windsor
- Witley
- Woking
- Wokingham
- Worplesdon
- Yeovil
