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It was always the intention of York Racecourse and our various partners such as the City of York Council to try to improve the traffic situation for both racegoers and city residents. Whilst we accept that everyone's experience of a journey is individual, there was widespread praise from racegoers and racing professionals for how the major raceday traffic plan worked for recent major racedays. The Racecourse and the City of York Council intends to re-introduce some of the important elements of the traffic system used at these meetings for key events this season, specifically; the John Smith’s Cup raceday (Saturday July14th and the Ebor Festival on August 21,21,23) .

The racecourse will be deploying extra resources to the operation of the main car parks in order to take the benefits of lessons from previous years.

The racecourse does recognise that these traffic arrangements will require some racegoers to change their traditional routes to the Knavesmire and I would like to thank them in advance for their co operation.

The key advice for travelling to the above meetings is:
• Please allow plenty of time for your journey, the racecourse gates open at 11.15am and the first race is 2.05pm on John Smith’s Cup day.
• The authorised route to the racecourse for all traffic is via the A64 ONLY, irrespective of your point of departure
• Please follow the signs, there may some road closures that change your traditional routes
• Access for Annual Badgeholders to D car park will be via the A64 and then following the signposted route along Sim Balk Lane, Church Lane and Bishopthorpe Road. There is NO access from the Tadcaster Road end of Knavesmire Road. Please note on exit from D car park, Annual Badgeholders will be required to turn Left and exit via Knavesmire Road and then Tadcaster Road, (if you wish to depart through Bishopthorpe please park in Car Park C at the start of the day)
• A car parking fee of £5 per car (excluding coaches and minibuses which are free to park) will be applied , and for the Ebor Festival. There is no additional fee for Annual Badgeholders using D car park or those provided with a car park label as part of the hospitality package.
• The main PUBLIC car park and parking for ALL COACHES will be known as Car Park C, and will be accessed via the A64 and then following the signposted route along Sim Balk Lane, Church Lane and Bishopthorpe Road, to parking on Bustardthorpe
• Access for ALL OTHER RESERVED car parks, now known as A+ (formerly D2, CE, Melrose, and Owners & Trainers )will be via the A64 then Tadcaster Road (A1036)
• Parking restrictions will apply in the surrounding streets.
• Knavesmire Road will operate as a one way system for shuttle buses and taxis, so there will be no left turn into Knavesmire Road from Tadcaster Road (A1036)
• Please consider using public transport; trains,buses and taxis to the racecourse
• Shuttle buses and taxis will run regularly from the station to the racecourse both before and after racing
• York is a pleasant city, so please consider walking to the racecourse if you are staying locally.

It is understood that the experience of any traffic plan can be highly individual depending on exact origin of your journey and the time of it, so the opinion of racegoers on the development of this plan is welcomed so that it can be evaluated and refined for future events.