As York Racecourse looks forward to the 48th running of The John Smith’s Cup on Saturday (July 14), an event widely regarded as the informal party highlight of the year; it has announced new plans that aim to ease the journey of racegoers by both hackney carriages and private hire minicabs.

 

The Racecourse has worked with the City of York Council Licensing Office, York Taxi Association and the York Private Hire Association to produce a dedicated set down/pick up zone and the use of “taxi marshals” is to be introduced on the main hackney carriage rank.

 

The new dedicated set down/pick up zone is near the site of the former Terrys factory from where a largely metalled path to the racecourse entrance has been signed. This means that racegoers choosing this form of transport will arrive at the course without becoming involved in the same routes as those using shuttle buses and hackney cabs and so should result in a better experience for all concerned.

 

The taxi marshals aim to help racegoers by offering a queue management service and “double banking” the waiting cabs as appropriate. They have proven a success on busy city centre ranks and are being funded by the York Taxi Association.

 

Commenting on the changes, Tony Lee, Operations Manager at the course said: “We’re delighted at the support we’ve received from the City of York Council, the York Taxi Association and the Private Hire Association in our joint efforts to improve travel for racegoers and around the city. I’ve had my measuring stick out and am pleased to report that the new drop off zone is as near to the entrances as the traditional one.”

 

The Secretary of the York Taxi Association, Alan Rowley said; ”it was important to us that racegoers had a good impression of our members in York so we were happy to offer the additional service of taxi marshals to such a flagship venue in the city.”

 

On behalf of the York Private Hire Association, Barry Hamer its Chairman said; “we understand that the popularity of the races and the challenges of our ancient city will mean that racedays are likely to be busy on the roads which is why we were delighted at the positive response we got to our suggestion of working out a plan especially for our members and their customers”

 

John Lacey from the City of York Council continued the theme of partnership saying, “Campleshon road and the area to the North of the racecourse naturally gets very congested at the start and end of racedays; I’m delighted that by working together we hope to have found a way of reducing some of that pressure.”

 

The new schemes will be an addition to the major raceday traffic plan used last season and first developed for Royal Ascot at York. This scheme will be in place for Saturday and so racegoers are advised to approach the course from the South via the A64 and then to follow the signs. A £5 per car parking fee will apply on Saturday, though Coaches and minibuses are exempt as the track wants to encourage shared transport. The regular shuttle bus service from the station has been increasingly popular in recent seasons.