I'm taking a patient next week for a 10:30 appointment and would welcome any advice.
The most obvious route is A428 and M11.
I guess the hospital car park's a no-no and I'm looking at Trumpington park and ride.
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I guess that Trumpington is on your side of Cambridge and I assume that buses go from there to Addenbrookes. For the ambulant going to Addenbrookes, P & R is best; bus passes are accepted and the £1 parking fee has been removed. We always use the Babraham Road P & R.
If, at any stage, a longer stay is necessary, post again as I have some experience of that.
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Don't usually have a problem parking on site in the patient multi-storey to be honest, and Addenbrookes is easy access from the M11 now there's a new road to it.
It's not hugely expensive either, for Cambridge - about £7 after two or three hours, £3.50 or thereabouts if less. And they will stamp your appointment letter in the clinic if you want to cap it at that £3.50, however long you are. You just show it to the nice man at the bottom of the stairs.
There are two multi-storeys too, so you have a fair shot if you don't turn up as visiting time starts. If that fails, then yes, Trumpington or Babraham P&R are just down the road, free parking now.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 18 Jan 19 at 17:31
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Yes park in the on-site car parks
Never had any trouble there.
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>> Yes park in the on-site car parks
>> Never had any trouble there.
Really? Doesn't seem like any hospital car park I know and only £3.90 all day!
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One of the hospitals I deliver to has been built alongside the A55 - i.e. well out of any town. Parking is free (and a free for all) - it has been discovered that people leave their cars there and use the bus service to commute into the nearest town. Saver tickets in the bus are far cheaper than parking in the town. Perfect execution of the law of unintended consequences. There was someone trying to park their Evoque on the entrance to the helicopter pad the other week..
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>> Parking is free (and a free for all) - it has been discovered that people leave their cars there and use the bus service to
>> commute into the nearest town.
Hmm if there's free parking it will be abused - see shop car parks near Franklins Gardens when Saints are at home or reason parking on verges of Northampton Ring Road is prohibited.
University of Northampton have a Park/Ride site using massive P&D car parks provided for rugger or footy match days. Currently leaving my car there weekdays and using the Brompton for last mile to office - quicker than central car park and I get some aerobic exercise. Plenty others doing same, some Uni staff riding in on cycleways others like me work in town. One or two riding to station and saving tenner a day for station car park.
Signage covers infringements over blue badges and not observing bays but so far as I can see no penalties for those not actually catching bus to Waterside Campus as intended.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 18 Jan 19 at 21:40
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In championing the use of the P & R, I should admit that one of my hobbies is avoiding parking charges unless there is absolutely no alternative. I have been invited to attend a focus group at Addenbrookes next month and, although I will be allowed to park on-site gratis, I will most probably use the P & R to avoid traffic.
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>>I should admit that one of my hobbies is avoiding parking charges unless there is absolutely no alternative.
I do the same but I clocked up £69 during 8 days of visits charges varied from £2 to £10.
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"I do the same but I clocked up £69 during 8 days of visits charges varied from £2 to £10."
Ouch, that's a lot to clock up!
Firstly Henry, crossing to another thread, I'm very sorry to learn of you wife's state of health and the pressures that you are experiencing. I'm guessing that the hospital visits were associated with your wife's problems.
Over the past year, I have discovered that weekly 'season-tickets' are available at our local hospital and at Addenbrookes - I daresay they could be available at your hospital too. We bought one last May when I spent 5 days/4 nights in Addenbrookes for the kidney removal. ISTR the parking charge was about £19 for the week but, for only 5 days, it was still financially advantageous.
As far as I can see, the only downside is that, at the time that you have to buy the 'season-ticket', you don't usually know exactly how long you are going to need it for.
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I spent half of last year on medical courier work in and out of Addenbrooke's. To arrive for a 10:30am appointment you won't have any trouble with traffic, and as others have said there are two good multi-storey car parks on site, both a 5-8 minute gentle walk from Outpatients.
You are right on the route; A428 to the Madingley exit, A1303 past the American Cemetery, down the M11 one junction to the A1309 Trumpington Road, and take the new road round to Addenbrooke's. It's clearly signposted and has warnings about non-hospital traffic being prohibited from using it.
I wouldn't cover-complicate the day by messing about with Park-And-Ride. Take plenty of time, don't get stressed and pay less than a tenner to park on site.
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With conflicting information I decided to try a 'dry' run today. Took a few minutes longer than I expected, but I think there'd been an accident somewhere around the American cemetery and there was also a queue backed up around there that I think was traffic waiting to join the M11 J13. I took the Coton road to J12 (I think I remember using this route decades ago).
Adenbrookes is a huge place, I'd never been there before and was glad I took the park-n-ride. There's at least three park-n-ride bus stops on site and a bus station!
I sussed out the two visitor, multi-storey car parks, but was told by a few people on site that the best bet was the park-n-ride. Stopped for a coffee and judging by the weebles stuffing their faces at 10:00 this morning, they don't expect to walk far.
This gives me several options with the patient:
Aim for the park-n-ride, but if there's any delay drop them off on the site.
Then try the two multi-storeys.
Park-n-ride as a fall back.
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Be interested to hear how you get on.
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Because of the inclement weather, decided to leave half-an-hour earlier than planned. About an inch of snow between Papworth and Caxton! Longer delays than my trial run, but arrived comfortably early at the P&R.
Whilst the patient was being dealt with, heard several folk complain about the lack of on-site parking and one complained it took them ten minutes to walk from the newish No2, multi-storey car park. Several staff commented positively on our decision to use the P&R. One stated many staff use the Babraham road P&R and walk in from there, a 10-15 minute journey and free parking.
I was also told that if you're more than 25 minutes late for an appointment, it's cancelled and you have to re-book!
As an aside, on my way to my volunteering role this morning I decided to rake the long way round over bus routes, which I presumed would be gritted. The last half-a-mile down a minor road had two cars in the hedge.
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Glad it worked out. Amazing to hear of snow so close, about three flakesl here, just north of Cambridge.
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"but arrived comfortably early at the P&R."
Well done, btt, on your successful trip and, of course, well done for going with advice from the sage of Suffolk (me).
I guess your patient was heading for an outpatients clinic (?) - these are situated at the bottom end of the complex relatively close to the bus-stops. The new car park (2) is right at the far end and it would certainly take 10 minutes to walk through the maze of mazes to the outpatient clinics.
Last year, when I was admitted to Addenbrookes, we used car park 2 - it is quite close to the 'Treatment Centre' and recovery wards. This was very useful for taking 'belongings' to/from the car and picking up the wounded. You have to remember as well, that the P&R buses stop running after a certain time in the evening.
The distance between the Babraham P&R to the hospital can be quite deceptive - what seemingly takes 2 minutes in the bus takes a good 20 minutes to walk. I once walked in to visit an ailing friend only to find that he'd been dragged off for tests, so I had to turn around and walk straight back again.
Worth remembering that there are bus lanes in Cambridge and, at busy traffic times, the homicidal bus drivers can cut through places where angels fear to drive.
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St Neots to Adenbrooke hospital - Haywain
