How to Travel Into Bath City Centre (Without Paying for Parking!)

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How to Travel Into Bath City Centre (Without
Paying for Parking!)
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Whether you live or work in Bath, or regularly
travel to the city centre, youll know that our
beautiful city isnt the best for public
transport. With the arrival of the Clean Air
Zone, its become a little trickier for
travellers (particularly businesses) who need to
get to Bath but arent keen on paying inflated
parking charges or emission zone penalties.
Now, were clearly going to favour our
innovative, budget-friendly Swoop ride-hailing
service, but to give you an informed view of the
options, well cover here all the ways to travel
to Bath!
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Why Is Bath Parking and Public Transport So Bad?
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There are two big questions here (which we hope
to have answered!), but the reality is that Bath,
as great a city as it is to live in, simply isnt
large enough to warrant a comprehensive public
transport system or any real expansion on the
city centre roads. Even though Bath is the
second most visited city tourist destination
nationwide, there are only around 100,000
residents when the summer has passed. Thats
about a fifth of neighbouring Bristol, which
makes it very hard to attract big-name
ride-hailing apps or taxi firms to the city, with
such a lucrative, higher populated cousin right
around the corner! However, if you need to get
to college, uni, work, or one of our world-famous
attractions, there are several options.
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Parking in Bath City Centre
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If you look hard enough, you might be lucky to
snag a free parking space, although theyre only
available between 8 pm and 8 am (youll be very
fortunate to find any free daytime
parking!). Visitors and workers can use Broad
Street, Avon Street, Charlotte Street or Manvers
Street car parks for free, but thats only
applicable if you work a night shift. Street
parking is even more unusual, but you might be
able to locate a space on Cleveland Walk (about
0.8 miles from the centre) or Milton Avenue (0.9
miles) thats around a 20-minute walk, so fine
if you have comfy shoes, but not so suitable for
many. The issue with street parking is that its
equally only free during unsociable hours
mostly from 7 pm to 8 am or only on Sundays not
quite so handy if you have a meeting to get to!
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Otherwise, youre stuck with a paid-for space
during the day, and youll pay as follows
Bath Car Park Two hours Three hours Four hours Six hours Eight hours Twelve hours
Avon Street 3.20 4.80 6.40 9.60 12.80 15.00
Charlotte Street N/A N/A 6.40 9.60 N/A 15
Broad Street 3.20 4.80 6.40 N/A N/A N/A
Manvers Street 3.20 4.80 6.40 9.60 12.80 15.00
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• Spending a day sightseeing gets pretty expensive
  if youre paying 15 or above for parking (plus
  fuel), and some of the short-stay car parks dont
  permit you to keep your car there for over four
  or six hours, so choose wisely!
• You can review all the up-to-date parking charges
  via the Bath North East Somerset Council
  website.

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Travelling to Bath by Train
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Our next option is to take the train almost
certainly your go-to if you are visiting from
further afield! The downside is that you have
one choice and one only Bath Spa. Only one
railway travels here (Great Western) although you
can travel from London Paddington, Portsmouth
Harbour and Cardiff Central. There are also tons
of connections with Bristol, so Bath acts as a
stop-gap because you can be in Bristol in about
ten minutes, delays and cancellations
notwithstanding. Unfortunately, train travel is
only possible if youre coming from elsewhere
outside the city there are no intra-city trains
or metros, connection routes or tubes, so its
impossible to get into Bath by train without
needing an onward solution. If youre interested
in walking, its only about half a mile into the
centre, which takes around ten minutes depending
on the weather and where youre heading.
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Coach Travel Into Bath
The other potential option is to use the National
Express coach system, with the bus station
relatively close to the train station, but the
same limitations apply. You can take a coach
from Bristol, Reading, Exeter, Plymouth or London
Victoria, but itll take several hours longer
than a train, and youll still need to take a
walk or taxi to get to the city centre.
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Booking a Cab Into Bath City Centre
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Our most convenient option is to order a taxi,
but there is a huge demand for a small number of
cab companies (you wont find the likes of Uber
or Lyft in such a small city!). The Fare Car
service is a great choice for budget-conscious
travellers. Still, it is massively limited,
with bookings required by a cut-off and only one
route and drop-off and pick-up point, which makes
it suitable only for people who happen to live or
work in the immediate vicinity and along the
route. Over the last two years, a shortage of
experienced local drivers, closure of cab firms
and ever-inflating prices have made it difficult
to take a taxi in Bath. If youre a regular
visitor, youll be familiar with the lengthy taxi
rank queues that dont bode well if youre on a
time limit!
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The New Bath Ride-Hailing System
We live in Bath and love everything about our
historic, laid-back city but the transport
situation needed something fresh! Welcome Swoop
- bath taxi company, a forward-thinking taxi app
that works just like those super-convenient
services youll find elsewhere but specific to
Bath and the local Somerset area.
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• Why is Swoop better than another other public
  transport option?
• You get a verified, vetted driver, door to door.
• Book your cab line no phone calls or queues to
  speak of.
• Convenient payments pay with a card, PayPal or
  Apple Pay as suits you best.
• Although Bath has long been a brilliant
  destination, its also been a nightmare for
  travellers, and were proud to have developed a
  solution suited to the needs of our small but
  mighty city.
• Next time youre comparing train fares, scouting
  around for a pricey parking space or deciding
  whether to take the long walk from the bus
  station, why not Swoop instead were confident
  itll be the best option going.

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