New Banbury station car park could save regular commuters nearly £1,000 a year

A new car park close to Banbury station is promising cheaper parking for rail users, with operators saying regular weekday commuters could save nearly £1,000 a year compared with the published peak daily rate at the station’s main east-side car park.

The site, on Higham Way, has been opened by E5 Group in partnership with Gallan Group and is charging £5 a day. By comparison, APCOA’s published weekday peak daily tariff at Banbury East Station is £9.30 for a day starting before midday. Over around 230 working days, that difference works out at roughly £989 a year. APCOA also lists a weekday off-peak daily rate of £6.50 from midday, plus a weekly ticket at £37.20, monthly at £148.80 and an annual ticket at £1,562.40.

For commuters, that means the biggest saving is likely to apply to people parking for a full working day on weekdays rather than leisure users or part-day travellers, who may already be paying APCOA’s lower off-peak or weekend rates.

Why the new car park matters now

The launch comes after a disruptive period for Banbury station users. Oxfordshire County Council says the west car park reopened in December 2025 after a long period of works linked to the Tramway Road improvements, which created a new southern access route to the station and wider changes to footways, cycleways, bus stops and parking. The county council says the west car park now provides 118 standard bays, plus four disabled bays and three enlarged bays, while the east-side multi-storey remains available.

That means commuters now have more options than they did for much of last year, when the west-side parking was unavailable for extended periods. The arrival of a cheaper privately run alternative close to the station adds another layer of choice, particularly for price-sensitive weekday users.

What the developers say

Kevin Stevens, president of E5 Group, said the company wanted to ease some of the financial pressure on regular rail passengers.

He said: “Commuters across the country are under real financial pressure and parking costs are a significant part of that daily burden. At nearly £10 a day, the cost of leaving your car near Banbury station has become genuinely punishing for regular travellers.

“We wanted to do something practical about that. This site was always part of our longer-term investment plans for the Banbury area and, while that work progresses, it made complete sense to open it up and give commuters a much more affordable option.”

Paul Garry, director of Gallan Group, said the new offer followed a difficult year for station users.

He said: “Banbury commuters have already had a difficult year, with months of disruption to parking at the station during the improvement works.

“The last thing people need on top of that is to be paying close to £10 a day just to leave their car.”

A practical option, but not the only one

For daily rail users, the new site is being positioned as a simple price-led alternative close to the station. For occasional passengers, the picture is more mixed, because APCOA’s lower off-peak and weekend rates narrow the gap.

There is also now easier access to the reopened west car park through the new Tramway Road route, which Oxfordshire County Council says was designed to improve access to the station from the south and support walking, cycling, bus travel and parking options in the area.

For commuters, the main question is likely to be simple: whether saving around £4.30 a day is worth switching from the station’s established parking offer. For many weekday travellers, the answer may well be yes.