Good and bad bus stations.

[6Gman]

Grimsby Bus Station.
Just a bunch of small cheap shelters set in a very "compact" formation.
Surely the cheapest and cheapest looking bus station in the country with very little shelter for passengers and also an unsafe environment for pedestrians unsure of which stop they need and so needing to walk around the station.

If you're catching a bus to Deeside from Chester you don't even get a shelter!

 

[33109]

Bad ones I can think of include these 4 horrors:

Macclesfield - Bare empty shell that's always freezing due to the chicken mesh above the windows, plus always pigeons in there & no info office due to cheshire east cutting the funds

Crewe - You get the info office, but no shelter whatsoever completely open to the elements. Very run-down & unpleasant place, however heard of an arriva driver from winsford that its due for replacement in around 2 yrs time anyone confirm/enlighten on this plz?

Chester - Although its had a refurb & the brick stands are gone, now replaced by cheap bus shelters. Again barely any protection from the weather.

Piccadilly gardens manchester - Totally open apart from the shelters which don't do much tbh. Never really that clean, always strewn with rubbish but on plus side there's plenty of cafes etc around.

 

[orpine]

The entirety of Warwickshire only has two "bus stations". And the one at Warwick is basically five stands (the other is Nuneaton; never been).

Bad - Coventry; at least when I was there at 3am catching a connection for National Express in February it was indoors but unheated and no sign of open toilets.

It occurs to me I don't consider any bus stations "good". I think I just realised I don't like bus stations.

 

[Eagle]

Bad - Coventry; at least when I was there at 3am catching a connection for National Express in February it was indoors but unheated and no sign of open toilets.

It's better during the day. As I've said upthread, its design is actually prretty good.

 

[Deerfold]

The entirety of Warwickshire only has two "bus stations". And the one at Warwick is basically five stands (the other is Nuneaton; never been).

Bad - Coventry; at least when I was there at 3am catching a connection for National Express in February it was indoors but unheated and no sign of open toilets.

It occurs to me I don't consider any bus stations "good". I think I just realised I don't like bus stations.

Sadly very few public toilets are available at 3am.

At Keighley the loos are open as long as the local bus services are running.

However when the megabusplus drops off at 3am the bus station is locked up tight.

Grimsby Bus Station.
Just a bunch of small cheap shelters set in a very "compact" formation.
Surely the cheapest and cheapest looking bus station in the country with very little shelter for passengers and also an unsafe environment for pedestrians unsure of which stop they need and so needing to walk around the station.

It's grim in Grimsby?

(Would you believer they're the words of a advert trying to attract tourists to a museum in Grimsby a few years ago - followed by the enticing "come and find out why").

 

[Statto]

A bit harsh labeling Coventry bus station bad because it's shut at a time of the day [3am] when most bus stations all over the UK are shut, i on the other hand like Coventry bus station, at least unlike Birmingham it has a modern bus station in the City Centre although a bit beyond walking distance for me to the rail station.

I hate Chester Bus Exchange, the Council have recently demolished the old covered passenger waiting area which wasn't perfect, only to be replaced by shelters, stand 6 is dreadful in a corner of the bus exchange plus there is too many routes that stop at the bus exchange.

 

[6Gman]

Bad ones I can think of include these 4 horrors:


Crewe - You get the info office, but no shelter whatsoever completely open to the elements. Very run-down & unpleasant place, however heard of an arriva driver from winsford that its due for replacement in around 2 yrs time anyone confirm/enlighten on this plz?

The information office closed at the same time as Macclesfield. The waiting area is at least under cover, but no protection from driving rain or wind! Don't hold your breath on replacement - that's been "around 2 years time" away since the 1980s!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The entirety of Warwickshire only has two "bus stations". And the one at Warwick is basically five stands (the other is Nuneaton; never been).

Bad - Coventry; at least when I was there at 3am catching a connection for National Express in February it was indoors but unheated and no sign of open toilets.

It occurs to me I don't consider any bus stations "good". I think I just realised I don't like bus stations.

Warwickshire also has Atherstone - http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/wccweb.nsf/Links/1E457B565C6863458025784E003D6720/$file/AtherstoneMap.pdf

 

[orpine]

Warwickshire also has Atherstone - http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/wccweb.nsf/Links/1E457B565C6863458025784E003D6720/$file/AtherstoneMap.pdf

So it does. I'm going to have to update my dataset. Although two stands a bus station barely makes.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

So it does. I'm going to have to update my dataset. Although two stands a bus station barely makes.

There's a few places that appear as "bus station" that only have one stand! Ones I can think of are Cinderford, Monmouth, and Walker (Newcastle).

Then you have Hornsea and Pocklington bus stations that are little more than yards in front of the depot (though Hornsea does have a travel office for advice on its four routes).

 

[orpine]

There's a few places that appear as "bus station" that only have one stand! Ones I can think of are Cinderford, Monmouth, and Walker (Newcastle).

Then you have Hornsea and Pocklington bus stations that are little more than yards in front of the depot (though Hornsea does have a travel office for advice on its four routes).

That said, you've reminded me of Balloch. I mistook that bus station for a car park. Looking to confirm it is a "bus station" just now, I a, rather amazed to find that £200,000 had been spent on it - http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/co...fficially-opened-after-£206,000-improvements/

 

[radamfi]

Bolton Moor Lane...... that's no better than Rochdale except being a bit lighter inside

Rochdale's new bus station (Rochdale Interchange) is now open (as of last Sunday) and is even more elaborate than I had imagined. Like Middleton, it has an unusual mix of drive-through and reversing stands.

Buildings in Bolton are being cleared now to build a proper interchange at the railway station which will replace Moor Lane. No doubt that will be another palatial development.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Rochdale's new bus station (Rochdale Interchange) is now open (as of last Sunday) and is even more elaborate than I had imagined. Like Middleton, it has an unusual mix of drive-through and reversing stands.

Buildings in Bolton are being cleared now to build a proper interchange at the railway station which will replace Moor Lane. No doubt that will be another palatial development.

I'd heard that it was going. I'm not a great fan of the old GMPTE ones such as that one, or Leigh for example.

 

[alwaystouchout]

Surprised Belper hasn't been mentioned. Cold and dank (although it has plenty of info), and far too cramped for the number of buses that call there considering it employs the reverse in/out principle.

Might be simpler if buses just called at designated stops outside on the A6, although traffic and the narrow nature of the A6 at that point probably precludes that.

It's more of a garage than a bus station to be honest.

 

[Drsatan]

Salisbury bus station is pretty dire to. The canopies leak, there's no waiting room, the cafe there has now closed and overall it feels run down.

Having said that, the bus station will close next year, and I have no idea whether Go Ahead plan on terminating all buses on Blue Boar Road.

 

[WestSussexSAFC]

Best - Southampton, granted it's fairly small it's warm, has self service ticket machines for National Express, takeaway cafe, toilets and plenty of staff.

Worst - Newport (South Wales), this was shut by the time I visited Newport (for renovation IIRC?) but can only imagine it would of been hell on earth when it was open. Shrewsbury is really bad too, so dark and dingy, much like the Railway station really.

 

[phil8715]

My good Bus Stations are as follows:

Preston
Burnley
Bury Interchange
Manchester Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester Chorlton Street
Middlesbrough
Nelson

My bad Bus stations

Blackburn
Accrington
Manchester Shudehill
Peterlee

My reasons:

Preston is iconic, Burnley is very modern, Bury you can get to most places in Greater Manchester from Bury. Piccadilly Gardens, again a hub where you can get a tram or bus to pretty much any part of Greater Manchester. Chorlton Street is great because it combines stops for East Lancashire and is across the road from the Manchester Central Coach station where you can catch National Express services. Middlesbrough bus station is very modern I really like the indoor upper floor coach lounge where you can catch both National Express and Megabus and on ground level you get to anywhere in Teesside County Durham, Sunderland & Newcastle by local bus. Nelson is very modern and you can get to North/West Yorkshire, Manchester and East Lancashire.

Bad Reasons:

Blackburn Boulevard was not a bad station it was an interchange and was in walking distance to Blackburn railway station, but now it's about 1/4 of a mile between the two. The temporary bus station is a complete shambles, it was built by Blackburn with Darwen Council and Lancashire County Council by planners who've never been on a bus it has one small shelter per stand which you can get about 4 people in and one information stand which is easy to miss.

Accrington is a mess it's on Peel Street and crossing the road there you're taking your life in your hands. There was one person killed crossing at the zebra crossing. They are planning to move the bus station nearer the railway station.

Manchester Shudehill is in my bad station list because of its location. Situated near Victoria railway station for me it's the wrong end of the city. My bus goes from Chorlton Street which is the other side of the city. I have used Shudehill because that's where Megabus departures leave from.

Peterlee bus station is a complete dump it's cold and lacks facilities such as toilets.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

My good Bus Stations are as follows:

Preston
Burnley
Bury Interchange
Manchester Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester Chorlton Street
Middlesbrough
Nelson

My bad Bus stations

Blackburn
Accrington
Manchester Shudehill
Peterlee

Peterlee bus station is a complete dump it's cold and lacks facilities such as toilets.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

County Durham has some of the worst bus stations in the country, and the thing is, most of them aren't even that old! Peterlee is awful and is twinned with Consett in terms of awfulness. Cold, full of chavvy yoof, dreadful. Also, Stanley has an almost Soviet feel about it and is industrially cold! However, and it's also been mentioned, that's nothing to the wasteland that is Bishop Auckland. Windswept, open collection of shelters on a slope, toilets that are a health risk, and populated by feral kids. Terrible.

My personal hates are Sunderland bus station - good location, loads of space yet they managed to provide a design that might be good in a hot climate yet gives little or no protection, and then there's Haymarket in Newcastle. Numerous instances of closure as panes of glass have fallen out of the canopy. Little or no space for parking vehicles so often buses are forced to go to any stand, so cueing mass movements of people, and congestion with people exiting the M&S store. A salutatory lesson of what happens when you get rid of a bus station and replace it with a retail development that has some bus station facility attached.

 

[BurtonM]

Manchester Piccadilly isn't nearly as good as it was in the 1980s, from both aesthetic and functional perspectives.

 

[Martin1988]

Bristol and Bath bus stations are okay although I dispaprove of the way that neither of them have toilet facilities available in the evening.

Huddersfield and Leeds both serve their purpose. The seating facilities are adequate and they have facillities such as toilets and refreshments.

Nottingham Broadmarsh isn't my favourite place but I've found in the past it has been quite easy to take photos of vehicles there.

I think the worst bus station I've been to so far has been the old Hanley Bus Station in Stoke On Trent but I understand this has now been replaced.

 

[Mugby]

I spent a short time observing at Derby bus station this evening. I know it's usually pretty bad most of the time but I've never seen such chaos as there was tonight. Buses trying to get in were blocked by buses trying to get out and traffic on the road which passes the entrance had been stopped by buses, causing a long tailback through the town centre. At 1730 the bus station was at a complete standstill, some buses didn't move for almost ten minutes. Eventually, three Arriva inspectors began to try and direct them manually to ease the mess. Some buses had to leave in the wrong direction because it was the only way they could get out. It was unbelievable but it's not an unusual occurrence.

How on earth this state of affairs is allowed to continue beggars belief, I'm sure all the companies would dearly love it to be sorted out but we have a City Council who simply refuse to believe that there is anything wrong with it.

Come to Derby if you want to see a situation which is a living hell for drivers and passengers alike. And bring your cameras too, it really needs to be recorded on film!

 

[cambsy]

My bad and good bus stations are ……..

Good.

Glasgow Buchanan St
London Victoria
Leeds
Sheffield Meadowhall
Birmingham Digbeth
Edinburgh Saint Andrew St
Inverness
Bristol Marlborough St

Bad

Aberdeen Guild St
Preston
Plymouth Bretonside
Exeter Paris St
Hamilton

My worst are Aberdeen, because it seems just bolted on to a shopping mall, horrible to wait at late night, poor facilities. Plymouth Bretonside, because it dirty, old, decrepit, open to elements, just nothing there. Exeter Paris St, poor facilities, a dump, no decent waiting area.

My best are Glasgow Buchanan St, because has good facilities, modern and decent to wait at, Inverness, again because decent facilities.

For me a good bus/coach station needs to have good facilities, i.e, a cafe, be clean, good information displays, feel safe late at night, a pleasant environment to spend time. Then you have the bad ones, which are just generally disgusting, ugly, intimidating places, often carbuncles, un loved and un cared for places, a shame to cities or towns etc they serve, the best ones seem to be where cities etc have had redevelopment happening near by, or council etc has wanted to show their city etc in good light to coach or bus visitors and locals.

 

[Butts]

I paid my first ever visit to Preston Bus Station today - I was in the town and had heard so much about it I couldn't resist a gander

The external view (from a distance) is quite striking. However internally the excessive use of white tiles renders it reminiscent to a massive Public Convenience from the 1960's/70's. :cry:

 

[Scania3379man]

Has anyone done any analysis to the patronage benefit of having a bus station? And if there is one, does it need to be an enclosed building or is a simple array of stops sufficient? The leading towns for bus patronage in the deregulated part of the UK, that is Edinburgh, Oxford, Brighton and Nottingham, run the majority of their buses away from their bus stations, and the vast majority of their passengers don't use the bus stations.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


GMPTE/TfGM changed their bus station style after the rebuild of Ashton bus station. All subsequent bus stations are similar style to Oldham, e.g. Middleton, Shudehill and the new Rochdale bus station. The new Rochdale bus station is due to open soon with the subsequent demolition of the old place the other side of the new tram stop.

Also they will rebuild in wigan in 2020 or 2025 i think due want government money for new refurbished new bus station in wigan.

Martyn

 

[MK Tom]

Now that Northampton North Gate has been open for two months I feel I can safely nominate it as the single most inadequate, badly designed bus facility I've ever used.

The consensus among all the residents I've spoken to is clearly that Greyfriars was better for access, better located, had better facilities and was easier to use.

North Gate is far too small as everyone knew from the outset. It suffers from frequent congestion and has no capacity for the additional services that will doubtless come as the town expands. Buses are ordered to circle the station if they can't get into their assigned bay, because using another will lead to instant jams. It has no heating and no cooling, making it a greenhouse in the summer and a fridge in the winter. There are even gaps in all the walls to let the cold winds in. The glass ceiling makes the most incredible noise during heavy rain. The automatic doors lock when buses leave, often trapping prams, luggage and people in them and refusing to reopen. The layout of the facility and surrounding streets leads to buses taking huge detours, often driving past their destination to swing round the station and back to it because capacity issues prevent dropping off on the Drapery northbound. Inside the station information is poor - the tiny help desk causes long queues blocking the entrance, the screens list departures for six minutes into the future but nothing tells you half the 'interchange' stands are outside and down on a different street, helpful in the pouring rain. National Express are booted half across town (capacity again) with no covered walking route and no bus link. If you want the loo, cough up some change or spend ten minutes walking (through the rain) to the Grosvenor Centre. Don't even get me started on the blind corner coming into the station. It will only be a matter of time until a bus tears round the corner and slams into somebody reversing out of bays 1-3. There have already been several close calls.

Here's a cool idea - build a bus station that has a covered link directly into the town centre, has, I don't know, say 30-40 bays, maybe in the form of two lanes on either side of the passenger waiting area, which could perhaps be designed to have lots of space for people to walk around and mill about without slamming into each other. Create multiple vehicle entrances to allow buses from all angles to approach easily, with clear, wide views of where they're going. Build all of this under a ''roof'', to protect people from the water, ice and radiation that variously fall from the sky at different times of the year.

Rant over.

 

[Deerfold]

Also they will rebuild in wigan in 2020 or 2025 i think due want government money for new refurbished new bus station in wigan.

And in English?

 

[Clip]

West Croydon bus station is pretty dismal.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

And in English?

I think Martyn is deaf and this affects his grammar.

That doesn't excuse some others on this board, mind. There's also no excusing supposition, guesswork and award winning blinkeredness and toxicity (see ARedFlyer)!

 

[Deerfold]

I think Martyn is deaf and this affects his grammar.

That doesn't excuse some others on this board, mind. There's also no excusing supposition, guesswork and award winning blinkeredness and toxicity (see ARedFlyer)!

Unfortunately in this case to the point where I can't even begin to guess what it means. I'm not even sure if it's a statement or a question.

Btw, Aredflyer won't see this as the thread isn't about companies in competition with trentbarton

 

[Scania3379man]

Unfortunately in this case to the point where I can't even begin to guess what it means. I'm not even sure if it's a statement or a question.

Btw, Aredflyer won't see this as the thread isn't about companies in competition with trentbarton

Like thegrandwazoo say Im profoundly deaf and not very good english but my first language is actually english with oral 2nd language is BSL which is British Sign language. What I mean my comment at the above is comment not question. Cos I can see or read from TFGM plan new bus station refurbishing like Oldham or Middleton for stockport and ashton, wigan in 2020 or 2025 to build.

The good station is Barnsley which very nice.

the bad station is northampton and wigan cos it is not very clear and too tight for bus park when any bus turn left or when bus need water for radiator or swipe screen to affect bus to waiting.

Hope english understand you clear or not.

Thank you,

Martyn