[Trivia] Long abandoned bus stations still standing

[ValleyLines142]

Is the old Lonsdale Road coach station in Blackpool still open?

 

[AlexanderPS]

Now redeveloped but Airdrie bus station closed c1992/3 but was still there ten years later with some Central Scottish signage that dated from the mid 1980s!

Airdrie lasted longer than 1993. Remember seeing First use this when I was younger, myself being born in 1992 .

 

[robertclark125]

The current metro centre bus station in Gateshead was built in the bus holding area of the old one. The old one was right next to the centre, but also you had to cross the road to get to some of the stands.

Some of the guard rails and entrance doors from the old bus station remain, albeit as fire exits from the centre now.

 

[Bantamzen]

I remember the great fanfare surrounding the opening of Smiddles Lane bus station in Bradford, although I can't remember the exact year, sometime in the 1970s. Huge disappointment to find it was just an extended layby with a bus stop on an island although it did provide a new turning point for the then service 80 from Holme Wood to Bankfoot. Last time I drove past (April 2019) it was still a sad looking thing. Google maps has it up for sale in 2018 so will no doubt soon be the site of lots of flats or a collection of fast food takeaways.

That brought back some memories of when I used it to catch the 680 back to my then home of Lidget Green after watching a Bulls game, or playing snooker with mates just around the corner on Manchester Road. But even then Smiddles Lane only saw the 268, and the long gone 601/602 circulars as well as the 680 use it, so its no surprise that it is up for sale now.

 

[WillPS]

The old Mansfield bus station was still in tact last time I went, complete with National Express waiting room. The large open tarmac in front is now a car park.

 

[Statto]

I remember the great fanfare surrounding the opening of Smiddles Lane bus station in Bradford, although I can't remember the exact year, sometime in the 1970s. Huge disappointment to find it was just an extended layby with a bus stop on an island although it did provide a new turning point for the then service 80 from Holme Wood to Bankfoot. Last time I drove past (April 2019) it was still a sad looking thing. Google maps has it up for sale in 2018 so will no doubt soon be the site of lots of flats or a collection of fast food takeaways.

Looks like the 605 uses Smiddles Lane bus station, bizarre timetable though, first bus 09.45am, last one 12.45pm, every 30 minutes but 2 minute turn around.

 

[johnnychips]

Is Doncaster South Bus Station still standing?

Yes, it is all a car park now.

 

[Andyh82]

Looks like the 605 uses Smiddles Lane bus station, bizarre timetable though, first bus 09.45am, last one 12.45pm, every 30 minutes but 2 minute turn around.

It's an off peak shoppers bus, the same vehicle does the 606 peak time bus to the Euroway Trading Estate

 

[IanD]

Looks like the 605 uses Smiddles Lane bus station, bizarre timetable though, first bus 09.45am, last one 12.45pm, every 30 minutes but 2 minute turn around.

I think the 605 just uses the stop on the road outside as it's a circular route, it doesn't physically turn around in the old bus station.

 

[Glenn1969]

605 timetable just says Smiddles Lane Terminus but the yournextbus Live Departure Board for that stop also has 268 on it which suggests it doesn't actuially use the old bus station

 

[geoffk]

Does Rushden qualify? The 1930s Art Deco Birch Bros. coach station/garage survives but is not abandoned - I think it's now a furniture shop. I expect it's "listed" - anyone know? I've never seen it but it's on my list of places to visit soon.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thinking on the old Ormskirk Ribble bus station is still there, it's been a variety of retail things over the years. The bus bay part has been knocked down and has a Kwik Fit in its place, but the office building is still there, presently a student accommodation estate agent.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Inbound buses still stop on what was the road through the middle of the long-gone Chester Street bus station in Bradford. The south side was served by West Yorkshire and the north side by Hebble, Yorkshire Woollen and Samuel Ledgard with occasional workings from the likes of Ribble, Sheffield City Transport, Yorkshire Traction and North Western. The only BCT route to use Chester Street was the 68/68A to Eldwick and Dick Hudsons when it became a joint service with West Yorkshire. This was also the first BCT service with the "A" suffix".

 

[6Gman]

The old Crosville coach station in Oxford Road, Llandudno is still standing. But in use (not sure as what at the moment) not derelict.

 

[Wirewiper]

Reading bus station has only recently been demolished having been unused and unloved for a long time- at least 20 years.

Reading Bus Station was given a second lease of life during the Reading Remodelling Project of 2010-2015. It was temporarily resurrected over Christmas and New Year 2010, as the departure point for rail replacement buses and coaches during the shut-down of Reading Station. From January 2012 it was used as the departure point from routes that had had been displaced by the closure of Station Hill, such as the commuter routes along the A33 corridor (the ones now branded "Greenwave"), Horseman Coaches contract services and the Football and Rugby match day shuttles to and from Madejski Stadium. Rail replacements also continued to use The Old Bus Station (it was actually named that) - there were further large-scale closures over the Easter and Christmas/New Year 2013 periods.

North Interchange opened in July 2013 and took over as the departure point for rail replacement services and the Greenwave routes (the latter have since moved again and now stop in Station Road), and the partial reopening of Station Hill in October 2014 saw the last few remaining services depart The Old Bus Station on the last day of the month*. It has now been demolished and the site is earmarked for redevelopment.

* totally non-transport-related trivia: 31st October was also the warmest late October day in the UK on record, with temperatures in much of South-East England (including Reading) reaching a high of 24C. This contrasts with just six years earlier, when the end of October 2008 saw ice and snow on the ground and the temperature struggled to get above freezing for several days.

 

[Wirewiper]

The Ewer's Grey Green Coaches former coach station in Ipswich, between St Margaret's Street and Foundry Street (it had an entrance/exit from both) is still standing and still bears the company's lettering. It closed during the 1980s (a photo on Ipernity shows it still in use in December 1983) and is now used for other purposes.

Grey-Green's EAX (East Anglian Express) services were unusual as during the 1970s and early 1980s they were numbered as part of the National Express network, could be booked and ticketed by National Express agents and used Victoria Coach Station in London, but Grey-Green never became part of the National Bus Company and continued to operate the services independently using coaches in its own livery. This even continued in the early 1980s when Grey-Green was also competing directly with other National Express services as part of the short-lived British Coachways consortium.