Why are a lot of bus stations now called 'Interchanges'

[61653 HTAFC]

The thing is though, bus stations really aren't safe or even pleasant places to wait for a bus after dark, or in the case of some places even during the daytime, an Interchange if done right suddenly makes things safer. Taking Leeds as an example, you really wouldn't want to be down Leeds Bus Station on a night, where as the train station feels a lot safer. Now if both the bus station and the train station were built together with the same high level of staffing for both and called something different like an Interchange, the bus station part suddenly seems and would be more appealing.

Over in the Irish Republic, there are several examples of bus and train stations built right next to each other but for some reason they're referred as individual units rather than one common one such as an interchange. Tralee, Killarney, Limerick to name a few, it's a pity especially in the case of Tralee and Limerick as there are some great connections to be made from both modes of transport.

I wasn't aware that the word "interchange" acted as a roadman-repellent, and Bradford certainly puts paid to that notion!

 

[Statto]

Northwich one is quite wierd, it's called Northwich Bus Interchange, it's really a collection of stops on Watling Street, which is a normal Street with through traffic, not a normal bus station or interchange.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Northwich one is quite weird, it's called Northwich Bus Interchange, it's really a collection of stops on Watling Street, which is a normal Street with through traffic, not a normal bus station or interchange.

And a one mile bus ride away from Northwich railway station?!

 

[Ballyheigue]

I wasn't aware that the word "interchange" acted as a roadman-repellent, and Bradford certainly puts paid to that notion!

I've been through Bradford Interchange many a time from Saltaire on late night services to access late trains to Leeds and it's always felt a lot safer than walking through Leeds Bus Station, no doubt local scroats with nothing better to do can cause trouble in the bus side of Bradford Interchange, but the shared concourse and rail station side generally do seem safe places to wait until your bus is due. What my main point was that bus stations always attract the worse users, partly because of poor security presence, where as many major rail stations with high security and police presence are always safer. Having a bus station shared with a train station in major towns and cities generally is safer, the old stops outside Leeds Rail Station were by far safer to wait at than Leeds Bus Station, security personnel and the police were highly visable and footfall was always good making for a safer place to wait.

 

[JamesS63]

The thing is though, bus stations really aren't safe or even pleasant places to wait for a bus after dark, or in the case of some places even during the daytime, an Interchange if done right suddenly makes things safer. Taking Leeds as an example, you really wouldn't want to be down Leeds Bus Station on a night, where as the train station feels a lot safer. Now if both the bus station and the train station were built together with the same high level of staffing for both and called something different like an Interchange, the bus station part suddenly seems and would be more appealing.

Over in the Irish Republic, there are several examples of bus and train stations built right next to each other but for some reason they're referred as individual units rather than one common one such as an interchange. Tralee, Killarney, Limerick to name a few, it's a pity especially in the case of Tralee and Limerick as there are some great connections to be made from both modes of transport.

When you call something an interchange, it suggests buses, trains, trams, cycle hire or even ferries connect there. It also implies better integration (scheduling, ticketing, walkways). So what used to be just a bus terminus might now be part of a larger transit ecosystem.

 

[thaitransit]

Bus interchange is often used where a number of local buses connect with another high frequency service. Eg in Brisbane it is used at 8 mile Plains to refer to the interchange with the high frequency electric BRT service into central Brisbane. It is also use on the Sunshine Coast eg noosa interchange to connect various local bus routes with the high frequency route 600 services along the coast. That approximate a light rail service.

So essentially the term bus interchange can mean both interchange with other modes or to other high frequency bus routes. I suspect this would be similar in the UK too?

 

[ian1944]

I always think of Fort William in olden times when "interchanges" arise. The BR station was just by MacBrayne's bus one (more an open flat yard outside the garage than with organised stands), both right on the water's edge to connect with the many island steamers. It all smelt of coal, diesel and fish.

 

[mattb7tl]

That's why I don't get why local authorities are so keen on bus stations.

I think with your location it might be easy to forget that bus networks outside of the capital completely crumble after six with the most frequent and profitable services dropping to at best half hourly. In no world is it convenient and comfortable to stand in a bus shelter for an hour in awful weather conditions. I fought for my service to be moved into the bus station and since the hours of operation have expanded and the buses are notably busier on an evening because you don't have to give yourself hyperthermia to have a social life or return from work.

Taking Leeds as an example, you really wouldn't want to be down Leeds Bus Station on a night, where as the train station feels a lot safer.

Your alternative is waiting on the side of the street which is very much a more 'dangerous' experience compared to the bus station. I was a frequent user of the 16/16a, 56, 12, 13/13a a few years ago in the evening. It is beyond common to have vulnerable people beg, dance, and speak to you in a mystical language. The bus station is paradise in comparison because they eventually get removed.

 

[johncrossley]

I think with your location it might be easy to forget that bus networks outside of the capital completely crumble after six with the most frequent and profitable services dropping to at best half hourly. In no world is it convenient and comfortable to stand in a bus shelter for an hour in awful weather conditions. I fought for my service to be moved into the bus station and since the hours of operation have expanded and the buses are notably busier on an evening because you don't have to give yourself hyperthermia to have a social life or return from work.

If the bus isn't due then you don't need to be there. Would you stand at a normal bus stop for half an hour? Just get there a few minutes before the bus is due. Where buses stop at numerous locations around the town centre, you can't provide a bus station at each stop. As mentioned earlier, the British style of bus station is quite uncommon in other countries, yet in many of those countries bus usage is much higher. In some of the towns in Britain where bus usage is higher than average, most local buses don't use bus stations. For example Oxford, Brighton, Nottingham and Edinburgh.

 

[WAB]

If the bus isn't due then you don't need to be there. Would you stand at a normal bus stop for half an hour? Just get there a few minutes before the bus is due. Where buses stop at numerous locations around the town centre, you can't provide a bus station at each stop. As mentioned earlier, the British style of bus station is quite uncommon in other countries, yet in many of those countries bus usage is much higher. In some of the towns in Britain where bus usage is higher than average, most local buses don't use bus stations. For example Oxford, Brighton, Nottingham and Edinburgh.

There are plenty of reasons why you might not be able to wait away from the bus stop.

 

[mattb7tl]

If the bus isn't due then you don't need to be there. Would you stand at a normal bus stop for half an hour? Just get there a few minutes before the bus is due. Where buses stop at numerous locations around the town centre, you can't provide a bus station at each stop. As mentioned earlier, the British style of bus station is quite uncommon in other countries, yet in many of those countries bus usage is much higher. In some of the towns in Britain where bus usage is higher than average, most local buses don't use bus stations. For example Oxford, Brighton, Nottingham and Edinburgh.

In a lot of cases you do simply turn up?

A lot of people have to use multiple buses to get home from work. I don't decide when my bus arrives or weather it aligns with the next service which leaves me waiting a good fifty minutes for my bus home. Or you can have a day out axe throwing and it ends before your bus service. I'm not exactly going to loiter around their business?

You use those examples but a lot of us have regressive bus companies who aren't interested in doing what it takes to achieve those results. It involves infrastructure improvements alongside permanently biting into your margins to provide bus provision beyond meeting demand. The main bus companies won't live up to their part of the deal as demonstrated in my region.

 

[Vexed]

Here in Southampton, the city centre is a bit of a mess bus stop wise but the University's Highfield campus has its main bus stop called Interchange, where you can interchange between busses and more busses. No rail station/taxi rank or even a Voi eScooter rack at the Interchange.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

If the bus isn't due then you don't need to be there. Would you stand at a normal bus stop for half an hour? Just get there a few minutes before the bus is due. Where buses stop at numerous locations around the town centre, you can't provide a bus station at each stop. As mentioned earlier, the British style of bus station is quite uncommon in other countries, yet in many of those countries bus usage is much higher. In some of the towns in Britain where bus usage is higher than average, most local buses don't use bus stations. For example Oxford, Brighton, Nottingham and Edinburgh.

It's quite simple.

You don't need bus stations in major cities for local routes as, quite simply, frequency means that you won't be waiting that long. So yeah, you don't need them in places like Leeds and most local services don't use the bus station there; it's the same in Sunderland and Newcastle, Edinburgh, Reading, Bristol etc.

Totally different in a smaller town where headways are lower. Instead, it may be that frequencies are much lower in general, with perhaps only a handful of services that are >15 min frequencies. In that respect, it probably makes more sense to have a bus station for country and lower frequency services and then accommodate the few more frequent ones there too.

It's a personal hang up of mine that you have places, many of which are in metropolitan areas (e.g. the former PTE areas, but not exclusively) where you have the most ridiculous, over engineered bus stations going. Worst offender is Metro in West Yorkshire, though there are others elsewhere.

Of course, it's not to say that you don't have bus stations in other countries; they just tend to be a collection of bus shelters outside a rail station. Then you have the Translink ones in Northern Ireland - often a bus station attached to a depot in a peripheral location, and possibly next to a rail station.

 

[mattb7tl]

You don't need bus stations in major cities for local routes as, quite simply, frequency means that you won't be waiting that long. So yeah, you don't need them in places like Leeds and most local services don't use the bus station there; it's the same in Sunderland and Newcastle, Edinburgh, Reading, Bristol etc.

Even in the most dense regions frequencies drop to the bare minimum or worse. They have a place everywhere in the country because private operators won't do more than 'meet demand' hence the need for a comfortable place to wait for a bus.

Worst offender is Metro in West Yorkshire, though there are others elsewhere.

What else are they meant to do to develop evening bus usage? Bus priority is irrelevant for evening bus services and you won't get the main company to take a lower margin and reinvest the increased profits they make as a result from those priority measures into a usable evening timetable.

 

[Simon75]

Bus stations are useful regardless of the size of the area, as you can get anywhere from one place. For example the other year I got a train to Birmingham, and catch a local train. This meant having to look when to catch it as they are so spread out in the city centre, often a distance from New Street

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Even in the most dense regions frequencies drop to the bare minimum or worse. They have a place everywhere in the country because private operators won't do more than 'meet demand' hence the need for a comfortable place to wait for a bus.

What are you on about? So even in London, it's the bare minimum or worse? We're talking about the normal daytime frequency. If the benchmark (as taught to me at University) is 15 mins for a frequent service, you have no chance of that across most the country.

And this isn't something new so the (boo hiss) private operator schtick isn't really necessary.

What else are they meant to do to develop evening bus usage? Bus priority is irrelevant for evening bus services and you won't get the main company to take a lower margin and reinvest the increased profits they make as a result from those priority measures into a usable evening timetable.

You think that having a bright and shiny bus station in Ossett is really developing bus usage? Here's an alternative thought... That bus station incurs business rates, maintenance, and utilities costs. How about if that money was used to enhance an evening bus service?

However, perhaps it might be that the evening economy is frankly markedly different from what it was 20 years ago, as evidenced by the number of former closed pubs you see.

 

[mattb7tl]

What are you on about? So even in London, it's the bare minimum or worse? We're talking about the normal daytime frequency. If the benchmark (as taught to me at University) is 15 mins for a frequent service, you have no chance of that across most the country.

London's core bus network is rarely infrequent in the evening. At worst and quite uncommon, a thirty minute evening frequency, with a large majority running at 15-12. I'm not on about secondary or community services.

You think that having a bright and shiny bus station in Ossett is really developing bus usage? Here's an alternative thought... That bus station incurs business rates, maintenance, and utilities costs. How about if that money was used to enhance an evening bus service?

I do. It was the only area to gain a seven day evening frequency under BSIP (126) you say that but authorities that haven't invested in much in bus stations and better waiting conditions have the exact same evening frequencies. Halifax's bus station, and the situation with Bradford Interchange, also caused the networks usage to plummet, which reverted once the new station was built, and during those times it gave the authority more financial strain due to the reduced usage.

I fought to put my local service in the bus station pre-pandemic it was a commercial ten minute service with bus priority and it ended at 8pm. It was one of a couple bus routes to not serve my towns bus station. The company blamed us for 'not using the service' in an evening but they made it inconvenient and uncomfortable to use the service, by choice. I won the battle and got it moved into the bus station. A few years later, and in a post-pandemic climate, so the odds should really not be in my favour, and it runs two hours later on a commercial basis. Years of failed attempts of later journeys very much stopped once it moved into the bus station.

 

[johncrossley]

I've been to Huddersfield and they seem to have a particularly elaborate bus station, as do some other towns in West Yorkshire. Britain is big on bus stations but West Yorkshire takes it to another level. I'm struggling to think of a town the size of Huddersfield in neighbouring countries where they have the West Yorkshire kind of bus station for local buses when I've been travelling abroad. They probably exist but they aren't the norm. Maybe for Flixbus and similar long distance coaches, but not really for local buses. If it was such a good idea then other countries would have them everywhere. However, despite spending a fortune on its bus station, Huddersfield doesn't actually have a proper interchange. The bus station is tantalisingly close to the rail station, but sufficiently far to be a distinct bus station. If buses actually stopped at the railway station, instead of about 200 metres away and across busy roads, then passengers could actually shelter in the railway station.

 

[mattb7tl]

I've been to Huddersfield and they seem to have a particularly elaborate bus station, as do some other towns in West Yorkshire. Britain is big on bus stations but West Yorkshire takes it to another level. I'm struggling to think of a town the size of Huddersfield in neighbouring countries where they have the West Yorkshire kind of bus station for local buses when I've been travelling abroad. They probably exist but they aren't the norm. Maybe for Flixbus and similar long distance coaches, but not really for local buses. If it was such a good idea then other countries would have them everywhere. However, despite spending a fortune on its bus station, Huddersfield doesn't actually have a proper interchange. The bus station is tantalisingly close to the rail station, but sufficiently far to be a distinct bus station. If buses actually stopped at the railway station, instead of about 200 metres away and across busy roads, then passengers could actually shelter in the railway station.

This was the case a few years back with the old versions of the 310/14/16. The wonderful local bus company forced the authority to cough up some money to go to the tiny distance to the train station. IIRC, it did not even require an extra bus. It becomes even more hilarious when you realise that wonderful bus company also ran the majority of trains (awfully) and they were simply just completely unwilling to integrate the services. You can't work with a company that does not want to work with you.

Greater Manchester has bus stations in essentially every major or semi-major town. Middleton, Eccles and Altrincham may be of interest due to the size of those towns.

 

[Hyebone]

Britain is big on bus stations but West Yorkshire takes it to another level

Slightly off topic, but I can't help but mention Hemsworth bus station... It's literally a Tesco car park

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

London's core bus network is rarely infrequent in the evening. At worst and quite uncommon, a thirty minute evening frequency, with a large majority running at 15-12. I'm not on about secondary or community services.

That was my point. You talk about the bare minimum of an evening and only London manages that and even then not exclusively.

That being said, I'm not certain what your point actually is? The point was that @johncrossley was suggesting that in many places, you don't need a bus station for local services, and for once, I agree with him. In the major cities etc, that is probably true. In smaller towns, there are relatively limited routes on that sort of headway and so it probably makes sense to have those also serve a bus station rather than having one or two outliers.

I do. It was the only area to gain a seven day evening frequency under BSIP (126) you say that but authorities that haven't invested in much in bus stations and better waiting conditions have the exact same evening frequencies. Halifax's bus station, and the situation with Bradford Interchange, also caused the networks usage to plummet, which reverted once the new station was built, and during those times it gave the authority more financial strain due to the reduced usage.

You think Ossett having a bus station was what got it a BSIP uplift? That was probably the least of their concerns.

Whilst I do feel that bus stations and interchanges are a useful facility, I'm not aware of any studies that demonstrate that they fundamentally and significantly improve patronage. Certainly, when you have any form of upheaval that means bus are rerouted and retimed, it has an impact but that's not the same as a bus station being a traffic generator.

Moreover, I don't think you can draw a direct parallel. The local authorities (mainly the former PTEs but there are a few others) that build and maintain these large facilities... Well, they're going to be more pro-public transport anyway. It's an example of correlation but not causation. They're more likely to support shoulder, evening and Sunday bus routes, have bus priority, have better forms of ticketing etc.

I fought to put my local service in the bus station pre-pandemic it was a commercial ten minute service with bus priority and it ended at 8pm. It was one of a couple bus routes to not serve my towns bus station. The company blamed us for 'not using the service' in an evening but they made it inconvenient and uncomfortable to use the service, by choice. I won the battle and got it moved into the bus station. A few years later, and in a post-pandemic climate, so the odds should really not be in my favour, and it runs two hours later on a commercial basis. Years of failed attempts of later journeys very much stopped once it moved into the bus station.

Very difficult to pass comment on that.

Greater Manchester has bus stations in essentially every major or semi-major town. Middleton, Eccles and Altrincham may be of interest due to the size of those towns.

Greater Manchester is another one of those "offenders". IMO, Eccles is actually quite well designed and appropriate for its use. Altrincham is a bit oversized but nothing compared to Hyde which is huge. Middleton is similarly mental is size and scale.

To put it into West Yorkshire parlance, places like Ossett, Batley and Cleckheaton probably need something akin to Hemsworth (ok, the facilities are in the adjacent Tesco store) or South Elmsall but instead Heckmondwike is also now getting the treatment.

I am old enough to recall many of the absolute hellholes of bus stations around the country. I have no wish to return to those halcyon days but we have a real bizarre state of affairs. Some bus stations in the provinces are squeezed into commercial developments but conversely, some are really oversized for what is really required.

 

[Ballyheigue]

When you examine Doncaster bus station, it's built right next to the train station, but can't quite be called interchange due to both buildings not quite being connected, all it really needs for the bus station to be physically connected to the train station to then be called an interchange, maybe by way of a roof between both? I'm surprised the South Yorkshire Mayor hasn't looked at this, and looked at the possibility of both sharing security patrols and even the police, CCTV etc as the train station feels significantly safer than the bus station even though both are right next to each other. I suppose it doesn't help that the bus station is built into what looks like a dark cave with glorified shelters lol. Stand C is of particular concern as that is isolated from stands A and B, never felt safe waiting there even during the day, feels too quiet as well.

 

[johncrossley]

When you examine Doncaster bus station, it's built right next to the train station, but can't quite be called interchange due to both buildings not quite being connected, all it really needs for the bus station to be physically connected to the train station to then be called an interchange, maybe by way of a roof between both? I'm surprised the South Yorkshire Mayor hasn't looked at this, and looked at the possibility of both sharing security patrols and even the police, CCTV etc as the train station feels significantly safer than the bus station even though both are right next to each other. I suppose it doesn't help that the bus station is built into what looks like a dark cave with glorified shelters lol. Stand C is of particular concern as that is isolated from stands A and B, never felt safe waiting there even during the day, feels too quiet as well.

That's the whole issue with the kinds of bus stations you have up north in particular. The fact that we are talking about security, CCTV etc. means there is an issue with the whole concept.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

When you examine Doncaster bus station, it's built right next to the train station, but can't quite be called interchange due to both buildings not quite being connected, all it really needs for the bus station to be physically connected to the train station to then be called an interchange, maybe by way of a roof between both? I'm surprised the South Yorkshire Mayor hasn't looked at this, and looked at the possibility of both sharing security patrols and even the police, CCTV etc as the train station feels significantly safer than the bus station even though both are right next to each other. I suppose it doesn't help that the bus station is built into what looks like a dark cave with glorified shelters lol. Stand C is of particular concern as that is isolated from stands A and B, never felt safe waiting there even during the day, feels too quiet as well.

Doncaster North (as it was then) was always a dark hole.

That's the whole issue with the kinds of bus stations you have up north in particular. The fact that we are talking about security, CCTV etc. means there is an issue with the whole concept.

I'm not sure that it does. Moreover, it's just a reflection that in a major rail terminus, you're going to have BTP, CCTV, and many more staff. Put the same number of staff in a regular bus station, and that changes.

I had the great privilege of arriving into Wakefield Westgate and then walking to Kirkgate station as my GC train had failed to make it north. Kirkgate station at 2200 on a foggy December evening didn't feel especially safe either.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'm not sure I'd describe Huddersfield bus station as "elaborate" myself, but maybe I take it for granted as I grew up there. It's maybe bigger than it needs to be, but the building is that size because of the car park on top, so it makes sense to use all the available space. It can get a bit sketchy in there after 6pm due to anti-social behaviour but it isn't quite as bad as Wakefield for that.
It isn't particularly well sited for the town, being right up at the top of the CBD within the ring-road. Over the years the commercial centre has drifted southwards towards Kingsgate and the University, so the bus station is out on a limb now.
The "mini" bus stations in the smaller towns like Cleckheaton and Ossett do seem a bit extravagant, and aren't always in the best locations for all routes in the towns to serve them (looking at you, Batley) but hopefully with franchising coming in they'll be able to serve as proper interchanges as was intended, rather than just being over-specced bus stations for just one or two routes. Batley (the bus station and the town itself) suffers thanks to Arriva diverting the 229 away a few years ago, leaving the town with no bus link to Huddersfield. Getting tenants back in the retail units would help too, particularly if they can serve a sort of dual role and act as travel information points too. That would need a mayoral intervention though.

 

[Andyh82]

In terms of Cleckheaton, Batley, Ossett, Hyde, Middleton etc that keep being brought up. It’s worth bearing in mind that these places always had bus stations, so what do you do when they need updating? Install some rudimentary shelters because you don’t think these places deserve a proper building like the rest of the county has. For a public sector organisation that is supposed to serve everyone, with councillors on the committee from all the councils of various sizes, that just wouldn’t happen. It’s a similar reason why the Bee Network are now using electric buses not just on the big routes but also on services that would never in a million years see brand new buses previously.

That's the whole issue with the kinds of bus stations you have up north in particular. The fact that we are talking about security, CCTV etc. means there is an issue with the whole concept.

Well no, it’s just the difference between private and public property

If there is anti social behaviour in an indoor bus station, it’s the responsibility of the organisation who runs it to sort it out. If there is anti social behaviour in an on street bus shelter, it’d just fall into the general council/police responsibility and you can’t really move on drunks or beggars as it’s the public street

 

[johncrossley]

Well no, it’s just the difference between private and public property

If there is anti social behaviour in an indoor bus station, it’s the responsibility of the organisation who runs it to sort it out. If there is anti social behaviour in an on street bus shelter, it’d just fall into the general council/police responsibility and you can’t really move on drunks or beggars as it’s the public street

The issue is the perception of isolation in that type of bus station. In a regular bus shelter on a street in a city centre where there are probably lots of people walking then it is no worse than if you were walking on that street yourself. It might actually be statistically safer in a bus station but the perception is what counts here, which maybe why these kinds of bus stations aren't common for local buses outside the UK.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

In terms of Cleckheaton, Batley, Ossett, Hyde, Middleton etc that keep being brought up. It’s worth bearing in mind that these places always had bus stations, so what do you do when they need updating? Install some rudimentary shelters because you don’t think these places deserve a proper building like the rest of the county has. For a public sector organisation that is supposed to serve everyone, with councillors on the committee from all the councils of various sizes, that just wouldn’t happen. It’s a similar reason why the Bee Network are now using electric buses not just on the big routes but also on services that would never in a million years see brand new buses previously.

Fair challenge. I remember the old Batley bus station. It was horrid. Cleckheaton was better but still needed some work; let's be explicit - I'm not advocating that bus stations should be wattle and daub structures. Improve them, yes, but some of the ones are a bit OTT.

Hyde had a bus station. It got updated and needed it. It could have had something like Eccles which is much more appropriate in terms of size and the practical aspects such as all the costs I mentioned. Instead, it's about 8m high with a cantilevered canopy that is ornamental. In fact, it's larger than somewhere like Mansfield bus station.

GM and WY aren't the only ones. Notts has some good bus stations (like Mansfield) but Newark again seems a bit over-specified. Then you have places like Halesowen

The issue is the perception of isolation in that type of bus station. In a regular bus shelter on a street in a city centre where there are probably lots of people walking then it is no worse than if you were walking on that street yourself. It might actually be statistically safer in a bus station but the perception is what counts here, which maybe why these kinds of bus stations aren't common for local buses outside the UK.

Don't know if I agree entirely. I can think of bus stations in the Netherlands that are pretty quiet of an evening but they have them, usually adjacent to the rail station. That said, I struggle to think of many UK bus stations that are so peripherally located that they are so isolated; they tend to be more centrally located anyway. Taking West Yorkshire as an example. Which ones would make me "feel" uneasy at outside of peak hours...

• Yes - Batley, Cleckheaton, Todmorden, Dewsbury
• No - Huddersfield, Leeds, Bradford, Hemsworth, South Elmsall, Otley, Ilkley, Huddersfield, Castleford, Wakefield, Pontefract, Keighley, Seacroft, Pudsey, Wetherby, Holmfirth, Ossett

Oddly, Batley and Cleck feature again because they're small, peripheral and not very busy. Dewsbury, in my limited experience, has a problem with anti-social behaviour.

 

[Paul AC]

(deleted)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Taking West Yorkshire as an example. Which ones would make me "feel" uneasy at outside of peak hours...

• Yes - Batley, Cleckheaton, Todmorden, Dewsbury
• No - Huddersfield, Leeds, Bradford, Hemsworth, South Elmsall, Otley, Ilkley, Huddersfield, Castleford, Wakefield, Pontefract, Keighley, Seacroft, Pudsey, Wetherby, Holmfirth, Ossett

Oddly, Batley and Cleck feature again because they're small, peripheral and not very busy. Dewsbury, in my limited experience, has a problem with anti-social behaviour.

I personally find Huddersfield more hostile in the evenings than Dewsbury, though I haven't been in Dewsbury since they started the rebuilding work, so maybe that makes a difference. There's definitely anti-social behaviour there, but because it's quite open and spacious and gets used as a thoroughfare to the Asda, it isn't somewhere you could get "cornered". Huddersfield feels like somewhere you could get trapped because of the lack of circulation space. The piping of classical music is clearly intended to discourage youths from loitering but it doesn't seem to work. As a result that and the loud recorded announcements just lead to sensory overload.

One thing your list says to me, is that it isn't the type or quality of building that makes the difference, but the general atmosphere of the town/area the bus station is in. Holmfirth certainly isn't a fancy building like Batley or Cleckheaton, but it's in leafy quaint Summer Wine country so there's fewer crackheads hanging about the place!