Good and bad bus stations.

[TheGrandWazoo]

I suspect the problem is mostly that the ring roads get clogged up with other traffic. I doubt it has much to do with costs as by the time people are getting 2 buses in each direction they're probably on a day or longer ticket.

Very true. The road network and topography of a city tend to be a major influence in travelling habits.

In Bristol, there's not a circular service as such as the Avon Gorge gets in the way on the Western side, and even in the East, the river provides a physical and psychological barrier. Hence you get a number of different services that provide links in different "arcs" around the city.

There are some interchange points that really are bus stations but not labelled as such (a rose by any other name is still a rose!) such as South Bristol and Southmead Hospitals, UWE, and Bristol Parkway. The latter is perhaps a point where I can agree with Radamfi.... Noticeable that Network Rail were able to justify the building of a new multi-storey car park but the facilities for bus passengers are little better than they were in the 1970's.

Like I say, I'm not convinced by a dogmatic approach of enforcing passenger interchange, but where it should be made easier, we don't always manage that!

 

[Andyh82]

Some Good & Bad in the North East

Good
Gateshead Interchange
Sunderland - although apparently it can be cold
Middlesbrough - although very strange layout
Washington

Average
Newcastle Haymarket

Bad
Durham - horrible for passengers, not enough space, no information office
Bishop Auckland - very windy hill
Newcastle Eldon Square - very tight for buses, hardly any space
Darlington - there isn't one

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Some Good & Bad in the North East

Good
Gateshead Interchange
Sunderland - although apparently it can be cold
Middlesbrough - although very strange layout
Washington

Average
Newcastle Haymarket

Bad
Durham - horrible for passengers, not enough space, no information office
Bishop Auckland - very windy hill
Newcastle Eldon Square - very tight for buses, hardly any space
Darlington - there isn't one

There used to be one in Darlington - Christ, it was grim! And Bishop - agree with you in that it's bleak, winder and full of chavs.

Durham isn't so bad especially compared to how it used to be. It doesn't have an office (few places do) but it does have leaflet racks that seem well stocked on the few times I use it.

Middlesbrough is a modern classic and is now 35 years old!

On the subject of towns without bus stations, Darlington and Weston super Mare are two of the worst places to catch a bus. I can probably add Salisbury to that list too!

 

[Teflon Lettuce]

On the subject of towns without bus stations, Darlington and Weston super Mare are two of the worst places to catch a bus. I can probably add Salisbury to that list too!

Soon you'll be able to add Cardiff to that list seeing as though the city council, in it's infinite wisdom is about to close, bulldoze and redevelop it's bus stn BEFORE even having planning in place for it's replacement!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Soon you'll be able to add Cardiff to that list seeing as though the city council, in it's infinite wisdom is about to close, bulldoze and redevelop it's bus stn BEFORE even having planning in place for it's replacement!

Yet Swansea has one of the best modern ones IMHO.

As regards Wales, one of the bleakest places must be Llanelli bus station. It's a whole new type of desolate!

 

[Butts]

Yet Swansea has one of the best modern ones IMHO.

As regards Wales, one of the bleakest places must be Llanelli bus station. It's a whole new type of desolate!

Don't let Greenback see this.....if he's not looking, the desolate remark, why single out the Bus Station ?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Don't let Greenback see this.....if he's not looking, the desolate remark, why single out the Bus Station ?

Ahem.... You could say that. I couldn't possibly comment...

 

[Carlisle]

Good , Lancaster ,clean, well kept fairly modern bus station.

Bad, Southampton , non existent apart from an open air collection of bus stops and a nearby toilet block that's been closed for years

 

[Busaholic]

Bad, Southampton , non existent apart from an open air collection of bus stops and a nearby toilet block that's been closed for years

You can thank Stagecoach for that, when they were at their most piratical.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

You can thank Stagecoach for that, when they were at their most piratical.

You can't blame them. They bought Hampshire Bus (a historic loss maker) and got given the property. Sold the bus station and paid for the business. And, let's remember, bought new Olympians for the remainder of HB when few others were.

 

[GodAtum]

When I worked in Vauxhall, London, we were told not to use the bus station alone at night.

 

[Carlisle]

You can thank Stagecoach for that, when they were at their most piratical.

That reminds me of when I used to pass to old Alder Valley Handheld bus garage on the A3 daily on my way to work and it was closed and sold pretty soon after Stagecoach took over

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

That reminds me of when I used to pass to old Alder Valley Handheld bus garage on the A3 daily on my way to work and it was closed and sold pretty soon after Stagecoach took over

They moved it to Haselmere but have just opened a brand new depot.

Stagecoach probably maintain more depots/outbases than most firms

 

[Carlisle]

They moved it to Haselmere but have just opened a brand new depot.

Stagecoach probably maintain more depots/outbases than most firms

Ok thanks , I didn't realise any of that

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Ok thanks , I didn't realise any of that

Stagecoach have cashed in on properties, to be certain. However, they tend to replace with cheaper alternatives though not always. Here's the link for the new Surrey base

http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/new-stagecoach-surrey-base/

As for a bad modern bus station, you'll do well to beat Oxford. Not fit for purpose and a salutary lesson on selling a site for partial development.

 

[Hophead]

As for a bad modern bus station, you'll do well to beat Oxford. Not fit for purpose and a salutary lesson on selling a site for partial development.

I'm not a regular long-distance coach traveller but, some years ago, I was travelling from Gloucester Green to Gatwick. The coaches were so tightly packed that the driver needed at least half-a-dozen reversals and edge-forwards before he could swing the vehicle round and leave.

 

[Deerfold]

When I worked in Vauxhall, London, we were told not to use the bus station alone at night.

Who by? Why?

I've used it many times alone at night with no problems.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Bad
Durham - horrible for passengers, not enough space, no information office
Newcastle Eldon Square - very tight for buses, hardly any space

Arriva only closed their office quite recently, it used to be in what is now a fairly grim cafe. Apart from that Durham bus station is ok now it is enclosed- it used to be very grotty.

As for Eldon Square, having been a regular user of the old one, I'll say nothing bad about the new one. I still have nightmares about that escalator ride down into the bowels of hell.

 

[Teflon Lettuce]

As for Eldon Square, having been a regular user of the old one, I'll say nothing bad about the new one. I still have nightmares about that escalator ride down into the bowels of hell.

I remember the old Eldon Square bus stn.... I think Hell would be insulted by your description of that God forsaken hole! Makes you wonder how much of Go-Aheads turn around in fortune is due to new ideas and how much purely down to the fact that the bus stn was rebuilt.

 

[Butts]

Alnwick Bust Station is a bit of a pit , again the Information Office has been shut for eon's.

Handy Supermarket right on the doorstep though

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Alnwick Bust Station is a bit of a pit , again the Information Office has been shut for eon's.

Handy Supermarket right on the doorstep though

Trivia point - the old Eldon Square bus station was designed as a road to go under the city centre (I kid you not). Of course, it would've been prohibitively expensive so the road was never built but the design for the shopping centre was already done and not worth reworking!

And yes, it was horrid; I fully concur with Arctic Troll's description.

As for Alnwick, it was actually rebuilt in 1987/8. The old one was even worse but it was rebuilt to allow access to the new Safeway store. The view was that Arriva would retain it until Morrisons seek to buy it to expand the store though I would say that's unlikely so it'll stay until they decide to built some flats on it! The travel office was one of a number that closed at the same time (Morpeth and Hexham as well).

I can recall a lot of bad bus stations in the North East in the 1980s. Terrible facilities, toilets where dysentery was probably a risk, cold and miserable. Some were badly designed whereas some were basic and/or not maintained (even in the good old pre-dereg days). Newcastle had 4 terrible ones (Haymarket, Marlboro Cres, Eldon Sq and Worswick St). Worswick St was one where I waited many a time for a 722/3 - awful. The old Consett bus station was a muggers playground, whilst Seaham Harbour was clearly designed by someone from Soviet Russia.

However, the worst was the old Central Bus Station in Sunderland. A concrete box, dark inside, cold even on the hottest day and positively baltic in winter, and downright dangerous for drivers and pedestrians as vehicles tended to slip on the road surface.

The modern ones might not be perfect; Eldon Square is badly designed for manoeuvring vehicles but most are some sort of improvement for passengers.

 

[Statto]

Merseytravel bus stations, far too small, Queen Square is awful other buses regularly held up if 2 arrive at one stand, it's a lottery going through Queen Square sometimes you can sail through, few minutes later it can take 10-20 minutes to get through traffic lights at either end don't help, Queen Square is so small that most of the South Liverpool routes that used to stop at the old Gyrotory[which Queen Square replaced] don't stop at Queen Square.

Sawtooth style bus stations work if there's a large area for the buses like Huddersfield & Leeds so buses don't get held up by conflicting movements.

I like Shudehill no conflicting movements so buses are only held up at traffic lights, toilets which are well stocked & have attendants, proper information office what a bus station should be like.

 

[Busaholic]

You can't blame them. They bought Hampshire Bus (a historic loss maker) and got given the property. Sold the bus station and paid for the business. And, let's remember, bought new Olympians for the remainder of HB when few others were.

The situation should certainly have never arisen where they were able to buy Hampshire Bus for next to nothing when the sale included that freehold: NBC should have sold it themselves and the proceeds gone to the taxpayer.

 

[Whistler40145]

Good

Burnley

Lancaster

Bad

Preston - it's tatty, dated and underused

 

[Busaholic]

When I worked in Vauxhall, London, we were told not to use the bus station alone at night.

This was probably a veiled reference to the nearby Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) pub at the forefront of 'gay' entertainment for decades, which in turn brought and brings an element of 'queerbashers' who, if the pickings are light from their twisted point of view, may just pick on any lone male in the area. When I was working for LT buses, one of my colleagues who lived in that area was badly attacked, and that was in the early 1970s, long before a bus station was built there.
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Bad

Preston - it's tatty, dated and underused

But ICONIC

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The situation should certainly have never arisen where they were able to buy Hampshire Bus for next to nothing when the sale included that freehold: NBC should have sold it themselves and the proceeds gone to the taxpayer.

Remember that Hants & Dorset (under NBC auspices) did plan to close and dispose of Southampton depot in the late 1970s. In the end, I think it was the Bournemouth fire and the time it took to sort that meant it wasn't sold.

Fact was that the National Bus Company was poorly run (in a commercial sense) and that it required massive amounts of subsidy, both directly and indirectly. H&D was losing about £2m a year in the late 1970s (about £8m in today's money). That had been much reduced by privatisation as MAP schemes and service cuts had reduced the fleet; from 1981 to 1987 (thru the split to form HB) no new buses had entered the fleet in 6 years (save 5 Olyms and about a dozen minibuses). However, relying on fleet cuts to remove older kit can only take you so far and Hampshire Bus was still an operation that was regarded as a problem. Hence it was effectively given away to just get shot of it.

 

[Busaholic]

However, relying on fleet cuts to remove older kit can only take you so far and Hampshire Bus was still an operation that was regarded as a problem. Hence it was effectively given away to just get shot of it.

How true, and not just of H&D of course. NBC had some pretty crass management at or near the top, and they were only doing Nicholas Ridley's bidding (a man who makes Farage look like a non-smoker). Because it was buses, the chosen transport of the common people, the newspapers never really got interested, but NBC was far worse run than BR, in general,imo.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

How true, and not just of H&D of course. NBC had some pretty crass management at or near the top, and they were only doing Nicholas Ridley's bidding (a man who makes Farage look like a non-smoker). Because it was buses, the chosen transport of the common people, the newspapers never really got interested, but NBC was far worse run than BR, in general,imo.

All privatisations are done "on the cheap" because a government doesn't want the embarrassment of it not getting sold.

Ridley was one of Thatcher's "go to" men and deregulation could've been much worse had his ideas been implemented fully. And the ciggies did for him - think it was lung cancer.
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Good

Burnley

Lancaster

Bad

Preston - it's tatty, dated and underused

Preston hasn't been maintained as the council thought they'd make a property killing. It's a great building and the only really exceptional thing in Preston!!

 

[Robertj21a]

Preston hasn't been maintained as the council thought they'd make a property killing. It's a great building and the only really exceptional thing in Preston!!

We even went to the effort of ensuring that our very first motorway in England was built to by-pass Preston.

 

[Busaholic]

Preston hasn't been maintained as the council thought they'd make a property killing. It's a great building and the only really exceptional thing in Preston!!

Harris Museum, Winkley Square, Preston Guild (next one 2032, so I may not see it) and the glory of St Warburgh's, even to a non-Catholic like me.

The problem with Preston Bus Station (I married a Preston girl in 1969, whose father worked for Ribble and, before that, Scout Motors of Preston) has always been pedestrian access to the buses. From the very first day (I wasn't there but saw it within weeks) proud Prestonians wouldn't accept you had to go through a dingy underpass when you could just walk across the concourse dodging the buses, which in those days were almost exclusively two-person operated, so you could get shouted at by a conductor! Talk of fines was all talk (rightly imo) and the problem only got resolved when fewer and fewer people used the station at all. Before the bus station opened, the Corporation buses either terminated in town at a selection of locations or were part of cross-town routes, some theoretically jointly worked with Ribble. A bus station was needed, and a plague on the houses of property speculators and their partners-in-crime local councillors who wish to rid any town or city of them, unless a better one is to be built in its place.

Andrew Flintoff and, if memory serves, Frank Hayes also are from Preston, not to mention the truly great Tom Finney, with Stanley Matthews the greatest English footballers since WW2.