Good and bad bus stations.

[61653 HTAFC]

Just be careful with the 'security' staff - a number of reports of them being aggressive and full of self-importance.

Robert

I've heard that too, though given some of the toe-rags they have to deal with in the evenings I'm not sure I blame them!

That said, a criticism of Huddersfield that I omitted from my original post is the rather spartan, low-density seating in front of each stand- this leads to people waiting in the middle of the concourse meaning if you need to get to stand C or X then you'll have to fight your way through the crowds

 

[abbo1234]

Good bus stations
Chorley,Burnley,Preston,Lancaster,Nelson,Wigan,Bolton moor lane,Bury,Trafford centre,Leigh,Warrington.

Bad Bus stations
Blackburn,Darwen,Accrington,Morcambe,Rochdale,Ormskirk.Blackpool (Not got one),Skelmersdale.

 

[Deerfold]

Good bus stations
Chorley,Burnley,Preston,Lancaster,Nelson,Wigan,Bolton moor lane,Bury,Trafford centre,Leigh,Warrington.

Bad Bus stations
Blackburn,Darwen,Accrington,Morcambe,Rochdale,Ormskirk.Blackpool (Not got one),Skelmersdale.

Care to let us know why you think that? We're not all familiar with all of them...

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Care to let us know why you think that? We're not all failiar with all of them...

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

 

[radamfi]

Bolton Moor Lane is of the standard GMPTE design from the 80s (common to Stockport, Bury Interchange, Wigan, Leigh, old Manchester Airport Terminal 1 and old Oldham Clegg Street). The previous bus station was similar to the the old Halifax bus station and was rebuilt around the same time.

Rochdale was built earlier, in the 70s, and has just two fat islands, unlike the others dating back from the 80s with narrower, more numerous islands. Rochdale's was also integrated into the municipal offices with a car park on top. The 80s bus stations are all standalone.

Bielefeld, Rochdale's twin town in Germany, donated a bus stop flag which is on display in the bus station. I wonder what will happen to it when the bus station is demolished?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Bolton Moor Lane is of the standard GMPTE design from the 80s (common to Stockport, Bury Interchange, Wigan, Leigh, old Manchester Airport Terminal 1 and old Oldham Clegg Street). The previous bus station was similar to the the old Halifax bus station and was rebuilt around the same time.

Rochdale was built earlier, in the 70s, and has just two fat islands, unlike the others dating back from the 80s with narrower, more numerous islands. Rochdale's was also integrated into the municipal offices with a car park on top. The 80s bus stations are all standalone.

Bielefeld, Rochdale's twin town in Germany, donated a bus stop flag which is on display in the bus station. I wonder what will happen to it when the bus station is demolished?

Don't doubt what you say. Just that, apart from the light (i.e. it sits under the car park), Rochdale is hardly better to wait for a bus than Bolton (or the other GMPTE 1980's run through bus stations that you mention)

 

[Deerfold]

Halifax I have mixed feelings about.

I started using the current bus station when it was first built - I rarely used the old one as fewer services used it and my most common services had more convenient stops in the middle of town. It was quite surprising how many years it was before the old one was demoilshed.

Some bright spark thought it a good idea to integrate a historic building into the bus station and seemed to put more effort into that than being passenger-friendly.

This resulted in a bus station which is fairly attractive but dire in bad weather - rain and snow can easily land on waiting passengers and wind really gusts through - it's better than the old bus station but that wasn't hard.

It can confuse people with 4 exits and no signage about where any go.

 

[abbo1234]

Just my personal opinion.Bolton Moor Lane has two cafes,a decent information centre and two kiosks and is convenient for town and market and is well supervised by transport for Manchester.Rochdale is dark and dingy,a trek to shops,toilets rarely open and u never see a supervisor wandering about.Some GMPTE stations are better than others with better facilities.I just dont think Rochdale isnt one of them.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Halifax I have mixed feelings about.

I started using the current bus station when it was first built - I rarely used the old one as fewer services used it and my most common services had more convenient stops in the middle of town. It was quite surprising how many years it was before the old one was demoilshed.

Some bright spark thought it a good idea to integrate a historic building into the bus station and seemed to put more effort into that than being passenger-friendly.

This resulted in a bus station which is fairly attractive but dire in bad weather - rain and snow can easily land on waiting passengers and wind really gusts through - it's better than the old bus station but that wasn't hard.

It can confuse people with 4 exits and no signage about where any go.

I do think it's rather strange that WYPTE went with the design they did for Halifax- given that all other 'large' bus stations in the county (Leeds/Bradford/Huddersfield/Dewsbury and Wakefield) have 'drive-in, reverse-out' bays with a fully enclosed waiting area. Then again, Halifax seems to be even more the 'poor relation' in West Yorks than Huddersfield- Why Halifax doesn't have a 'Free Town Bus' is beyond me, given that considering the distance between the bus and railway stations is so great, and neither is particularly close to the main shopping area.

 

[scottishchris]

Oops, didn't notice the OP's clarification about this being for UK stations!

Bad: Ibiza town's new bus station.

It's underground and the pinch point at the bottom of the entry/exit ramp means that one bus can't leave while another one arrives.

It's got one central island and because the (right hand door) buses drive round it in an anti-clockwise direction, you step out onto a little platform (mebbe about 10 foot long) sticking out of the island. This then means people leaving the bus halfway down its length have to battle through the people joining at the front to be able to leave.

The platforms then mean when buses are reversing out with very limited clearance behind, they are unable to start swinging round to head towards the exit until they've cleared the islands.It's then so tight that there are CCTV monitors on the platforms to show the driver where his rear end is in relation to the building's walls.

Also, the PA system is inaudible if any bus's engine is running.

It's run by a private company and the landing charges proposed meant that although it was built by 2009, the bus companies only started using it this year when the local government forced the owners to reduce the charges significantly and then forced the bus companies to use the station. The bus companies increased the cost of some tickets and, in protest, showed the extra cost as a separate item on the tickets!

Just a small annoyance on what is otherwise an amazingly beautiful town and island!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Oops! Didn't notice the OP's clarification regarding Uk bus stations!

 

[NLC1072]

Oops, didn't notice the OP's clarification about this being for UK stations!

Bad: Ibiza town's new bus station.

It's underground and the pinch point at the bottom of the entry/exit ramp means that one bus can't leave while another one arrives.

It's got one central island and because the (right hand door) buses drive round it in an anti-clockwise direction, you step out onto a little platform (mebbe about 10 foot long) sticking out of the island. This then means people leaving the bus halfway down its length have to battle through the people joining at the front to be able to leave.

The platforms then mean when buses are reversing out with very limited clearance behind, they are unable to start swinging round to head towards the exit until they've cleared the islands.It's then so tight that there are CCTV monitors on the platforms to show the driver where his rear end is in relation to the building's walls.

Also, the PA system is inaudible if any bus's engine is running.

It's run by a private company and the landing charges proposed meant that although it was built by 2009, the bus companies only started using it this year when the local government forced the owners to reduce the charges significantly and then forced the bus companies to use the station. The bus companies increased the cost of some tickets and, in protest, showed the extra cost as a separate item on the tickets!

Just a small annoyance on what is otherwise an amazingly beautiful town and island!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Oops! Didn't notice the OP's clarification regarding Uk bus stations!

On the other hand the st Antonio bus station is the complete opposite and is very pleasant.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Just my personal opinion.Bolton Moor Lane has two cafes,a decent information centre and two kiosks and is convenient for town and market and is well supervised by transport for Manchester.Rochdale is dark and dingy,a trek to shops,toilets rarely open and u never see a supervisor wandering about.Some GMPTE stations are better than others with better facilities.I just dont think Rochdale isnt one of them.

Appreciate that Rochdale is dreadful and the replacement can't come soon enough.

Also, I appreciate the comments about Bolton. Yes, it's a good location and has amenities. Personal choice but I find the place cold (even in summer, and baltic in winter) and the cafes are dingy and tired with the aroma of 30 year old chip fat!

So in comparison to Rochdale, then yep it's better but I don't think it (nor Bury etc) are in the same league as places such as Oldham, Huddersfield, or even Burnley

 

[gordonthemoron]

Tallin's bus station is weird, in the basement of a shopping centre, v.dark. Strangely enough Aylesbury bus station is quite similar

 

[scottishchris]

On the other hand the st Antonio bus station is the complete opposite and is very pleasant.

Agreed. Nice architecture, lovely and spacious and most importantly, overground!

 

[Rapidash]

Good-but-not-amazing:

Exeter has the right idea - the intertown and city routes depart from the station, and the suburban routes depart from the city centre. Has above average facilities: cafe, newsagent, some half decent vending machines, waiting room, bogs and information centre.

It does need prettifying though, and definitely needs to have some form of digital display boards. The suburban stops have them, bizarrely. More seating would be nice as well.

Bad: Bretonside, Crawley himself probably designed it as some tribute to a Daemon.

Terrible: Paignton. This is my regular haunt. Its one sole redeeming feature is that its opposite the train station. It recently had its crumbling roof replaced with an awful cheap thing which lets in even more rain than the old used to. There is just an information centre present. No bogs, nothing. To the best of my knowledge, no one actually likes it, passengers or staff.

I know the town needed a new library, but the site could so easily have been used to construct some sort of interchange facility with the railway.

 

[sheff1]

Very little mention of Sheffield so far. I think the Pond St bus staion is pretty good - light and airy, well maintained/cleaned, comfy seats, cafe open in the day, onsite 15th century pub and a newsagent which opens until midnight.

Unfortunately the authorities in their wisdom have gradually relocated more and more services elsewhere (many to open air stops on Arundel Gate) meaning it is now rather underutilised. This despite the place being officially designated an Interchange, rather than a mere bus station.

 

[markie73]

I'm going to be controversial and file Northampton under 'good'. It's badly maintained, badly lit and the rest of the building isn't properly utilised, but I personally like the building and I think it's an efficient design. Conversely the new Northampton goes straight into 'bad' for me as it's far too small for the volume of traffic it needs to handle and will damage the rest of the town centre as a result. I also don't think it'll provide sufficient weather protection.

I was talking to the paper shop owner in the bus station and he tells me that the council have not asked them to move to the new facility as there is not enough room - says it all, the new bus station will be far too small and the drapery will be bottle necked as a result.

 

[Deerfold]

I do think it's rather strange that WYPTE went with the design they did for Halifax- given that all other 'large' bus stations in the county (Leeds/Bradford/Huddersfield/Dewsbury and Wakefield) have 'drive-in, reverse-out' bays with a fully enclosed waiting area. Then again, Halifax seems to be even more the 'poor relation' in West Yorks than Huddersfield- Why Halifax doesn't have a 'Free Town Bus' is beyond me, given that considering the distance between the bus and railway stations is so great, and neither is particularly close to the main shopping area.

The move to drive-in, reverse out bus stations came after Halifax was done - when Halifax was built, Keighley was still a rough collection of old bus shelters in 3 rows, Wakefield was a big circle, Leeds was (I think) 3 rows of bus shelters with a dire "Coach station" at Wellington Street.

 

[poshfan]

Bad - Plymouth - A dump and no timetables or route information anywhere, except whatever odd leaflet the travel centre happened to have left in stock, when I was there they had 2 timetable leaflets out of the 50 or so routes.

Good - Peterborough - Weatherproof, shops above, clean loos, and route maps and timetables posters for all routes, plus a huge poster listing all departures by time, like the old style railway timetables.

 

[Butts]

BAD:

Falkirk
Cumbernauld
Perth
Ayr

Words can not describe the hellish place the first two are like.

Steady on old chap......Falkirk Bus Station may not be "ultra modern" but I wouldn't go as far as hellish

Cumbernauld on the other hand....a row of bus stops in a dingy setting - correct.

Aberdeen Bus Station is quite modern but badly designed for waiting passengers. (not enough room - especially Nat Exp/ Citylink and Megabus Bit.)

I changed services in Perth on a Megabus service from Aberdeen to Ferrytoll the other week. It's just a couple of bus stops on the outskirts of town.

Ferrytoll is a good Bus station as it has free parking for Holidaymakers departing from Edinburgh Airport with a regular connection. However the waiting room can get crowded at times.

Someone mentioned Anderson X in Glasgow , I remember it well a right dump -not sure about "hookers on tap -" mind you I was young. Having said that Buchanan Street it's replacement has it's share of undesirables (especially when I'm there )

 

[43074]

Bad: Aylesbury has a hell-hole of a bus station, dark and dingy beneath a shopping centre - it does have everything you would need with a Travel Centre and Live service info - but it's not a nice place to be at the best of times. Nottingham Broadmarsh and Great Yarmouth for similar reasons as above.

Good: Leicester St Margarets: Having been cleaned up recently it's actually not a particularly bad bus station. It's light & airy - even if not in the nicest part of town but it's easy to use, has adequate timetable info avaliable and staff presence so it's not too bad.
Also Stratford Interchange - well layed out, wide variety of bus routes, staff presence etc.

 

[ian1944]

I changed services in Perth on a Megabus service from Aberdeen to Ferrytoll the other week. It's just a couple of bus stops on the outskirts of town.

The site at Broxden P & R is just for Megabus, to save the time it would take for express services going into and out of the city. The central BS is in Leonard St near the station, and though a bit rundown it's OK, with good info and a caff. The stands are drive in, reverse out and share a single canopy to keep the snow and rain off, which is otherwise open to the wind. It's used by slower Citylink coaches and local interurban buses. City services tend to interchange at a third site in Mill St, not really a BS but good of its type.

Calling Cumbernauld's horrible arrangement a BS is just plain wrong, there are a few stops in a pair of laybys on either side of a fast covered dual carriageway, with no obvious way of getting from one side to the other (you've to go on a convoluted route through the brutal concrete shopping centre straddling the road).

 

[NorthernSpirit]

Brighouse's old bus station was old and dingy and it was in two sections. For Wakefield or Cleck, you had to go to stand G which nicely had a gaping big hole to the right of you and a boarded up help point after some local chav bricked the thing. Now its one large building, airy and has CCTV.

 

[Harlesden]

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.

 

[YorkshireRider]

Castleford bus station still looks the same as it did in the mid 80s, but then again so does the rest of Castleford.

 

[Drsatan]

Merthyr Tydfil bus station hasn't changed for quite a while, but then having been there once the town doesn't appear to have changed much since the mines closed (other than the big Tesco near the station). Having said that, due to the design of the bus station you won't get wet waiting for your bus.

One bad bus station I can think of is Winchester: the canopies leak, the departures screen isn't of much use (late running buses are removed as soon as their departure time has passed), and the whole place needs some TLC. I understand the bus station was going to be rebuilt in conjunction with a new NHS clinic next door but that project has been put on hold.

 

[Mojo]

Bad: Aylesbury has a hell-hole of a bus station, dark and dingy beneath a shopping centre - it does have everything you would need with a Travel Centre and Live service info - but it's not a nice place to be at the best of times.

I always thought Aylesbury was quite good; certainly better than the old one in High Wycombe. Has direct lift and stair access from the shopping centre, information screens and a modern indoor waiting room.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I always thought Aylesbury was quite good; certainly better than the old one in High Wycombe. Has direct lift and stair access from the shopping centre, information screens and a modern indoor waiting room.

Aylesbury - atrocious, neo Stalinist etc etc. Better than old Wycombe is damning with faint praise!! It's one of the few throwbacks to the bad old days

 

[philjo]

Workington bus station isn't particularly pleasant.
The layout isn't helped by the railings which prevents proper access to the boot on the near-side. I had boarded the x4 or x5 at Keswick (grandly named as a Bus station for a collection of 4/5 open air bus stops outside Booths supermarket!). This is a coach so luggage goes in the boot underneath. on arrival at Workington I had to walk round to the driver's side (i.e. in the roadway) to open the boot & crawl halfway through to retrieve may suitcase.

 

[gnolife]

Southern Cemetery is appalling. Its bus stands spread around an extremely busy road intersection (where A5103 Princess Road meets A5145 Barlow Moor Road). Buses to Manchester go from opposite sides of Princess Road. Buses to Chorlton go from opposite sides of Barlow Moor Road.