Hull Station is a disgrace says councillor

[northwichcat]

IT COST more than £18m to build and brought trains and buses together under one roof for the first time.

But almost six years on, the city's transport interchange is far from easy to navigate if you happen to be a first-time visitor to Hull.

The lack of clear signs, the absence of any information points and the appalling state of the toilets have all been highlighted by scrutiny councillors after a review of facilities inside the complex.

Councillor Karen Mathieson said: "If you are coming into Hull for the first time there is nowhere to go to ask anyone about the city and things like hotels.

"I think we should at least have someone who is specifically there to direct people."

She said a recent visit to the public toilets in the interchange had been a "highly unpleasant" experience.

"There was no one in attendance to take my money and the state of the toilets was disgraceful," said Cllr Mathieson.

"For people to come into Hull by train or bus for the first time and find those type of facilities in that sort of condition is disgusting.

"To make it worse, it was 2pm in the afternoon, not late at night."

Cllr Mathieson also said more effort needed to be put into persuading shops in the interchange to stay open later.

Adam Fowler, of the City of Hull Environment Forum, has long campaigned for improved signs and passenger facilities in the interchange.

He said: "There has to be some value in having a helpdesk there.

"The travel experience for the first-time visitor to Hull isn't as good as it should be.

"For example, there are no signs to say where the bus for ferry passengers arrives and departs from.

"Staff from the bus companies often tell us that when people are coming into the city for the first time, even if it's on day trips or from places such as Scunthorpe, there is nothing there to tell them what is in the city and where they can find it.

"The most frequently asked question is, 'How do we get to The Deep?'

"The interchange is a big place. As well as the railway station it has 38 bus bays and four coach stands.

"It's a big area but it does need a few tweaks here and there."

Councillors were told at a transport scrutiny meeting that design options were currently being examined for a new central information point in the interchange.

Graham Hall, the council's assistant head of transport, said a partnership between the authority, bus companies and station operator First TransPennine Express would examine jointly funding the initiative once a design had been finalised.

He said he had received a personal apology from a senior train company manager over the condition of the public toilets.

Mr Hall said the matter had been taken up with the contract cleaning firm responsible for the toilets.

http://www.thisishullandeastriding....tory-19191429-detail/story.html#axzz2VLRvuDzP

Has anyone seen the refurbishment? Is it really any worse than refurbishments at other TPE managed stations like Huddersfield or are they expecting it to be too much like Leeds?

 

[Tomnick]

The thread title's possibly just a little misleading - but not too far wide of the mark .

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The thread title's possibly just a little misleading - but not too far wide of the mark .

Just thinking the same myself, but perhaps "Prescott-land" does have a very good marine zoological facility in "The Deep" as a somewhat saving grace.

Mind you, if you are intending to visit a place unbeknown to you, it does not take too much in the way of intelligence to look up the places to visit on the internet prior to your journey and the local bus services to use to arrive there, if you do not intend travelling by car. This is what my son did when their family decided to travel to Selby to visit the abbey there last week.

 

[David Barrett]

Many families used to make the occasional voyage there in the distant days when Hull was still overseas. Off the ferry at Corporation Pier, down the road past King Billy and The Land of Green Ginger, no internet, no excess of pictoral signposting, no tourist information centre, we just found out for ourselves. Maybe we have bred a generation who expect to be overly spoon fed on the one hand and probably wouldn't dare to ask some of the locals (not meaning Hull in particular either) for fear of their lives on the other. There's no excuse for the toilets though.

 

[ainsworth74]

I personally think that Hull station is one of the best in the country simply because it combines trains, buses and taxis all in one building. It could do with some slightly better signs and probably a central 'Information Point' but it's no where near as bad as described in that article.

 

[northwichcat]

Just thinking the same myself, but perhaps "Prescott-land" does have a very good marine zoological facility in "The Deep" as a somewhat saving grace.

That's what they do in areas like that. Where is Blue Planet Aquarium?

 

[IanXC]

The refurbishment is a number of years ago now, but I would say its still looking pretty good. There are live departure boards for Trains and Buses in the opposite areas, which are pretty comprehensive. The problem as I see it is once you know which stand it is, its not apparent where the stands are!

The rail reception (passenger assistance usw) has very recently been moved to a much more central and visible position which is a great improvement.

I must say that in all my visits I've not seen cleanliness as an issue.

 

[westv]

I personally think that Hull station is one of the best in the country simply because it combines trains, buses and taxis all in one building. It could do with some slightly better signs and probably a central 'Information Point' but it's no where near as bad as described in that article.

Isn't that all the article is about anyway.
As regards the toilets, there really is no excuse.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

Oh please save us from people who have to say: '2pm in the afternoon'.

 

[yorksrob]

I must admit, Paragon is a very good interchange station (as opposed to having the bus station at the opposite end of the town to the railway one, as seems to be the case in most places).

Aside from an information point, I think the one thing that could be improved is in the local journey planner. We're quite lucky in WYorks in that the Metro planner is quite easy to use, whereas a lot of places (Hull included) this isn't the case.

I look forward to my next visit though. Will doubtless slip through the back door into the Royal Hotel to get in touch with my inner Philip Larkin.

 

[Jatos]

Personally, the first time I went the to the Paragon, I found it really pretty easy to navigate. I don't think it needs much in the way of signs - its got a very simple easy to figure out layout.

 

[David Barrett]

Personally, the first time I went the to the Paragon, I found it really pretty easy to navigate. I don't think it needs much in the way of signs - its got a very simple easy to figure out layout.

Well it was a politician who made all the fuss in the first place, followed by a "Newspaper" article.

 

[grah2702]

Personally, the first time I went the to the Paragon, I found it really pretty easy to navigate. I don't think it needs much in the way of signs - its got a very simple easy to figure out layout.

The first time I visited Paragon station D49 62727 The Quorn was at the buffers having just arrived on a local passenger train.
Ah the good good old days.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The first time I visited Paragon station D49 62727 The Quorn was at the buffers having just arrived on a local passenger train.
Ah the good good old days.

This old trooper soldiered on until 1961 before it was withdrawn. Originally all the Class D49 were named after counties in England and Scotland, but in 1932, 62726 and 62727 were renamed after foxhunts.

62727 was originally named Buckinghamshire.

 

[Max]

Sounds like the councillor is finding an excuse to have a moan (or at least just trying to show the electorate that he doing some 'work'). Hull really isn't that bad and, from what I can remember, actually has quite a lot of signage! It's much easier than some major cities, Sheffield for example, that has an interchange where half of the buses don't call and you end up having to walk to a random street in the city centre to find your bus. Leeds too has no interchange bar a few services. The Hull Daily Mail is blowing this way out of proportion in my mind - it's hardly like the place is miles behind other stations.

I agree though that the toilets are a state considering how knew they are. I put this down to poor maintenance on the part of TPE (or whoever they have contracted this out to).

 

[lincolnshire]

Hull Interchange would look a lot better if they cleaned the front walls of glass more often as they usually look a disgrace, they look as though they have never been cleaned since it was installed.
Just look at Leeds Staion glass at one time is looked yuk, but now they seem to have a regular cleaning team keeping it looking pristine and able to see through them clearly.

The station toilets have always been a problem of keeping in a decent clean and tidy condition.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

On the same wavelength, I wonder what is the external and internal cleaning time-period programme for the glass encasement now part of the improvements at ground floor level to Salford Central station, which is situated under the bridge carrying the running lines.