Surely this is explained by your previous point:
I live near Keighley. Every week I travel to Keighley with a suitcase and backpack - and sometimes another bag. I change at Leeds and Keighley stations and then get a bus.
It's irritating having to cross Keighley with that lot but I understand why the bus station is where it is - you only have to look at where most people go after getting off the bus in Keighley - it's not to the station but to the shops surrounding the bus station.
What is annoying for the less mobile is connecting in an evening or on a Sunday.
During the middle of a weekday there are 12 buses an hour from the bus stop outside the station to the bus station. Evenings and Sundays there's just 3 and 2 of those are only a minute or so apart.
I agree with your comments re the Leeds and Keighley bus stations being big improvements. Light bright, good passenger information, clean etc.
Also Keighley is well situated for shoppers going to the Airedale Centre, Markets etc.
Where I think we might disagree is on the function of a bus station. It seems to me to be where passengers get on and off the bus plus "other stuff". The latter includes such as somewhere to park up the bus between duties or when the driver is taking his break. It's somewhere for the driver to have a break, possibly book on/off/cash up etc. It's also a good place for passengers to interchange routes. All this "other stuff" doesn't need to take place next to the shopping centre, what is important is the passengers can get on and off the bus near to the shopping centre.
What I believe should have happened in Keighley is that the bus station should have been relocated to what is now basically the bottom of Sainsbury's car park, opposite the railway station, with a pedestrian access to the railway engineered in under the road bridge. Buses would simply be routed down Cavendish st., effectively passing the existing bus station with stops and decent passenger shelters provided at the top of Cavendish St. I have over simplified but I think you will get the idea. Apart from railway interchange this location would have been good for the college and shoppers at Sainsburys, Asda , Aldi etc.
I accept that they've blown the money tarting up the existing bus station and it's unlikely a case for relocation could be made now, but perhaps in a few years time when it needs doing again..............
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
That's because the Conservatives deregulated and privatised buses across most of the UK in 1985. They were not so stupid as to do the same thing in London. Thankfully buses in London are still managed and financed by the State.
Quite possibly. However if the Government gave as much money for transport investment per head to the English Regions as it does to London then perhaps they could afford a similar level of service. I believe London gets approximately four times more per head than West Yorkshire.
