The worst transport interchange.

[overthewater]

What is the worst Bus station, Tram station, Rail station or interchange you have had the displeasure of using.

I would have included Northampton Bus station but as we all know it's been closed and replaced. It came third in Demolition (Ch4 TV series)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUX6SZQeF7Y

The worst place has to be Cumbernauld Bus stance, it came top along with the whole town centre in the Demolition programme. Even on the nicest sunniest day it's still depressing. Built in the 1960s, its mainly all enclosed.

I still wonder to this day how anyone is able to get from either side when the shopping centre is closed. There is a separate walkway over the dual carriageway, which has been closed for 15 years now.

There must be plenty of other places which are just as bad?

 

[ValleyLines142]

A similar thread has been created here regarding good and bad bus stations.

 

[Liam]

The old St Andrew Square bus station in Edinburgh stands out in my mind as particularly awful.

 

[Yew]

The old mansfield bus station was pretty bleak..

 

[gordonthemoron]

manchester Victoria?

 

[Statto]

Chester bus exchange, in need of a proper redevelopment not what the local Council have done is demolished the old stands & replaced them with bus shelters.

Preston complete dump the main entrance for passengers is walking through those horrible subways, otherwise it's trying to cross the busway dodging bus movements to exit, & far too many stands as half the stands aren't even in use.

Manchester Piccadilly Gardens, bus station on an island but only bus shelters for the stands it's so busy with so few stands that not all services can stop there & have use surrounding streets the other side of the Gardens & down towards Piccadilly rail station instead, for a major bus station it's awful, at least Shudehill is a proper bus station with a proper covered waiting area.

 

[MK Tom]

I'd nominate the new Northampton bus station. We'll have local routes there, long distance routes on the Drapery, National Express up the road and round the corner in the middle of nowhere and none of it anywhere near the rail station. Terrible for integrated transport!

Bedford bus station is undoubtedly one of the mankiest bus stations of all time but that's now closed for redevelopment.

 

[ChathillMan]

Mansfield Bus Station was the worst. These days I say Castleford Bus/Rail interchange and Bishop Auckland Bus Station

 

[Mugby]

The new Hanley bus station is not much better than the one it replaced.

And Derby bus station is an absolute nightmare for buses to enter and exit.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Preston complete dump the main entrance for passengers is walking through those horrible subways, otherwise it's trying to cross the busway dodging bus movements to exit, & far too many stands as half the stands aren't even in use.

'Trying to cross the busway' that's why there's zebra crossings and a back exit.
I was there today and most of the 74(?) stands still in use had a bus in them.
Nobody uses the subways any more. The one to where Brewsters once was has been took over and the other one to St. John's is pointless now with the zebra crossings.
However when you learn the shortcut down the hidden back stairs (which is open to the public) you'll see an acceptable bit of the bus station which takes you out to a quiet part of the subway. More people need to use it, it's really useful.

 

[fowler9]

If I could be so bold as to recommend a good one it would be Liverpool South Parkway. A bad one would be Santa Cruz De La Sierra Bimodal Terminal in Bolivia. At 5 in the morning after a 15 hour bus ride from hell it is more grim than any bus station in the UK, and calling it Bimodal is a bit cheeky, there are a couple of trains a week. I loved it though. Ha ha.

 

[theageofthetra]

As someone who is used to urban hellholes like Tottenham, Walthamstow, Baltimtore, North Miami, & South Chicago nothing comes close to Istanbul's main long distance bus interchange. The worse kind of poorly planned, underground, dark, threatening and unfathomable sh@t hole I have ever had the misfortune to attempt to use public transportation in.

 

[BurtonM]

'80s GMPTE ones that haven't been updated yet, like Ashton and Wigan. About as useful as bus shelters, and the looped announcements in a heavy Lancashire accent (like the Metrolink announcements) just add to the grim feel. The 'do not smoke' one sounds as if the woman's going to kill you if you do!

 

[Robertj21a]

As someone who is used to urban hellholes like Tottenham, Walthamstow, Baltimtore, North Miami, & South Chicago nothing comes close to Istanbul's main long distance bus interchange. The worse kind of poorly planned, underground, dark, threatening and unfathomable sh@t hole I have ever had the misfortune to attempt to use public transportation in.

Care to clarify where you mean in Istanbul ? - I've been there a few times but cannot think where you mean.

Thanks, Robert

 

[theageofthetra]

Buyuk Otogar. The main one with its own equally dingey metro station.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Buyuk Otogar. The main one with its own equally dingey metro station.

I'd heard that was bad, fortunately just got a connecting minibus to the Ulusoy depot closest to Taksim

 

[JamesRowden]

St Pancras International.

A whole shopping center between the Underground and the Southeastern High Speed services. :-x

 

[KendalKing]

The "old" Talbot Road Bus Station in Blackpool, must of been one of the most Dangerous Bus Stations ever built, that I have ever come across. It was a dark smelly wind tunnel, queues of intending passengers regular had to move, so that buses could enter and leave the bus station.

The so called "new" Bus Station in Morecambe, is a joke. The passenger waiting room is always locked out of use!, So intending passengers have to stand outside in all weathers.

 

[Statto]

The "old" Talbot Road Bus Station in Blackpool, must of been one of the most Dangerous Bus Stations ever built, that I have ever come across. It was a dark smelly wind tunnel, queues of intending passengers regular had to move, so that buses could enter and leave the bus station.

The so called "new" Bus Station in Morecambe, is a joke. The passenger waiting room is always locked out of use!, So intending passengers have to stand outside in all weathers.

Talbot Road was awful, H&S would throw a fit these days if that bus station was still open due to lack of separation from passenger area to the busway, here's a perfect example of the bus station. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zDC5XJumT...4.2.1986+%28%C2%A9+Brian+Turner%29+603.23.jpg

 

[poshfan]

I recently made a return trip from Peterborough to Hednesford for a football match (Hednesford v Solihull), changing at Nuneaton and Rugeley Trent Valley. Rugeley Trent Valley is by far the worst junction station I have ever used in terms of facilities. Two big platforms facing the TV slow lines, one is an island and also serves the Birmingham via Walsall line. Unstaffed station, both platforms completely bare apart from two miniscule bus stop shelters that are virtually open to the elements. While we were waiting for our connection to Nuneaton on the return trip, I noticed two people had decided there was more shelter to be had at the ticket machine, it only had a small roof and no sides, but it faced the other way and so had its back to the wind.

 

[northwichcat]

Talbot Road was awful, H&S would throw a fit these days if that bus station was still open due to lack of separation from passenger area to the busway, here's a perfect example of the bus station. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zDC5XJumT...4.2.1986+%28%C2%A9+Brian+Turner%29+603.23.jpg

At one stage before it closed there was just one service departing from inside the bus station - the Stagecoach X61 service to/from Manchester.

 

[abbo1234]

'Trying to cross the busway' that's why there's zebra crossings and a back exit.
I was there today and most of the 74(?) stands still in use had a bus in them.
Nobody uses the subways any more. The one to where Brewsters once was has been took over and the other one to St. John's is pointless now with the zebra crossings.
However when you learn the shortcut down the hidden back stairs (which is open to the public) you'll see an acceptable bit of the bus station which takes you out to a quiet part of the subway. More people need to use it, it's really useful.

Yes,most of the stands are used and very convenient to get out to main shopping areas via the marked zebra crossings.Exellent bus station and facilities.Toilets are still open at 11 PM.Well done Preston

 

[Kite159]

St Pancras International.

A whole shopping center between the Underground and the Southeastern High Speed services. :-x

Just go via the DLR (if you can), avoids the shopping area.

I would say Salisbury bus station, but it doesn't exist at the moment, instead passengers have to locate the correct on-street bus stop in order to catch the bus. Look luck in this weather as there is little in the way of protection from the elements

 

[Zoidberg]

The old St Andrew Square bus station in Edinburgh stands out in my mind as particularly awful.

By that, do you mean when the bus stances were all the way around the square? If, so, then, yes, it could be quite awkward to find one's bus if one was not a regular. The move in '57 to the more traditional style of bus station off the east of the square was a definite improvement.

 

[JamesRowden]

St Pancras International.

A whole shopping center between the Underground and the Southeastern High Speed services. :-x

Just go via the DLR (if you can), avoids the shopping area.

You're thinking about Stratford. I'm talking about the shopping center that is inside St Pancras Station.

 

[hassaanhc]

Paddington Station is the most confusing station I've ever used, especially in the last few years when the redevelopment works started and the route from the suburban platforms to LUL services seemed to change everytime I was there! (once every few months).

Canning Town Bus Station I'm not a fan of, out of 6 stops for picking up, the majority of routes (about 6/10 most of which are major trunk routes) use two bus stops next to each other, while the remaining 4 have just one or two lesser routes each. One of the two busy bus stops also gets used for DLR rail replacement to Beckton :/. And then the traffic light at the Silvertown Way end which takes ages to change.

 

[12CSVT]

St Pancras International.

A whole shopping center between the Underground and the Southeastern High Speed services. :-x

You're absolutely right there !

Also you have to walk about a mile through the shopping centre to get from the EMT and FCC platforms to the Circle / Metropolitan Line.

 

[hassaanhc]

You're absolutely right there !

Also you have to walk about a mile through the shopping centre to get from the EMT and FCC platforms to the Circle / Metropolitan Line.

Don't forget the deep level lines, same thing applies to/from the Piccadilly Line

 

[EbbwJunction1]

The worse "non existant" interchange between road and rail is Newport in South Wales.

The Council and everyone else have consistantly refused to do what they ought to have done about 30 years ago, and that is build the bus station opposite the railway station. Much of the site they should have used was once a brewery, and when that was knocked down in the 1960's it became a car park.

During the mid 1970's, the whole site (together with part of the railway station which had been the goods platforms) was redeveloped to create an inner by-pass. This was the first opportunity to move the bus station, but they built a shopping centre on the site instead!

Since then, and even up to the present day, they've had several opportunities to create something good, but it's not been done. Bus travellers in Newport now have to look for their buses all over the city centre ... chaos reigns!

 

[Statto]

Belle Vale bus station in Liverpool the other side of the shopping centre only shelters for the stands, the main bus routes 14-79-79C-79D don't even serve the bus station.

Merseytravel bus stations that have been rebuilt from mid 1990s far too small & not enough Road space so buses waiting to go into the stand block buses going to/from other stands cue gridlock & the worst one for this is Liverpool Queen Square bus station.