Trivia: Most underwhelming "bus station"

[Tetchytyke]

I'm going to go with Tyldesley on the Leigh busway. Thanks to First's "improvements" to Vantage this is now where passengers for Atherton have to change buses.

By no means the worst, but not quite in keeping with the way the busway was marketed and not really a temptation out of one's car.

 

[Andyh82]

There is a bus stop called “Bus Station”outside the large co-op in Shanklin on the Isle Of Wight. Made me chuckle when I noticed it.

It isn’t just that bus stop, there is another three around the corner which makes up Shanklin Bus Station

 

[Gloster]

There is a bus stop called “Bus Station”outside the large co-op in Shanklin on the Isle Of Wight. Made me chuckle when I noticed it.

View attachment 122219

There is another stop with three bus shelters around the corner.

 

[ATS3]

It isn’t just that bus stop, there is another three around the corner which makes up Shanklin Bus Station

Hardly a "bus station" even with those 3 added

 

[daodao]

May I add Chorlton-cum-Hardy bus station to the list of contenders. It is just a bay off Barlow Moor Road to allow buses to turn round, with 2 active stands currently (for routes 85 and 86). Originally there was a tramway siding (and associated office) here. The number of terminating bus services has been reduced significantly over the last 50 years.

 

[MaidaVale]

Wellington in Telford recently had a massive up(down)grade (not to the level of some of the ones I've seen so far on this thread) from a cluster of 3 long red shelters resembling somewhat of a bus station, to an admittedly more well equipped and modern (with next bus screens & solar/wind power) yet massively underwhelming group of a few standard open bus shelters that offer pretty poor protection from the elements compared to the one that came before it.

Another in the same area is Oakengates which is fairly similar but with less shelters. Attached is a photo of what it looked like before. I've attached a link to a news article about the new one, which includes a photo.

Off-grid bus station officially opened in Telford

Lights and CCTV at Wellington bus station are powered by solar panels and wind turbines.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[SouthernR]

Morecambe - 4 bus shelters and a waiting room, c.1995. The waiting room was locked up for some time, presumably to deter unwanted guests. It has since had all the doors and windows removed. The railway station across the road has fared much better.
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3353586

Morecambe Bus Station © Ian Taylor cc-by-sa/2.0

The term "bus station" implies that there are some facilities. The waiting room shown here is now permanently ventilated, since the doors and windows were removed. See [[3353586]] for an external view in 2013.

www.geograph.org.uk

 

[ian1944]

There are two Scottish ones superficially alike, neither of which use the words "bus station" but in reality that's what they are. One, Livingston, much better than it used to be, still shelters on either side of the road between the two parts of the covered shopping centre but now there are working displays giving next departures from each (though nothing central giving details of which services/destinations use each stop). Two, Cumbernauld, three stops in a long layby on either side of the road between the two parts of the covered shopping centre, the road being a fast dual carriageway with a central barrier not crossable by pedestrisns, whose only route between the staggered sides is upstairs by a convoluted, unsignposted route to the overbridge, with a similar one downstairs.

Livingston is in the open and the road is fairly quiet, possibly just buses using it. Cumbernauld is effectively underground on the south east side, being under the overbridge and subject to echoing traffic noise and exhaust fumes. Livingston is just about OK, Cumbernauld is underwhelming not because it's minimal but because it's horrible

 

[PaulMc7]

I'm surprised Edinburgh's hasn't been mentioned considering it's the capital. It's a bit of a claustrophobic mess in reality. St Andrews is also like that but a far smaller version. In Fife, I'd argue Glenrothes, Leven, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy's are all far better than St Andrews' one.

 

[LiviCrazy]

There are two Scottish ones superficially alike, neither of which use the words "bus station" but in reality that's what they are. One, Livingston, much better than it used to be, still shelters on either side of the road between the two parts of the covered shopping centre but now there are working displays giving next departures from each (though nothing central giving details of which services/destinations use each stop). Two, Cumbernauld, three stops in a long layby on either side of the road between the two parts of the covered shopping centre, the road being a fast dual carriageway with a central barrier not crossable by pedestrisns, whose only route between the staggered sides is upstairs by a convoluted, unsignposted route to the overbridge, with a similar one downstairs.

Livingston is in the open and the road is fairly quiet, possibly just buses using it. Cumbernauld is effectively underground on the south east side, being under the overbridge and subject to echoing traffic noise and exhaust fumes. Livingston is just about OK, Cumbernauld is underwhelming not because it's minimal but because it's horrible

Agree about Cumbernauld, surprising that it is a 40min road. Livingston Bus Terminal is technically listed as a “pedestrianised zone” which the buses can access. It does struggle with the amount of buses these days, especially with so many timetabled at the same time.

Bo’ness Bus Station is pretty underwhelming. Just 4/5 shelters with no immediate amenities other than a Farmfoods.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I'm surprised Edinburgh's hasn't been mentioned considering it's the capital. It's a bit of a claustrophobic mess in reality. St Andrews is also like that but a far smaller version. In Fife, I'd argue Glenrothes, Leven, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy's are all far better than St Andrews' one.

Glenrothes, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy are much, much bigger places. Perhaps a better measure is how many small towns have a bus station as good as St Andrews... Peterhead? Arbroath?

Cumbernauld is effectively underground on the south east side, being under the overbridge and subject to echoing traffic noise and exhaust fumes. Livingston is just about OK, Cumbernauld is underwhelming not because it's minimal but because it's horrible

Cumbernauld is much worse than underwhelming - it's appalling

 

[PaulMc7]

Glenrothes, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy are much, much bigger places. Perhaps a better measure is how many small towns have a bus station as good as St Andrews... Peterhead? Arbroath?



Cumbernauld is much worse than underwhelming - it's appalling

You also have to remember the tourism and education aspects with St Andrews too. For how busy it gets at certain times of the year, it's an utterly dreadful bus station that's not designed to handle busy days at all.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Another in the same area is Oakengates which is fairly similar but with less shelters. Attached is a photo of what it looked like before. I've attached a link to a news article about the new one, which includes a photo.

There used to be a really duff one in Dawley - it's now a car park

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Oct 2022 ==

You also have to remember the tourism and education aspects with St Andrews too. For how busy it gets at certain times of the year, it's an utterly dreadful bus station that's not designed to handle busy days at all.

I wasn't aware of the golfing or university heritage

Actually, I was aware of the tourism and academia that but even so, it is remarkable that St Andrews has a fully undercover waiting area. Fife Council were really good at improving bus stations. We can't have something twice the size for the handful of days when it's required and people rattling around and, in any case, you'd have to concede that it's better than what was there before.

 

[WibbleWobble]

I'm going to go with Tyldesley on the Leigh busway. Thanks to First's "improvements" to Vantage this is now where passengers for Atherton have to change buses.

By no means the worst, but not quite in keeping with the way the busway was marketed and not really a temptation out of one's car.

Atherton services do run through for much of the day, it's only weekday lunchtime (ish), late evenings and all day Sundays, so most passengers will still travel through. It does create the odd scenario when Sunday buses between Atherton and Tyldesley are more frequent than on a Saturday!

It was designed more for passengers from other local services which acted as feeders, but they seem to have been getting cut left, right and centre! Car drivers would have parked up and waited no more than around 7-8 minutes pre-Covid, when V2s were also every 15 minutes - a maximum of 4-5 in the morning peak.

 

[PeterC]

We visited Monmouth on several occasions, and I was also disappointed by Monmouth's bus station. I guess the lack of buses and sign posting was part of the reason but on the other hand, it is close to the town centre and there are plenty of cafes nearby.

Monmouth left me underwhelmed too.

At least Varteg has been downgraded from "Bus Station" to "Terminus". It only ever had staff facilities, now demolished, which became redundant once most services started running through to Blaenavon.

 

[erskinebus]

Clydebank Bus Station (Chalmers Street) is a pretty drab affair all things considered. Yes, there are several frequent services and is directly adjecent to Clydebank railway station, but these factors are precisely why it's so underwhelming, nay, unfit for purpose considering the level of traffic it sees. There was a plan to completely refurbish it in the early/mid-2000s (or at the very least a artist's concept for it; I do remember coming across such a thing a few years ago), but that's been lost to the mists of time. The biggest stumbling block to any major overhaul of the place is the presence of a substation at the eastern end of the stances (on the east/Glasgow-bound side; see attached screenshot from Google Maps).

View attachment 122197

The thing with Clydebank is that there is effectively a bus station just along the road. The substation is the square building next to the Co-Op car park, but there is a large area (light grey to the right of the substation). This has islands and a staff bothy but is only used as a turning area. Never understood the logic of having that whole area empty, and at peak times buses queue up to fit into the two long bus stops just along the way!

(Screenshot shows satellite view of the area from Google maps)

 

[Strathclyder]

The thing with Clydebank is that there is effectively a bus station just along the road. The substation is the square building next to the Co-Op car park, but there is a large area (light grey to the right of the substation). This has islands and a staff bothy but is only used as a turning area. Never understood the logic of having that whole area empty, and at peak times buses queue up to fit into the two long bus stops just along the way!

(Screenshot shows satellite view of the area from Google maps)

Yeah I know that (I am a Clydebank resident after all lol), that large area was originally where the buses offloaded/picked up when the station was built, which hasn't been the case since at least the mid/late-1990s. This is what it looked like back during the brief period when Stagecoach went up against First in the area during that time (from the 1276-busstop Flickr stream).

Stagecoach Glasgow P556 ESA

Seen in Clydebank Bus Station (back when it had shelters and bus stops) is Stagecoach Glasgow 556, PS bodied Volvo P556 ESA, which was in use on the short lived 21 to Drumchapel. Scanned from an original negative.

www.flickr.com

I can't be sure of the reason why all bus services routed through the station shifted to serving the two long stops: to cut out the time spent pulling in and out of the layover area, it being closer to the southern end of the shopping centre (thus a slightly shorter walk), it being directly beside the train station. Whatever the reason, peak-hour snarl-ups are not unheard of even now, though they're nothing compared to what went on during the mid/late 2000s and into the early 2010s: organized chaos would be putting too light a spin on it!

 

[LUYMun]

Aldershot is fairly underwhelming. While it is a very sizeable bus station, it has basic bus shelters with no protection from the weather, broken next bus displays (now removed), and a Stagecoach managerial office that has the ticket shop closed. Although I'd say the bus station is well used for its size, as during the peak period one should expect all bays (seven or eight I believe?) to be taken up. However, Aldershot is set to become even more underwhelming when plans for redevelopment of the station forecourt goes ahead, which relocates and reduces to two bus bays. Perhaps operationally overwhelming as well!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Aldershot is fairly underwhelming. While it is a very sizeable bus station, it has basic bus shelters with no protection from the weather, broken next bus displays (now removed), and a Stagecoach managerial office that has the ticket shop closed. Although I'd say the bus station is well used for its size, as during the peak period one should expect all bays (seven or eight I believe?) to be taken up. However, Aldershot is set to become even more underwhelming when plans for redevelopment of the station forecourt goes ahead, which relocates and reduces to two bus bays. Perhaps operationally overwhelming as well!

I definitely agree that it's a small and rather dismal place. I had the pleasure of a short stop there in December - the usual closed travel shop and general decay were in contrast to the quite nice rail station. It was after that I discovered that the site is likely to have flats put on it (quelle surprise) and a Farnborough-style interchange at the front. However, whilst having a look at the redevelopment plans, I found this https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/transportschemes/aldershotstation

Two separate but closely linked schemes are in development, one of which will facilitate a new public transport interchange in the area to the front of the station building and will free up the existing bus station for redevelopment. The other will focus on provision of an on-highway scheme for improving the quality of routes between the station and areas of the town centre to the north-east for pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicles.

Hampshire County Council has developed proposals for accessibility improvements and public realm enhancements in the area to the front of Aldershot Station. This scheme will deliver the following:

• Accessibility improvements for pedestrians walking between the train station and Aldershot town centre or nearby residential areas;
• improved bus interchange facilities directly outside the station, which is critical given the relocation of Aldershot bus station away from the train station to a new location in the town centre, which also serves to unlock a significant redevelopment site directly adjacent to the station forecourt;

So is Aldershot to get a new bus station?? I'd seen the redevelopment of the old shopping centre but thought that it was only going to be lots of flats, some bars, and a square for relaxing evening soirees?

 

[RELL6L]

This is an underwhelming 'bus station'!

It is called Grange, St Chads School, and it is on the busway in Runcorn.
It is a 5-bay bus station with space for car parking, from the aerial view the bays even show which route should stop there (probably out of date).
But its main use is for driver changes from the Runcorn depot, not passengers.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[Dai Corner]

This is an underwhelming 'bus station'!

It is called Grange, St Chads School, and it is on the busway in Runcorn.
It is a 5-bay bus station with space for car parking, from the aerial view the bays even show which route should stop there (probably out of date).
But its main use is for driver changes from the Runcorn depot, not passengers.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

View attachment 122516

Possibly built primarily for the safety of schoolchildren? There appears to be a path into the school.

 

[SLC001]

I can think of a couple of local schools that could do with proper bus bays.... I think one does, well sort of.

 

[asb]

I seem to remember Balloch being very underwhelming - one shelter in a gravelly turning circle

 

[mm333]

This is Mablethorpe bus station:



According to bustimes, only 3 shopper/school services use it. The vast majority of scheduled buses call at the shelter on the opposite side of the road.

I think it may be also used as a coach park for seaside trippers.

 

[Busaholic]

This is Mablethorpe bus station:

View attachment 122584

According to bustimes, only 3 shopper/school services use it. The vast majority of scheduled buses call at the shelter on the opposite side of the road.

I think it may be also used as a coach park for seaside trippers.

Just been trying to work out which of those services the assembled throng were waiting for.

 

[Snow1964]

Chippenham Bus station, is a set of bays with a fence, and a narrow canopy with some perch seats which has nothing to stop wind

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.co.uk

Even the numbering is odd, bays 2-9

 

[DunsBus]

I definitely agree that it's a small and rather dismal place. I had the pleasure of a short stop there in December - the usual closed travel shop and general decay were in contrast to the quite nice rail station. It was after that I discovered that the site is likely to have flats put on it (quelle surprise) and a Farnborough-style interchange at the front. However, whilst having a look at the redevelopment plans, I found this https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/transportschemes/aldershotstation



So is Aldershot to get a new bus station?? I'd seen the redevelopment of the old shopping centre but thought that it was only going to be lots of flats, some bars, and a square for relaxing evening soirees?

Speaking as a regular visitor to Aldershot (my sister lives in nearby Ash) I have seen its bus station's facilities gradually reduced over the last couple of years and definitely agree that it has seen better days. The only thing that it has going for it is being next door to the railway station - it's definitely not a good advert for the town otherwise.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Chippenham Bus station, is a set of bays with a fence, and a narrow canopy with some perch seats which has nothing to stop wind

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.co.uk

Even the numbering is odd, bays 2-9

Better than what it replaced (courtesy of Michael Wadman on Flickr)



You had a waiting room that was, certainly in later years, locked. I think there was a small office that had once been a travel office of Bristol Omnibus but was then used by the Chippenham outbase of Badgerline, prior to issues with vandalism on buses being parked up overnight and the outbase moving. There were some (w)iffy toilets and therefore the only shelter was to stand in the entrance of said Ladies toilet (as shown).


Can't shed any light on the Harry Potter style Bay 1 though

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Ashbourne. Two bus shelters alongside a long lay-by. To be fair it used to have a toilet, but it closed.

It used to be a more substantial affair. A 3 bay depot with travel office and large apron in front. That became a number of roadside shelters (or one long one?) and more recently the two referred to.

There is a picture here in its later days - cafe in the travel office (Busy Bees in pic), and a country store in 2/3 of the depot. The pictured buses are Ashbourne Community Transport who parked there in later years. Trent depot is now on the outskirts of town at Waterside Retail Park but you'll never spot it!

Castleton in the Peak District is rather small.

Newport, Shropshire. Three open shelters strung along one side of a car park, toilets in the car park. Put either of these co-ordinates into your preferred mapping service:

52°46'09.3"N 2°22'34.3"W​

52.769249, -2.376203​

 

[Strathclyder]

I seem to remember Balloch being very underwhelming - one shelter in a gravelly turning circle

I presume this was quite a while ago, as I've always remembered Balloch Bus Station (the one behind the Co-op on Carrochan Road) with at least 3 seperate shelters on each side.