Britain's Best Bus Station

[Deerfold]

You only really get 'proper' bus stations in the British sense in towns where there is no rail station.

Or where the bus station is the other side of town from the train station with few if any buses serving the train station (e.g. Halifax, Keighley). In Keighley most of the buses which do serve the stop outside the train station come from the same places as the trains...

Halifax is a fine example of a nice idea poorly executed. They've tried to build the bus station round a listed building and ended up with a bus station that lets in rain and wind.

I thought the new bus station in Slough had to be an improvement on the old one until I visited it and found that though it's no longer dark and dingy you now get rained on when you're inside.

Mansfields current bus station is ugly, although why it is built in a car park is odd...

The new one loooks good, it will have a walkway to the train station, you can see it going to the station in the pic below

The current bus station was built in the early 70s. They knocked down the church my parents got married in (in '72) to build it. Hasn't lasted long.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Keighley bus station is very nice despite being away from station which i think is a huge mistake and may well one day allow the worth valley to make rail commuting more viable.
I also like barnsleys bus station and sheffields too. Both well linked into the main station.

 

[radamfi]

You only really get 'proper' bus stations in the British sense in towns where there is no rail station.

Or where the bus station is the other side of town from the train station with few if any buses serving the train station (e.g. Halifax, Keighley). In Keighley most of the buses which do serve the stop outside the train station come from the same places as the trains...

Halifax is a fine example of a nice idea poorly executed. They've tried to build the bus station round a listed building and ended up with a bus station that lets in rain and wind.

Just to clarify the context of my original post:

I meant that countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands only build elaborate buildings for buses when the town has no train service. If the town has a train service then the buses will stop right outside the front door of the rail station, meaning that there is no need for a separate building. There is no need to wait in the bus station as you can wait in the rail station until just before the bus is due.

Halifax rail station has a huge empty space in front of it where the bus station could have been built. By all means run buses through the main part of the town centre, and you could have another bus station there, but services should all call at the rail station. The rail station should always be the focal point of bus services.

 

[Deerfold]

Keighley bus station is very nice despite being away from station which i think is a huge mistake and may well one day allow the worth valley to make rail commuting more viable.
I also like barnsleys bus station and sheffields too. Both well linked into the main station.

Keighley bus station is certainly much nicer than it used to be - you're inside for a start!

The walk from the station didn't used to be so bad - but they've moved the handy crossing meaning you now have to cross in 3 stages,walk a consierable distance back on yourself or do what most people do and run across the road where the crossing used to be.

Just to clarify the context of my original post:

I meant that countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands only build elaborate buildings for buses when the town has no train service. If the town has a train service then the buses will stop right outside the front door of the rail station, meaning that there is no need for a separate building. There is no need to wait in the bus station as you can wait in the rail station until just before the bus is due.

Halifax rail station has a huge empty space in front of it where the bus station could have been built. By all means run buses through the main part of the town centre, and you could have another bus station there, but services should all call at the rail station. The rail station should always be the focal point of bus services.

There's a grand total of 1 bus service which calls *at* the railway station in Halifax - and that doesn't call at the bus station...every 20 minutes off-peak only

http://www.wymetro.com/NR/rdonlyres/9D6C5975-F75D-4CC1-A81F-06944567FD42/0/600bustimetable.pdf

I remember when it used to run every 5-6 minutes including at peak times - wa useful for getting up the hill in a hurry as in practice they left after each train had arrived and all the passengers had made it outside.

At least the "new" bus station in Halifax is (slightly) nearer the station than the old one.

There was talk of a 2nd bus station being built in Keighley next to the train station when the new college was being built. However it's all gone suspiciously quiet (I suspect Keighley and District probably said they wouldn't be extending their services there and it was quietly dropped).

 

[Slough]

I thought the new bus station in Slough had to be an improvement on the old one until I visited it and found that though it's no longer dark and dingy you now get rained on when you're inside.



The current bus station was built in the early 70s. They knocked down the church my parents got married in (in '72) to build it. Hasn't lasted long.

The new bus station and the new layout of the old roundabout and surrounding area that includes the train station is a disgrace . It has cost £7m ( the cost of the bus station alone ) when all that was needed was a revamp of the old bus station and car park on top . This new bus station in slough has no toilet facilities is completely open to the elements , has cold and hard metal seating . The new destination screens never work and when they do are an hour behind . The busses are always late and then you have to wait a further 5 minutes whilst the drivers change over .
I ask anyone who has the misfortune to be in slough to take a visit to this modern master piece .

 

[tbtc]

By all means run buses through the main part of the town centre, and you could have another bus station there, but services should all call at the rail station. The rail station should always be the focal point of bus services

Really?

Most bus passengers are taking the bus into the town/city centre and taking the bus home again.

Also, generally speaking (and I'm sure that there are examples that contradict this) the bus stations tend to be more central for the town/city centre (for shopping etc) whilst the railway station is often a bit further out.

I'd second YorkshireBear's shout for Barnsley - nicely lit, central to the town, a bridge to the trains, well located etc.

 

[WestCoast]

Really?

Most bus passengers are taking the bus into the town/city centre and taking the bus home again.

Also, generally speaking (and I'm sure that there are examples that contradict this) the bus stations tend to be more central for the town/city centre (for shopping etc) whilst the railway station is often a bit further out.

I suspect Radamfi was referring to the continental model where buses are on a par with trains and are seen as connecting services from the station, thus promoting journeys made exclusively by public transport from, or close to, door to door. In Britain, and a number of other countries, buses are seen as a different industry to rail.

This kind of thinking has developed over the last 50 or so years, so town planning has to come into it. I can think of towns where more bus services should serve the rail stations, however I can think of others where the service provision is already sufficient.

 

[Schnellzug]

it does seem to be a common belief among the Utopian-minded that the one thing people want to do above all else is to get straight off a Train and catch a Bus. This may well be the ideal rather than driving to and parking at the station, but it can be decidedly inconvenient for the great majority of Bus passengers, who probably don't want to catch a train but want to go to the Shops. Unless the station is right on a number of bus routes, so they can call without going out of their way, insisting that buses should connect with trains for the sake of an ideal inconveniences many more people than it's useful for. What should really be done is to have dedicated feeder buses to stations, not ordinary bus services.

 

[exile]

it does seem to be a common belief among the Utopian-minded that the one thing people want to do above all else is to get straight off a Train and catch a Bus. This may well be the ideal rather than driving to and parking at the station, but it can be decidedly inconvenient for the great majority of Bus passengers, who probably don't want to catch a train but want to go to the Shops. Unless the station is right on a number of bus routes, so they can call without going out of their way, insisting that buses should connect with trains for the sake of an ideal inconveniences many more people than it's useful for. What should really be done is to have dedicated feeder buses to stations, not ordinary bus services.

Of course, it depends on the relative locations of the station to the shopping and commercial centres of the town.

Some towns have no bus or coach station whatsoever - Southport for example. Widnes has no true bus station, just a collection of bus shelters in the Green Oaks car park near the main shopping area - whilst the railway station is a good 20 minute walk north of the town centre. Warrington - 2 rail stations, one more or less adjacent to the bus station, itself adjacent to the main shopping centre - but the other, Bank Quay, is decidedly inconvenient if you wish to continue your journey by bus - there is a shuttle service to the bus station but strictly daytime only. St Helens - train station a 5 minute walk from bus station and shopping centre. Runcorn - 2 railway stations - Runcorn (10 min walk from old town centre and bus station and with a nearby bus stop on the way to the Runcorn Bridge to take you to Widnes etc or in the opposite direction to various parts of the town)- and Runcorn East (fairly good bus links) - and 2 bus stations - the old one in the town centre and Halton Lea at the main shopping mall.