It seems like a lot of towns around the country are replacing bus stations with street stops, Grimsby springs to mind from a recent visit. Where new bus stations are provided they are sometimes inadequate and poorly planned such as Northampton. Having said that the previous facilities at those two towns were poor and in need of replacement.
Exeter & Plymouth have lost or are about to lose their bus stations as well with a small coach station and street stops at the latter.
On the positive side "The Hard" interchange at Portsmouth is nearly finished, has good facilities, seems to be well thought out and is an improvement on what came before.
I'll reserve judgement on Penzance until it is finished however some cover from the wind and rain is welcome.
To be fair, Bretonside was a very grim place to wait for a bus. It was no great loss. Exeter bus station was/is a different matter but no point in having a massive area and garage in the centre of town. There are a number of bus stations that have been redeveloped over recent years that do suffer from a lack of space; Bath and Bristol to lesser degrees whilst Northampton is a total cock up.
However, in a small town, I'm not certain if we can expect much more than
a) some shelter(s)
b) a set of public toilets close by that you won't get cholera from
c) up to date timetables
An enquiry office/waiting room/cafe might be desirable too. Of course, good point from Busholic that things were no better in the past. The old Newquay bus station was basic, and we've lost some other grim hellholes too over recent years.
As an aside re: toilets. My other half thought the ones at Camborne bus station were grim, whilst my experience of the p*ss stench at Newquay bus station certainly cleared my headache. That was last spring so things may be better now.