Places that don't have a proper bus station but could do with one

[moose5000]

Bit harsh on Chester, it’s not exactly miles from the centre!

City Road in Chester has improved in recent years with some decent bars, micropub and restaurants en-route to the City Centre, although the subway at the top of City Road is pretty off putting.

There are frequent buses from outside the station to the Frodsham Street in the City Centre but I don’t think PlusBus tickets are accepted? I presume ENCTS passes are valid? but not Welsh ones obviously!

If ever a railway station was crying out for a York or Sheffield style micropub then Chester would win hands down!

You're right, the 'dedicated' City Rail Link, operated by Aintree, doesn't accept PlusBus - in fact, I'm pretty sure it's just Cash (£1 Single) or ENCTS.

PlusBus (and other payment methods) can be used on Stagecoach and Arriva services between the Railway Station, Bus Interchange and City Centre (1 / 5 to Wrexham, 1 / X1 to Liverpool and 4 / X4 to Mold spring to mind).
The City Rail Link used to be free of charge and was funded jointly by all the TOCs that served Chester, and as I recall, was quite well-used back then.

As for York, I know they are or were thinking about building a bus station, but the thing is most of the services in York are locals and do a bit of a city centre loop anyway, so the clusters of stops around the Station, Piccadilly / Merchantgate and The Stonebow I think do the job. The only 'terminating' buses really are those to Leeds, Selby and Hull. The main issue with York is the terrible congestion.

 

[Bletchleyite]

City Road in Chester has improved in recent years with some decent bars, micropub and restaurants en-route to the City Centre, although the subway at the top of City Road is pretty off putting.

Yeah, the subway is grim - poorly signed and smelly. Really could do with removing it and replacing with surface crossings.

If ever a railway station was crying out for a York or Sheffield style micropub then Chester would win hands down!

It has a pub (I think), though not a micropub of the kind you are thinking of.

 

[route101]

Most of the frequent services avoid it as it's quite out the way.

Nearly caught me out, i thought i could catch the 23 to Aberfeldy , double checked and it departs from Mill St stances. I guess Broxden took away the expresses.

 

[johnnychips]

It has a pub (I think), though not a micropub of the kind you are thinking of.

Chester had an independent cafe/pub on the station front. It was really good. Unfortunately it closed down pre COVID. There is a pub across the road, and I observed it was popular during the Eat Out thing. Chester bus station looked OK.

 

[PaulWC]

Bit harsh on Chester, it’s not exactly miles from the centre!

City Road in Chester has improved in recent years with some decent bars, micropub and restaurants en-route to the City Centre, although the subway at the top of City Road is pretty off putting.

There are frequent buses from outside the station to the Frodsham Street in the City Centre but I don’t think PlusBus tickets are accepted? I presume ENCTS passes are valid? but not Welsh ones obviously!

If ever a railway station was crying out for a York or Sheffield style micropub then Chester would win hands down!

City Road's a long way of getting to the city - opposite way out of the station and down Brook Street and you come out across the road from the bus station and on to Frodsham Street.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I suppose one reason why Germany is able to have bus and rail stations together is that we, er, assisted them in needing to rebuild their towns and cities in the 1930s...

What happened in the 1930's?

 

[Bletchleyite]

What happened in the 1930's?

Just a little, er, world war.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Just a little, er, world war.

To be fair, we didn't do much in the 1930s to affect Germany architecture; more the 1940s

 

[Mcr Warrior]

As TheGrandWazoo has just pointed out, surely this was the 1940's?

 

[DB]

Some fairly sizeable places don't have them and don't need them; I'd put Cheltenham and York in that category (and yes, I know Cheltenham has Royal Well but most services don't use it).

I lived in York for many years, and it definitely does need one. There are at least four places in the centre where lots of buses call, and you have to know what goes where. Changes between some routes are also awkward.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As TheGrandWazoo has just pointed out, surely this was the 1940's?

Fair enough, though that is of no significance whatsoever in terms of the point behind it, which is that we bombed German cities so they had to rebuild them, so they did so with consideration of layouts that made sense rather than just whatever was there before.

 

[carlberry]

Fair enough, though that is of no significance whatsoever in terms of the point behind it, which is that we bombed German cities so they had to rebuild them, so they did so with consideration of layouts that made sense rather than just whatever was there before.

Oddly some of our cities got remodeled in the 1940s as well. However we were not as quick to rebuild and, in the 1960s, we got a lot of input from urban designers that did a lot more damage to our cities and ensured the remaining trolleybus networks would be closed because the future was universal car ownership. We may, now, be regretting that however we cant change the fact that we'd be pursuing this agenda for 40-50 years.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Oddly some of our cities got remodeled in the 1940s as well. However we were not as quick to rebuild and, in the 1960s, we got a lot of input from urban designers that did a lot more damage to our cities and ensured the remaining trolleybus networks would be closed because the future was universal car ownership. We may, now, be regretting that however we cant change the fact that we'd be pursuing this agenda for 40-50 years.

Indeed, as I said on Friday...

even when we had the opportunity to rebuilt those cities that were ravaged by wartime damage and/or indulged in massive slum clearance in the 1960s, the UK invariably decided to build with the car in mind and not rail or bus.

Another place that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in good integration (but not to the same standards as Cardiff's idiocy) was Haywards Heath that had the bus station next door to the rail station until closure in c.1988. The site was then reused but basically intact until about 5 years ago when they decided to build a Waitrose on it.

There is still an area outside HH Station but its reserved for taxis and car drop offs.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Cardiff makes the mind utterly boggle. It just needed tarting up, not removing.

 

[Blindtraveler]

The seagull ridden windswept collection of shelters in the centre of Dumfries could really do with relocating into something resembling a bus station

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Another place that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in good integration was Haywards Heath that had the bus station next door to the rail station until closure in c.1988. The site was then reused but basically intact until about 5 years ago when they decided to build a Waitrose on it.

There is still an area outside HH Station but its reserved for taxis and car drop offs.

What was the general layout of the former bus station at Haywards Heath (presumably this was situated in the Commercial Square area of the town towards the bottom end of Perrymount Road near the roundabout / railway station / Burrell Arms public house).

My first visit to HH wasn't until 1993, I can vaguely remember there being an "Art Deco" style building that may previously have been the local bus company's office (Southdown?), and bus laybys for various local destinations.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

What was the general layout of the former bus station at Haywards Heath (presumably this was situated in the Commercial Square area of the town towards the bottom end of Perrymount Road near the roundabout / railway station / Burrell Arms public house).

My first visit to HH wasn't until 1993, I can vaguely remember there being an "Art Deco" style building that may previously have been the local bus company's office (Southdown?), and bus laybys for various local destinations.

That was indeed the Southdown bus station. I remember reading somewhere that the slightly art-deco religious profile was a consequence of the sloping profile of the land. Looks like it was a single platform with a canopy. Photo here (not mine)

AYJ94T Southdown 94 Haywards Heath

This 1979 Leyland National 11351A/1R was new in 1979. It passed to Hastings and District and then Stagecoach South (with the Hants & Surrey operation). It is standing here in front of a sister bus with the backdrop of the old Haywards Heath Bus Station which has now passed into oblivion.

www.flickr.com

Southdown apparently didn't believe in having bus stations except at certain key strategic locations such as HH, Lewes, Eastbourne, though some were often co-located with depots.

 

[route101]

The seagull ridden windswept collection of shelters in the centre of Dumfries could really do with relocating into something resembling a bus station

I noted 3 places in Dumfries that buses use in Dumfries. Whitesands where longer distance buses depart and a little collection of stops under s shelter at one end of shopping centre and at Robert Burns Statue.