Does anyone know of a bus station that they actually like?

[whole diary]

[Bob_Blakey]

It would have been Cardiff - co-located with the main railway station (as they always should be if such is available) and very well organised - but I haven't been there for several years so did not realise it had been demolished.
This just serves to indicate that the members of Cardiff City Council responsible for transport are complete pillocks.
cf. Exeter City Council who are in the process of having our bus station rebuilt, at great expense, in the same place after ignoring at least two opportunities to relocate the facility adjacent to Central Station.

[eightf48544]

Slough has won praise for its architectural elegance.   

[johnneyw]

Slough has won praise for its architectural elegance.   

Just Googled it and it's certainly a bit unexpected.

[Reading General]

Slough doesn't offer much in the way of shelter though. The former bus station was grotty but world famous and did a decent breakfast for drivers in the canteen.

[Surrey 455]

Slough doesn't offer much in the way of shelter though. The former bus station was grotty but world famous and did a decent breakfast for drivers in the canteen.

I was there a few years back in the rain and was shocked at how easily you could get wet. The roof, though trendy, is too high and lets the rain in from the side.

https://www.dezeen.com/2011/10/02/slough-bus-station-by-bblur-architecture/

I had been using the old bus station since the early 80s but towards the end of its life, I was very wary of being there at night. It seemed too dark and dingy with unsavoury characters loitering around. Were they waiting for a bus? The 81 avoided the High St at night and still does I think so I had little choice but to wait at the bus station. The 81 stop was near a pedestrian opening onto Wellington Street so I would often stand just outside until the bus pulled up or started its engine and then walk back in.

[CyclingSid]

The roof too high, brings to mind the new "canopy" on the down platform of Wokingham station. Possibly a good theoretical design but impractical in British weather. More generally I do wonder wheter designers need to "live" with the things they create more.

[martyjon]

The roof too high, brings to mind the new "canopy" on the down platform of Wokingham station. Possibly a good theoretical design but impractical in British weather. More generally I do wonder wheter designers need to "live" with the things they create more.

My mother was a very vocal criticizer of kitchen designers who placed cookers on the opposite side of kitchens to the sink, she said cookers should be placed next to a sink or in the case of a double drainer sink unit, next to a draining board so as to negate the need to carry a saucepan of vegges in a pot of boiling water halfway across the kitchen to strain them.

[Oxonhutch]

The roof too high, brings to mind the new "canopy" on the down platform of Wokingham station. Possibly a good theoretical design but impractical in British weather. More generally I do wonder wheter designers need to "live" with the things they create more.

Likewise at Reading. Compare - if you remember - the efficient coziness of the Edwardian canopies and their close-fitting valances with the current, up-turned umbrella piece of architecture that floats quite uselessly above the platform when it rains in even the slightest of breeze.

[eightf48544]

The roof too high, brings to mind the new "canopy" on the down platform of Wokingham station. Possibly a good theoretical design but impractical in British weather. More generally I do wonder wheter designers need to "live" with the things they create more.

Agree designer should be made to use what they design. Perhaps waiting at Slough bus station on a cold rainy winters night?

As for Reading we even had trouble on the transfer deck with the Coffee Shop banner being caught by sudden gusts of wind.

[rower40]

I couldn't let this thread go by without some mention of the wonderful Art Deco 1930's bus station in Derby.  All the platforms were "through", so no bus ever had to reverse to get in or out.  Yes a bit windy (the wind went "through" too), but easy to use, and lovely architecture.

Closed in 2005, Demolished in 2006.
The replacement didn't open till 2010, so for 4 years, Derby buses used city centre roadside stops.  As stated by Reading General above:

For local transport I have never favored a full on bus station on street bus stops work much better provided there is a decent central turning area or the routes cross town.

and Derby seemed to work OK.

See here for Wikipedia link, where there's a photo or two.

[Reading General]

Yes the reverse out, space saving type bus station used in many places has only really been suitable for interurban or rural services. Higher frequency town routes work better 'on street' if you like. This set up probably existed in most places which had a single company or corporation running the town local routes. Reading, Oxford, Bournemouth, Coventry, these are all places that have or had this arrangement. Many towns local transport evolved in the same way Reading's did, from tramways and trolleybuses to buses. So the bus station arrangement only existed for the beyond the boundary services which, in Reading were provided by Thames Valley. I still believe this set up works best provided that main local routes cross town, or have a reasonably quick street terminus in the centre if they are radial. However, in Reading's case nothing really works anymore with making connections between buses, or between bus and train as the town centre street layout has been altered in the last decade. It doesn't necessarily need a bus station, except for perhaps the interurban/rural routes (station northern entrance stops perhaps?)  it just needs the whole town centre layout lifting up and started again to simplify and give a bit more room for public transport. It wouldn't be that difficult, after all I was almost perfect in the early 2000's. Then again this is the U.K. where everything is hard work.

[johnneyw]

I couldn't let this thread go by without some mention of the wonderful Art Deco 1930's bus station in Derby.  All the platforms were "through", so no bus ever had to reverse to get in or out.  Yes a bit windy (the wind went "through" too), but easy to use, and lovely architecture.

Closed in 2005, Demolished in 2006.
The replacement didn't open till 2010, so for 4 years, Derby buses used city centre roadside stops.  As stated by Reading General above:

For local transport I have never favored a full on bus station on street bus stops work much better provided there is a decent central turning area or the routes cross town.

and Derby seemed to work OK.

See here for Wikipedia link, where there's a photo or two.

The old bus station looks like some London Underground Stations do. Off course they were all built around the same time.

[didcotdean]

The incarnation of Leicester's St Margaret's bus station that I remember so well (not really that fondly to be honest as it was like a wind tunnel) was the one built just before the Second World War, with the bus shelters doubling up as above ground air raid shelters. One picture of what that was like is here - there isn't much online and the likes of Wikipedia doesn't even acknowledge its existence, referring only to its mid 1980s replacement, and the subsequent one in the 2000s. When it came to be demolished the shelters took days each in keeping with their original purpose, being concrete over a foot thick.

This was only for coaches and county buses - the City Transport barely used it. Modern-day successors do a bit, and another station near-by, but many just run across the centre on streets.

[TonyK]

My mother was a very vocal criticizer of kitchen designers who placed cookers on the opposite side of kitchens to the sink, she said cookers should be placed next to a sink or in the case of a double drainer sink unit, next to a draining board so as to negate the need to carry a saucepan of vegges in a pot of boiling water halfway across the kitchen to strain them.

I'm guessing she was not a Part P electrician! Although you can get away with 300mm between sink and cooker, some say.

[martyjon]

My mother was a very vocal criticizer of kitchen designers who placed cookers on the opposite side of kitchens to the sink, she said cookers should be placed next to a sink or in the case of a double drainer sink unit, next to a draining board so as to negate the need to carry a saucepan of vegges in a pot of boiling water halfway across the kitchen to strain them.

I'm guessing she was not a Part P electrician! Although you can get away with 300mm between sink and cooker, some say.

Correct, she would have needed a CORGI registration to fit her gas cooker.