Bath bus station - merged posts

[whole diary]

[froome]

I happened to have to visit the First Bus offices in Bath last April. The Information Desk was unmanned, neglected and certainly looked closed even then.

Yes, it felt neglected even before the pandemic hit, and since the first lockdown it has looked forlorn. I suspect the first lockdown finally did for it. Over the years I have relied on it a few times to get information (though not always successfully) so am not pleased to see it close, and when I have used it, there were always tourists waiting there for information, so it cannot just be a lack of demand.

[grahame]

Yes, it felt neglected even before the pandemic hit, and since the first lockdown it has looked forlorn. I suspect the first lockdown finally did for it. Over the years I have relied on it a few times to get information (though not always successfully) so am not pleased to see it close, and when I have used it, there were always tourists waiting there for information, so it cannot just be a lack of demand.

Indeed. But it doesn't "make money" or even pay for its staff by giving out information.  You could argue that good passenger information helps generate more bus income and goodwill, and provides a service, but that's not how the accountants have seen it.  With the loss of commission because so many sales have gone online, it ceased to be viable ... see my comment just up thread, which is not just a guess.

[froome]

Yes, it felt neglected even before the pandemic hit, and since the first lockdown it has looked forlorn. I suspect the first lockdown finally did for it. Over the years I have relied on it a few times to get information (though not always successfully) so am not pleased to see it close, and when I have used it, there were always tourists waiting there for information, so it cannot just be a lack of demand.

Indeed. But it doesn't "make money" or even pay for its staff by giving out information.  You could argue that good passenger information helps generate more bus income and goodwill, and provides a service, but that's not how the accountants have seen it.  With the loss of commission because so many sales have gone online, it ceased to be viable ... see my comment just up thread, which is not just a guess.

Yes I quite agree, and also that good passenger information would generate more bus income (especially as tourists, at least those from overseas, are far more likely to be fare paying than local residents, of which senior bus pass holders will make up a large proportion).

Sadly bus information centres do seem to be on the way out, but I don't think it is completely inevitable. As it happens, I was in a very different type of town a few months ago, Mansfield, which has almost no tourism to rely on, and its bus information centre was thriving (and the bus station a much more pleasant building to be in than Bath's).

[Mark A]

Has anyone experienced Bath bus station's new passenger information screens?

The good: they're of a more appropriate size for the bus station, though given the length of the building, anything's going to be a challenge.

The challenging: three screens, one of which is devoted to rail information (despite several of Bath's bus routes having been altered and no longer serve the bus and rail stations...)

The curious: the rationale for the order of display of services isn't clear - and the fact that the screens change frequently and without warning means that it's difficult to scan them for the service in which one is interested as the screen will likely change while the passenger is still part way through it.

The very challenging: the bus screens scroll at slightly random intervals with a maximum display time of around 10 seconds but sometimes very much less.

The peculiar: within the 10 second complete rewrite, a screen's individual fields will sometimes update and that's very disruptive.

While the screens are initially attractive, it's difficult to gather useful information from them.

My suggestion would be:

*Ditch the rail information. Use that third screen for bus info.

*Given the additional real estate provided by the third screen, on all three, cease switching the pages: just provide a list of times for upcoming services with an orderly right to left progression, dropping 'em off the top of the first screen as they depart.

Oh and lose the plastic owl, as the pigeons aren't bothered.

Mark

[Red Squirrel]

Has anyone experienced Bath bus station's new passenger information screens?

[...]

The challenging: three screens, one of which is devoted to rail information (despite several of Bath's bus routes having been altered and no longer serve the bus and rail stations...)

[...]

My suggestion would be:

*Ditch the rail information. Use that third screen for bus info.

[...]

I had a look at it the other week.

FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) is currently campaigning for better bus/train integration - making it easier for people to switch modes. We had a meeting with WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) a month or so back to discuss this, and Bath Bus Station was mentioned as one of the few places in the region where real-time train information is made available to bus users. It's actually fairly cheap and easy to set up, and we think it should be made available at other interchanges. As well as giving useful information to people who already swap modes, it also raises awareness of travel options for people who may not realise that a train may get them where they want to go quicker.

Someone travelling from Radstock to Swindon, for example, would probably change from bus to train at Bath, whereas someone travelling from Keynsham to Box might start on the train and finish their journey by bus. Both would presumably welcome this additional real-time information.

However, when I pointed out the display at Bath to my teenage daughter, she said she though it was just confusing: 'How do you know which ones are trains and which ones are buses' was her main observation! So there is clearly scope for improvement.

At our meeting with WECA, one of the main issues they raised was a lack of space for information. This, along with clear presentation, costs money. And there's not much of that about at the moment.

[Mark A]

>>FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site)» is currently campaigning for better bus/train integration - making it easier for people to switch modes.

Good, bus/train integration is a bit of a dirty word locally, since earlier this year when First changed the route of Bath's 6 and 7 bus to terminate at Bath's Guildhall rather than at the bus and rail stations. The local authority has a little say in this as they fund the last three services of the day and those *do* run from the bus station, but being hourly, it's very fortunate if, eg. trains connect.

Something I didn't expect for 2022 that we'd have another cycle in which the government would be so good at talking up public transport while at the same time taking steps to grind it into the dust.

Mark

[grahame]

From Wikipedia ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_bus_station

A new location for the bus station was chosen on the site of Churchill House – an abandoned 1920s electricity company building, the demolition of which sparked the most recent controversy to delay the whole project. Campaigners fighting for the preservation of the building argued that the frontage from Churchill House should be retained and incorporated into the design of the new bus station, but the architects maintained that this was not practical. Revised plans for a glass and metal rotunda – nicknamed derisively by local people as the "Busometer" – on the site close to Bath Spa railway station and on the edge of the River Avon were given council approval in early 2007 and work begun to construct this part of the transport interchange for the city.

The new Bath Bus Station opened on Sunday 7 June 2009, at a cost of £14 million, as part of the £360 million SouthGate development.

Well - does it work well for YOU or do you still hanker after the old bus station?

[johnneyw]

I opted for "not thrilled" but I thought that I'd better add why.  At first it seemed just the (bus) ticket.  Built adjacent to the railway station to form a transport hub, sensible layout with all the required facilities associated with an important transport centre.....what wasn't to like?
Sadly, the high aspirations of the bus station seem to have evaporated over the years.  On my more recent visits it's seemed to look increasingly tired with parts of it put out of use...all classic signs of decline.  Maybe I went there at a bad time but that was the impression that I was left with.

[Bmblbzzz]

"Take it or leave it". Firstly, I barely remember the old bus station. Secondly, I do remember enough to say that IMO^▸ (in my opinion) the new one is better, both as a building and especially in terms of location. The new (ie. current) building isn't particularly attractive but it works and I suppose I have low expectations of bus stations – by their nature they tend to be grimy places of transit and unwilling waiting. At least they don't smell of stale cigarettes nowadays!

[Mark A]

Not thrilled.

* As soon as it gets busy it doesn't work well, as queues conflict with circulation.

* The continuous deep eaves, combined with the building's glass means that it needs (but doesn't receive) frequent window cleaning.

* It's difficult to identify the entrances from Dorchester Street from the rest of the glass frontage - though it has to be said that the pigeons do not have a problem with this - and the interior has built-in bird roosts for them to enjoy after they've fed on the bird seed that a local well meaning but misguided person scatters round the building (in addition to the entire city centre).

* It's not big enough to include all of the city's services - and for services that do not use the bus station, information on and directions to where those services *do* terminate is poor - and in any case some are ten minutes walk away. (This is something that it shares with Bristol's bus station where various services from and to Wales aren't able to use the current station - not sure if they were able to use the previous one, mind).

Was the objection to keeping the 30s-but-in-keeping-with-its-surroundings Churchill House was that its retention meant that the site wouldn't be able to accommodate bendy buses? Not sure how the current bus station would cope with those either, and looking at the comparative footprints on maps.nls.uk, the corner block of the former electricity offices were a gift for reuse.

I also seem to recall that the bus station cost £28 million rather than the £14 as stated by Wikipedia with reference to a vanished first group web page.

Mark

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.5&lat=51.37778&lon=-2.35923&layers=193&b=1

[Red Squirrel]

I had to vote 'Never used it'. Which slightly surprises me. I've been a fairly regular visitor to Bristol's second-nicest suburb for the last five decades, and for all that time I've almost always used public transport. In my teens and twenties, I always used the No.339 bus, sometimes changing for Trowbridge, Devizes and other mysterious places.

For the last twenty years, since I've been living within walking distance of Montpelier station, I've only ever used the bus for the last leg of the journey home, and only then if I've missed the last Beach line train.

I did poke my head around the door last year just to see what it was like though. It was a hot day, and it seemed pretty badly ventilated.

[grahame]

Thank you for the various inputs - amongst those who have used it, a clear majority are not thrilled and it doesn't have a loving fan club.  Personally, I think the best things about it are the catering outlet and the places the buses go.

[infoman]

Has the information desk re-opened yet?

[grahame]

Has the information desk re-opened yet?

No, and I don't think it is planned to happen. There are now some leaflets in racks.

[froome]

Has the information desk re-opened yet?

No, and I don't think it is planned to happen. There are now some leaflets in racks.

It is very sad seeing how this lobby area, with what was the information desk, has been left to become unused. The door into it from the bus station is currently blocked off, so you have to go out into the street to back into it to look at the desultory set of leaflets. Only when inside the lobby do you find a sign to tell you the toilets are through a further door into the noodle bar cafe. These toilets aren't always available though, as the people running the cafe have blocked access when it is full.

Getting any useful information beyond what is shown on the screens is almost impossible now. I have spent many an hour trying to find out what is happening with buses I've waited for there, looking for somebody who might know, and having to ask random drivers as there is nobody else to ask.

Given that not all First buses now use the bus station, and there is no information on where others go from (both First and others), and that Bath does attract a lot of visitors, I think the desertion of the information desk is a disgrace, and the dowdy look of that lobby area just as bad.