It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:30 am


The Interchange

if it's about Cardiff.. Sport, Entertainment, Transportation, Business, Development Projects, Leisure, Eating, Drinking, Nightlife, Shopping, Train Spotting! etc.. then we want it here!
  • Author
  • Message
Offline

Peiriannydd

  • Posts: 614
  • Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:12 pm

Re: The Interchange

PostWed May 05, 2021 12:49 pm

Amoore wrote:I walked past this the other day and photos really don't do it justice. The actual bus station bit is huge in itself and is taller than the BBC Wales HQ.


I haven't been home since before the lockdowns started and I'm really looking forward to seeing this building!

I remember showing a colleague up here in London the renders and remarking on the scale of the building relative to others in Cardiff, even the Central Square development. It really is a big building for Cardiff and I'm quite excited to see it coming together.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, Cardiff feels me like a big town than a city. It's not just a lack of tall buildings, you can go to many European cities and you won't see anything about 8 storeys. But there's density there, there's a tram network, there's a descent connection to a functioning airport. They have things like a bus stations with big electronic billboards and large passenger waiting halls.
Offline

Frank

  • Posts: 349
  • Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:54 pm

Re: The Interchange

PostSun May 09, 2021 7:29 pm

I think you're all being a bit unfair bemoaning the comments on walesonline for this one. People are understandably concerned about the new bus station which appears to be similar to what you'd get in Pontypridd or Caerphilly - 14 bays. What has happened to intercity coach travel? Are different Cardiff bus routes simply going to terminate all over the place? It's plainly much smaller than the previous station. However there's a new shiny tall building which is all many of you seemed to be bothered about.
Offline

Peiriannydd

  • Posts: 614
  • Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 9:12 pm

Re: The Interchange

PostSun May 09, 2021 10:01 pm

Frank wrote:I think you're all being a bit unfair bemoaning the comments on walesonline for this one. People are understandably concerned about the new bus station which appears to be similar to what you'd get in Pontypridd or Caerphilly - 14 bays. What has happened to intercity coach travel? Are different Cardiff bus routes simply going to terminate all over the place? It's plainly much smaller than the previous station. However there's a new shiny tall building which is all many of you seemed to be bothered about.


I don't have a problem with constructive criticism or people voicing genuine concerns, but the average comments on Walesonline just make me despair. What sort of future do these people actually envisage for Wales? I don’t subscribe to the hubris, nor grudge and grievance, of nationalism, but people should have vision beyond a big village mentality.

My view on the bus station is that it should be like Victoria Coach Station in London, providing a base for coach services to other parts of Wales and not city routes around town. Victoria has about 30 gates/bays, so I’m not sure how much Cardiff would actually need given that there aren’t that many bus routes currently in operation.

If there were more routes, perhaps it would have been better to have built the current developement (BBC, offices, etc) off a podium, with the plan area of previous bus station maintained on the ground floor. That would have been more costly but certainly more future proof. An alternative (and I said this a while ago) is to have built the bus station on the south side of the railway line, where the current car park is located. That way, it could have been interegrated with the redevelopment of the railway station and future tram line.
Offline

LRcardiff

  • Posts: 67
  • Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:48 am

Re: The Interchange

PostMon May 10, 2021 10:34 am

I think the idea of having a central bus station for local buses is a bit backwards thinking.

Local bus routes should cover all of Cardiff and if I want to travel one side of Cardiff to another it makes sense for there to be more routes around the outskirts of City. It only adds time to my journey to have to travel through all the city centre traffic and possibly have to change bus at the interchange...... and that's why I think bus passenger numbers have always been quite low and there's a heavy reliance on cars in Cardiff... This is based upon my experience is living in London for nearly 10 years where I got the bus everywhere.

As I understand it the multi-storey car park planned for the Brains site development south of the station will include stops for for national coach services (presumably replacing Sofia Gardens and the Megabus stop by Friary Gardens)
Offline
User avatar

Msmurf

  • Posts: 290
  • Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:21 am

Re: The Interchange

PostMon May 10, 2021 11:41 am

The Coach Station (three bays) will be next to MS carpark being built to the south of Central Station - forming part of an integrated travel interchange.

There are other local interchages planned for Waun Gron and Cardiff Bay - and presumably elsewhere - maybe Gabalfa? - to provide better connections outside of city centre. But more connectivity needed.
Build it and they will come.
Get it wrong and they will fall off.
Offline

Bishop84

  • Posts: 96
  • Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:14 pm

Re: The Interchange

PostMon May 10, 2021 3:45 pm

Msmurf wrote:The Coach Station (three bays) will be next to MS carpark being built to the south of Central Station - forming part of an integrated travel interchange.

There are other local interchages planned for Waun Gron and Cardiff Bay - and presumably elsewhere - maybe Gabalfa? - to provide better connections outside of city centre. But more connectivity needed.


There is a planning approval for a transport (bus) interchange at UHW Heath. Not sure if that is going ahead now that they have built the additional wards by the lake and that they are proposing replacing the hospital either on the same or another site.
Offline

DavidH71

  • Posts: 82
  • Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:51 pm

Re: The Interchange

PostMon May 10, 2021 10:36 pm

I think 14 bays is probably sufficient - the purpose is to cater for the longer-distance buses which terminate in the city centre e.g. the routes from the Valleys, Bridgend, Newport. For city buses it makes more sense to carry on running around the centre in a loop, to give people making relatively short journeys the chance to get on/off very close to where they want to be. And many of those buses do run very close to the interchange anyway.

My old home town recently refurbished their 1960s bus station and found they could cope with having only half the original number of bays. Though that did still leave them with 40...
Offline

Ash

  • Posts: 1040
  • Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:28 pm

Re: The Interchange

PostTue May 11, 2021 9:03 am

I agree with David. Large, sprawling bus stations are magnets for crime and anti-social behaviour. The important thing is that you have good connectivity between the rail and bus networks and buses don't need to rest up for twenty minutes at a bus station for that to be the case.
Offline

LRcardiff

  • Posts: 67
  • Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:48 am

Re: The Interchange

PostTue May 11, 2021 10:20 am

If the interchange is going to be for buses to the Valleys and other towns and towns and cities in South Wales then that makes sense.

Roll on the metro! Until public transport is a fixed (capped) price for daily/weekly travel and has real convenience to the customer people are always going to prefer getting in their cars.
Offline
User avatar

Msmurf

  • Posts: 290
  • Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:21 am

Re: The Interchange

PostThu May 13, 2021 5:50 am

The keys to metro success will be:
1. Regular punctual train services
2. Integration with bus services - both physical location and timetabling
3. Simple ticket pricing - with daily ticket usable on trains, trams, buses

This is all part of the plan so I have high hopes for Metro. I expect to see Cardiff Bus and Newport Bus services rebranded (or co-branded ?) as Metro sooner or later.
Build it and they will come.
Get it wrong and they will fall off.
PreviousNext

Return to Cardiff Wales Map forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 44 guests