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.