Central Square

I live in Llanedeyrn and i have purposely chosen the southern entrance for my lift to the station due to it being easier.

I don't understand the big issue of the bus station being closed for a period of time at all, especially for people living in Cardiff. I can't remember the last time the 57 or 58 has stopped at the current bus station. For the last 4 years, when i have got my weekly train back from London Paddington, i have had to walk up to Customhouse Street to get my bus home!

For people with a lot of luggage, or disabilities, or small children then transport interchanges are a good idea. Just because you don't mind or aren't put out, it doesn't follow that other people shouldn't have a problem with these plans or the current situation.

I don't understand the big issue of the bus station being closed for a period of time at all, especially for people living in Cardiff. I can't remember the last time the 57 or 58 has stopped at the current bus station. For the last 4 years, when i have got my weekly train back from London Paddington, i have had to walk up to Customhouse Street to get my bus home!

For people with a lot of luggage, or disabilities, or small children then transport interchanges are a good idea. Just because you don't mind or aren't put out, it doesn't follow that other people shouldn't have a problem with these plans or the current situation.

My point was that before this development was announced nobody seemed to care about the current set up of the bus station. There are many destinations in Cardiff that never start or end from the current bus station with no complaints. Now that the "special" few journeys that do start or end from the station are required to change either temporary or permanently there is uproar.

Look at a map of Cardiff and you will see that, on the Y-axis, 80% of Cardiff is north of the city centre, so having pick up/drop off points at the southern entrance will be very inconvenient for most people. Driving down Lower Cathedral Rd and Penarth Road can be very congested and a lot of people will miss their connections.

No more congested than Westgate Street and Wood Street, I'd say, and most people won't miss their connections - they'll adjust their journey times.

I have always lived north of the city centre and have always been picked up at the rear of the station. It is easier to get to as it lies on the edge of the centre. Travelling to the front of the station involves navigating a hugely pedestrianised city through one-way roads and bus lanes. It is just so much easier to avoid that.

mr blue sky

The moment your arguments get personal then you've lost the debate. There really is no need for the nature and style of your post.

Aren't there taxi pick up points to the east of the station by the Great Western and south of the station?

Looks like moaning for moaning sake from the luddites, thankfully Cardiff is lucky to be more forward thinking than the majority of cities on these isles.

Mr Blue Sky = Urbano? Or any number of other people who believe that you can reliably predict recessions. I won't get into the crying wolf debate we had on that one.

And I do know transport in Cardiff pretty well. Especially routes to the station, as its the route I travel more frequently when visiting home. We travel from the north, and I admit, usually do drop off somewhere to the North of the station. Unless its raining though it will be the bottom of Westgate St, or some where on Wood St. Its a bit of a mare dropping off in front of the station given the dozens of taxis, and people parked up there. Its actually easier to go to the back to avoid that situation.

You seem to object to central square becoming more than just a dilapidated, oversized bus station. Its not a choice of bus station versus office (actually mixed-use) development. Its about having both. At the moment, the bus station is far larger than it needs to be given how much it is utilised. Trying to utilise it significantly more would also cause difficulties to bus routes, journey times, etc.

So if we accept a smaller, more efficient bus station is suitable, isn't it better to move it? So that it can be used on Mil Stad match days, for instance? And so that we get more usable space near the station - both for public space, and in perhaps the premier potential office location in Wales.

I agree it would be great if things could be phased so that the new station was up and running before the old one closed down. But given the need to empty and demolish buildings, and build the new bus station, waiting for this to be complete would cause significant delays to major projects. That may have resulted in Cardiff losing out in investment. If we missed the cycle, development might be stalled for another 8 years perhaps.

Just look at Pontypridd for an example of a town where intransigent opposition to change has set the town back for 25 years or more. Plans to redevelop "The precinct" were first mooted in the late 1980s boom. I recall plans from the mid-late 1990s upturn. Never happened as time dragged on and on as objection after objection was raised. Now some of these objections were dearly held. But that doesn't mean they were any more reasonable. There was a fundamental lack of appreciation that beneficial change and development sometimes involves some cost - in that case, the loss of a small part of the town park that was part-unused, and part used for a dilapidated day care centre for elderly residents. The loss of these was "unacceptable". Today, Pontypridd Precinct is an empty hole in the ground, following the falling-through of 3 small scheme projects that did get past the objections (by making them so small as to be practically unviable, given the lack of a major developer, and major anchor tenant).

I don't want to see Central Square become the equivalent for Cardiff - we have enough fallow bits of land where developments stall (Callaghan Square, Capital Waterside, Merchant Quarter, Adam Street) for years on end. We don't need another one right next to the station!

Mr blue sky is Mr anonymous and various other names from the old forum. It's not urbano.

Mr blue sky is Mr anonymous and various other names from the old forum. It's not urbano.

Mr Appeasement you twonk.

And as for getting personal, I was having a go at the sin, and not the sinner.

You've been involved in more online spats than Piers Morgan and Katie Hopkins, combined.

Anyway...


I remember the bus station before it was downgraded...seamless travel from anywhere in Cardiff to right outside the train station.

Once it was stripped of its main function - after the pedestrianisation of St Mary Street in 2010 - it became a shadow of its former self.

It's all very well for individuals to argue that they are happy with current arrangements, but there are plenty of individuals and groups who are dismayed by the current situation, and fear for future provision.

It is axiomatic that the bus station needs to be next to the train station, and blindingly obvious that pick up/set down points need to be as accessible as possible.

I walk/cycle/drive and haven't caught a train since a poor girl jumped in front of one i was travelling on in 2006.

Buses are way too slow and expensive.

All the same, a transport hub that will serve the needs of the city AS ENVISAGED IN THE LDP is vital for Cardiff's future success.

I guess having a degree in planning makes me see things a little differently to the amateurs on this forum.