For years I have been posting images of trains, buses and aeroplanes without any real thought as to their own working environment.
On a visit to Huddersfield recently I was so impressed by the bus station that I posted a short blog featuring it and not the buses.
The response I got to that blog surprised me and lead me to think that blogs about other bus station and possibly railway stations might be a subject of interest to others.
By ‘Bus Station’ I mean something that has been designed to accommodate buses and their passengers and not just an odd bus shelter stuck at the side of a bit of road.
The first bus station in Derby opened in 1933 and lasted until 2005.
Designed originally for the buses of the time which were restricted to a length of 25 feet or so, it became increasingly difficult for buses with a maximum length of close to 40 feet to manoeuvre safely because the original design included platforms on an almost 90 degree curve.
The ‘New’ bus station opened in March 2010 and forms part of the ‘Riverlights’ development close to the river Derwent that includes a hotel, a casino and the usual retail and customer facilities.
There are 24 covered stands for the use of bus services and a further 4 stands with three sided bus shelters which offers coach customers and their luggage a degree of protection from the weather but not a lot.
I have never seen stand 1 being used by buses and when I have asked why not I was told it was considered unsafe to use because it meant reversing out directly in front of other buses coming in from the road outside.
Tomorrows blog will cover some of the buses that use the bus station.
Derby Bus Station 1
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
There are two vehicle entrances/exits.
One is at the far end beyond the building to the right which is a car park.
An ‘Arriva’ Scania can just be seen departing.
The exit lane at this end is to the right of the lamp standards and to the left of the silver car
There is talk of adding further stands at the far end because there are many services in and out of Derby that terminate on nearby roads and bringing them into the bus station would increase the connectivity of services further.
Derby Bus Station 2
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
Viewed from the opposite end to image 1.
There are two areas where buses can be parked to the left in this image with a further area immediately to the left of the camera alongside that entrance/exit.
In total there are about eleven parking bays.
Derby Bus Station 3
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
The second entrance/exit with the third parking bays to the left.
Derby Bus Station 4
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
The opposite view to image 3 with the ‘Arriva’ Scania departing and the ‘trentbarton’ Volvo/Wright occupying one of the parking bays.
Derby Bus Station 5
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
The coach bays when unoccupied are used by incoming buses to drop off passengers when their own bay is not yet free.
Derby Bus Station 6
on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’
The interior is light and airy.
I am waiting for ‘the comet’ going to Chesterfield at five minutes past the hour to take me back home to Ripley.
So, just time for a coffee.
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