Wolverhampton bus station

Wolverhampton bus station
Wolverhampton bus station in 2013
General information
LocationPipers Row, Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton
City of Wolverhampton
Coordinates52°35′10″N 2°07′19″W / 52.586°N 2.122°W / 52.586; -2.122
Operated byTransport for West Midlands
Bus stands19 (as of 2011)
Bus operators

NB: Chaserider and Select Bus normally omit the bus station. However Chaserider service 5 serves the station on evenings and Sundays.

Connections
Construction
ArchitectAustin-Smith:Lord

Wolverhampton bus station is the first part of a major public transport interchange in the city centre of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands region of England.

It is managed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM). Local bus services operated by various companies serve the bus station which has 19 departure stands[1] and a single unloading stand. The bus station is located between Wolverhampton, St George's, West Midlands Metro tram terminus and Wolverhampton railway station, on the site of the former bus station and Pipers Row House, a mid-1990s retail and office block.[2]

Background

Prior to 1923 Wolverhampton had a mix of motor buses and trams. Trolleybuses ran in the town from 1923 until 1967.[3] The original bus station was on the northern side of Railway Drive approximately where the Ring Road passes under the present road bridge. It was primarily used by Midland Red although a few WMPTE services also departed from there. The station, which had existed since 1986, was closed after service finished on 3 April 2010. (The 1986 bus station replaced the 1980 bus station on the same site which in turn had replaced the original bus station on the northern side of Railway Drive.)

Current bus station

The bus station was designed by architects, Austin-Smith:Lord and the mechanical & electrical (M&E) consultants were Hilson Moran.[4] The three steel and glass 'boulevards' are under a translucent, PTFE architectural fabric roof[5] and feature glass-enclosed waiting areas and electronic doors, allowing passengers out of designated pedestrian areas only when buses are on stand.[6] The station's W-shaped design removes the need for bus and pedestrian paths to cross.[7]

The bus station's enquiry office is now in the main building, but was in the Queen's Building, a grade II listed building, which was host to Costa Coffee, but which was formerly the carriage entrance to the railway station and is currently empty.[8] The travel shop closed permanently on 1st April 2023.

The Interchange Project

Building work began in 2010 and in the ensuing months a new pedestrian bridge linking the railway and bus stations was built, a contraflow system installed along the ring road and the bus station rebuilt. The station re-opened on 24 July 2011, which coincided with the Wolverhampton bus network review and marked the end of Phase One of the project. Phase Two, given the go ahead in December 2014 includes improvements to the railway station, a new hotel and redevelopment of the canalside area. The Railway Station Car Park has been refurbished and extended to increase capacity to just over 900 parking spaces. The entire project will eventually see public transport in Wolverhampton connecting in one place linking the bus station, railway station and the West Midlands Metro; the latter's Piper's Row tram stop to be located adjacent to the bus station.[9][10][11] This extension opened in September 2023.

References

  1. ^ "Bus stations and interchanges". Centro. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Work starts on demolishing Pipers Row House". www.expressandstar.com. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  3. ^ Owen, Nicholas (1974). History of the British Trolleybus. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0-7153-6370-6 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "Hilson Moran to design M&E for £174m Wolverhampton Interchange Scheme". Building. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Wolverhampton Bus Station". Base Structures. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  6. ^ Bower, Steve (15 June 2022). "47. Wolverhampton Bus Station, Pipers Row (2011)". Wolverhampton in 50 Buildings. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-3981-0692-5.
  7. ^ "Spectacular new images of Wolverhampton bus station". www.expressandstar.com. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  8. ^ Biddle, Gordon (2011). Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: A Gazetteer of Structures (Second ed.). Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 379–380. ISBN 9780711034914.
  9. ^ http://wolverhamptoninterchange.co.uk/bus-station/ [dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Wolverhampton Bus Station - Centro website". centro.org.uk. Archived from the original on 30 March 2014.
  11. ^ "500 extra car parking spaces to be created at Wolverhampton railway station".