BUILDING
WORK HAS STARTED
Building work has finally started on the new bus
station but bus operators said they were still in
talks with the city council and developers
Riverlights Ltd about how it will operate.
Riverlights Ltd said the bus station would be the
first part to be completed at the end of 2009 or
beginning of 2010, with the rest of phase one due
for completion by the middle of 2010.
The first phase will comprise the station, two
hotels, a casino, restaurants and bars and a
later phase will add apartment blocks. Work on
the apartments will start after that. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/08) |
BUS STATION OPENING
IS DELAYED AGAIN
Derby's new bus station will not open by the end
of the year as promised, due to building delays.
The project has faced problems with planning
disputes, administrative delays and the
recession.
The city council said developers had now
predicted the station would open by early 2010.
Officials also admitted they had not agreed a
charge for using the facility with the bus
companies.
The city council also confirmed it intended to
charge buses to use the station as a way of
paying for maintenance and security. (Source: BBC News, Jun/09) |
NEW BUS STATION
FINALLY SET TO OPEN
The new bus station will be open from 5.30am to
midnight Monday to Saturday and 9am to 11pm on
Sundays.
The opening details were revealed by Councillor
Lucy Care, cabinet member for highways and
transport.
She said it would not be cost-effective to open
the bus station for 24 hours when those opening
times will meet the needs of the vast majority of
people.
She added that the first date by which changes to
timetables and systems could be made was March
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BUS STATION
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The bus station has finally been demolished,
but work on the new development will not begin for
another year. David Osborne, of Derby Riverlights Ltd,
has revealed that surrounding roadworks are top
priorities, now the demolition is over. He is negotiating
with the city council over the precise details of the
layout alterations around the Cockpit Island, which are
necessary for the development. Until these works are well
under way, it will not be possible to start work on the
new bus station because a stretch of the Cockpit Island
road will be part of the new development.
The changes will mean the road ceases to be a roundabout.
Instead there will be two-way traffic on separate
carriageways to the east of the Cockpit. Project manager
John Ramsay said, "It's very complicated, but we
basically need to iron out the details of how the road
changes will take shape. I think the middle of next year
is a realistic target for us to begin work on site."
Mr Osborne said, "We're very pleased with how things
have gone so far. The demolition process went to plan, so
now we've turned our attention to the next stage. It's
full steam ahead." Well, not for 12 months it isn't.
(Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jul/06)
Developer David Osborne says he is ready to
give the Bus Station development's keys to the council,
in line with a promise to finish by the end of November.
But Councillor Lucy Care, cabinet member for planning and
transportation, says it should have been ready by
November 10. And, she says, the delay means the bus
station cannot open to the public until February at the
earliest, rather than the January date she stated earlier
this year. However, bus company officials claim they have
been led to believe by the council for "some
time" that the bus station would not be open until
March.
Keith Myatt, spokesman for Arriva, added, "We are
still in consultation with Derby City Council regarding
the operations from the new bus station. We envisage the
bus station going live from March 2010. The March date is
one we have been aware of for a period of time." Mrs
Care said, "There is a big difference between
November 10 and the end of the month in terms of getting
things ready. It is a big project and the construction
has not been under our control. It is also a big job
logistically, working with separate private companies
bringing their individual bus routes in and getting
agreement to work together has involved a lot of
negotiations." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Dec/09)
Members of the city council's planning and
transport commission went on a site visit to the new
station to see its progress and they want a number of
potential problems sorting out before it opens to the
public on March 28. They include, putting taxi ranks at
the bus station so passengers do not have to cross from
the station over the Morledge to the nearest rank and
installing vending machines while waiting for the
refreshments shop to open. It has also emerged that there
will not initially be an electronic system in the station
telling people how long they have to wait for a bus.
Councillor Chris Poulter, chairman of the commission,
said members were particularly concerned that no
provision had been made for the hospital bus, which would
continue to stop at the Spot. He said, "People
coming from one of the suburbs wanting to go to the new
hospital would have to go into the station on their
service and then walk across the Morledge, up East Street
and St Peter's Street to get to the Spot to catch the
hospital bus. I can understand it not running at full
capacity when it opens but it should be a transport hub
and I would be looking for more services to be running
from it."
There will be 29 bays at the station in total, 24 with
direct access plus five outside bays for coaches. Mr
Poulter said he thought it was wrong that there was no
taxi rank at the bus station and that people from coaches
would have to walk through the station and cross the
Morledge to find a taxi. He added, "People have been
waiting a long time for this station and it was important
to look at it from a customer point of view, instead of
from the viewpoint of someone who is so closely involved
and focused on getting it open."
Tony Gascoigne from the council's transport department
said many of the commission's points had already been
picked up. He said, "There was never provision for a
taxi rank within the station because there isn't the
space but the taxi rank across the Morledge is clearly
visible from the doors of the station. The hospital bus
was an issue we hadn't picked up on but we've been back
to the hospital to see if they would like to reconsider
and bring a bus in but they can't manage the service
within the timescale. They also feel there are other
services which provide opportunities to get to the
hospital." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Mar/10)
The new bus station has suffered damage
after a pipe burst leaving flooring under three inches of
water. The flooding was discovered by contractors after a
pipe in the pump room at the top of the building burst,
spewing water through offices and on to the main
concourse throughout the night. The new station had been
due to open to the public on 28 March, but now the
council is considering whether that is still possible.
Councillor Lucy Care, cabinet member for transport, said
flooring, suspended ceilings and furniture had been
damaged by the flooding.
She said, "It's expected that all the floor
coverings in the office areas, whether it's carpet or
whether it's tiles, will have to be replaced. There are
suspended ceilings, we're expecting those to need
replacing. Some of the furniture that had been moved in
had been damaged, the wood's swelling." Industrial
dehumidifiers have been brought in to try to dry out the
building but bus station manager John Evans said it could
still take several days before the building was ready for
work to resume on fitting it out for its opening.
He said, "This has set us back days. Contractors
were on site to fit information screens and put furniture
in offices but all that has had to stop because of the
water." Electricity had to be turned off because of
water pouring through electrical fittings. Wooden
furniture had swollen and was splitting and fittings in
the information office, including desks and wall units,
were soaked. He added, "We may not know for several
months what the true extent of the damage is because
fittings could take time to swell, but assessors will be
coming in to look at the situation."
He said that so much water leaked because the burst had
been to a pipe in a system which pumps water round the
building to be heated. The pump room and pipe which burst
were at the top of the building, meaning the water poured
through the ceilings down to the ground floor. The tiled
floors in the main foyer had been mopped dry but carpets
in upstairs offices due to be occupied by bus companies
were drenched and will have to be replaced. In a
statement the council said a decision would be made by
the end of the week on whether or not the bus station
would open on 28 March. (Source: BBC News, Mar/10)
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