BUS STATION

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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)

Passengers at the new bus station are being given instructions on how to queue correctly in a bid to tackle congestion problems on the concourse. Managers found users of the station were blocking walkways rather than waiting in designated areas. Complaints about overcrowding have led the city council to debate whether passengers or the station are at fault. Lanes are being marked on the floor and information messages displayed at the station.

Station manager John Evans said, "People in Derby just don't seem to want to queue in clumps, we are trying to get them to queue in clumps in their little area. When the queues are quite large they tend to queue out into the concourse and that's a problem for people walking up to the far end of the concourse. What we are going to try is experimental marks on the floor and we have put messages on the screens to queue in the waiting areas. Once we have had these experiments, if it works, the marks on the concourse floor will become permanent."

Labour city councillor Martin Repton said there was simply not enough space and added, "This ought to have been anticipated in terms of the design and layout. We have this situation now where... we are being compared to Leeds, where we are told by officials they queue in an orderly way and we are disorderly queuers. I just find the whole thing bizarre." Conservative councillor Chris Poulter, who is cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said the council was working on a solution. He said, "We tried some things already, like signs in the bays and staff trying to encourage the public to form queues in a different way but that has not worked." (Source: BBC News, Jun/10)

A taxi rank is to be created outside the bus station entrance following feedback from passengers frustrated they have to cross the Morledge to hail a cab. The rank will be installed after the Conservative-led council reviewed plans to upgrade the Morledge. The walk to the existing taxi bays was one of the main concerns raised by passengers using the bus station and one predicted by the council's previous transport commission which scrutinised the station before its opening. Council leader Harvey Jennings said he wanted to know more about the planned work and immediately felt "common sense" changes needed to be made.

In particular he believed a planned installation of a new bus stop outside the bus station needed scrapping. He said, "One bus stop was going to be located right outside the bus station, which seemed crazy, and we have turned that into a taxi rank. It will be a lay-by right outside the main entrance to the bus station." And Mr Jennings has also ordered other changes to the Morledge scheme. He said, "When we came to power we quickly looked at the scheme to make sure we were happy with it and we weren't."

He added, "There was still six to eight bus stops included on the Morledge, which would have seen brand new bus shelters installed. There seemed to be an element of still having a temporary bus station when we had a permanent one and we were not happy at all with that. We have instructed that the bus stops are removed. It doesn't mean the design of the scheme has had to be changed, all we have done is changed where the new bus stops were going into blue badge parking. These are common-sense changes." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jul/10)