All change at the £16m depot
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THE CONTROVERSIAL Bradford Travel Interchange will open on Sunday, having cost some £16 million, covering an area of 81/2 acres, and bringing together 130 bus and coach services, a railway station, and a 200-bus garage and maintenance workshop.
Originally commissioned by the old Bradford City Council, it is owned and operated by the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.
It also houses the regional offices of the National Bus operating companies.
With the opening of the new interchange, five old bus garages in Bradford, which date from the days of the Bradford Tramway system are to be closed.
Looking to the future, the bus station has been designed to accomodate trolleybuses, should a decision to return to this mode of operation be made by West Yorkshire.
A transport study at present in the pipeline is expected to recommend a return to trolleybus operation for the West Yorkshire urban areas.
The bus station has also been designed for an easy switch to driving on the right hand side of the road should this ever be adopted in Britain.
Although the interchange provides far superior facilities to any other bus station or interchange in this country, there are many worries locally that it is too remote from the shopping and business centres of Bradford.
A report on bus services in Bradford from Travers, Morgan and Partners maintained that the interchange would bring little advantage to passengers by increasing walking distance, while all passengers would have to pay the cost of running the facility.
To help existing bus users., services will continue to run through the city centre while, still serving the bus station.
The interchange is more reminiscent of railway station architecture — it was in fact designed by British Rail — than more traditional bus stations. All the "departure platforms" are linked by a footbridge across one end from which passengers descend into covered walkways, from which access to buses is through sliding doors.
Although local services are grouped at the nearest departure platforms, the express services in particular are a very long walk from the entrance.