This is extraordinary, and a damning indictment of land ownership in Scotland. How on earth can a private company be in a position to give a capital city’s main bus station notice of closure? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg302gkw779o
@simonvarwell Dear landowner, you'll be delighted to hear that in order to promote Edinburgh as a green city, we have re-zoned the old bus station site as agricultural land. We are keen that local residents should have somewhere close to hand to grow their own produce. Planning applications to turn the ground into allotments for locals will be looked on favourably. We know you will be pleased to help provide a greener future for our wonderful city.
@simonvarwell A huge missed opportunity. The oversized building being finished at Haymarket could have had a bus station on the ground floor. Part of the site cannot even be built upon because the railway tunnel runs below it.
That would have provided a hub with local buses, long distance buses, trains and trams all within 50 yards at Haymarket. I advocated it at the time, pointing out that the vast majority of buses leave towards the west, so moving from St Andrews Square would reduce traffic.
@simonvarwell Waverley is gradually being abandoned by public transport.
The trams don’t go past it and no buses use Waverley Bridge. Gradually the public transport interchange for Edinburgh is becoming Haymarket.
However, Waverley could become a hub if North Bridge became a bus interchange, possibly even a bus station, with lifts linking it with Waverley station, especially if the trams are to have a southern extension.
@simonvarwell it was a massive vacant site on the old coalyards, and the line of the railway tunnel can be clearly seen in this old satellite photograph. It was begging for a bus station on the ground floor.
But now their shortsightedness has left the area with no further vacant sites.
@simonvarwell be amazed if this wasn't a prelude to compulsory purchase by the council.
We had a landowner in Fort William try to build a housing scheme in the way of a major flood protection scheme. My impression was that his building plan was just about increasing the market value of the land he'd have to be compensated for....
@simonvarwell wow! That a private company can decide that the capital will no longer have a bus station. Really hope this is avoided - ingliston P&R is not a suitable alternative & with 3 years to go I’m not sure why the council are so relaxed about losing this infrastructure!
@nr no it’s absurd. You can’t have a bus station on the edge of town. The only other alternative is that the schedules basically turn Princes Street or George Street or similar into one big long bus station.
Add comment