SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I did wonder whether this should go under buildings or transport but decided on chat.

Anybody who has used the bus station in the last month or so will have noticed that most of the departure stands have changed in the main a couple of places south. What you might not have been aware of is the reasons. Well the bus station exit is being moved and a new entrance to the coach station created so that coaches no longer need to cross the apron of the bus station and will have access directly to Dyer Street (bottom of George Street). A detailed plan can be found here http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/documents ... ng%201.pdf

Basically the new exit will be through the existing emergency exit which will be widened https://goo.gl/maps/Be1TxKh9VLB2. This will also incorporate a right turn on St Peter's Street so that east and southbound routes no longer have to negotiate the Eastgate roundabout and 4 sets of lights that this entails. Of course there will be the one new set of lights at the new exit.

There are a few observations I have on this.

• It surely renders at least the last couple of stands at the north end useless as a straight reverse far enough for a turning circle to attain the exit must traverse the new exit lanes where buses may already be queuing for exit
• There are occasionally queues into the layover area paricularly when buses are reversing into parking spots and this will interfere with the exit lanes
• The new emergency exit will be through a narrowed existing exit to join the new coach station entrance on Dyer Street and then exit via the coach station. Surely most emergencies would require getting away from the building as soon as possible not driving all the way round it in very close proximity
• The central reservation on St Peters Street will undergo major reconfiguration not long after it was reconfigured in several months(1 year+?) of works on and around the Eastgate roundabout related to Victoriagate. Those works caused massive traffic disruption even in off peak hours let alone the rush hours. I fear months of the same again

And after all that, Leeds has no transport interchange. I'd struggle to find any 21C reason for the bus station being where it is except for always having been there.

I still think they should have turned the old Marsh Lane station into a transport interchange. It would mean the inner city loop would need some drastic redesigns but I think it does anyway, rather than the current plan which is just to make more of the centre of town into bus-only routes.

I wouldn't dignify any of this by calling it a plan. The chopping and changing described in Tyke Bhoy's post shows that. Leeds City Council has policies, which if you challenge an elected member they will explain are aspirations: what they would like to do in an ideal world. Exceptions are often made in individual cases. Then, there are schemes - projects - some of which have been gathering dust for years, waiting for the money. The money is tight these days and much of it comes from the payments which developers have to make as a condition of planning approval.