Bus Station Proposals – Council Announces Stakeholder Meeting Programme

Published on: 22 Mar, 2017
Updated on: 23 Mar, 2017

Guildford Bus Station – Photo Mandy Millyard

A series of meetings are being organised to gather opinions and feedback about new bus station proposals as part of the redevelopment of the town centre’s lower North Street area.

Guildford Borough Council (GBC) has engaged independent consultants to meet stakeholders, relevant groups and associations who will be directly affected by any decisions to be taken. These will include bus users, community groups and retailers.

Cllr Matt Furniss

Cllr Matt Furniss (Con, Christchurch), deputy leader of the council and lead councillor for infrastructure and governance, said: “The regeneration of North Street has long been an ambition of the council and local residents. Improvements to the bus services are key to achieving a modal shift in the town.”

Modal shift is the movement away from the use of private cars for transport in Guildford.

The North Street area bus proposals are part of wider improvements to the town’s infrastructure. Projects include tackling the Gyratory traffic issues, safer and more convenient routes for pedestrians from Guildford train station to the town centre, wider pavements, plus a new Walnut Bridge between the station and the cinema.

Together they are all part of a council “integrated sustainable transport strategy” that covers rail, bus, cycling and walking networks.

According to a council press release: “Discussions with stakeholders will include their views about improved on-street bus stops as part of the redevelopment of the lower North Street area. The council remains committed to good passenger facilities including with modern bus shelters, better signage and more travel information.

“Typically, services to common destinations will be grouped together to help passengers that need to change buses.”

The overall redevelopment of North Street is seen by the council as key to maintaining Guildford’s position as the leading retail destination in the region. By regenerating the bus station site and neighbouring land, the council hopes local residents, businesses and the wider economy in Guildford can benefit, providing new homes, more jobs as well as retail and leisure opportunities.

The press release continued: “Inclusion of the bus station site will unlock the economic potential of regeneration providing further places to live, work, shop and to enjoy a thriving town centre, improving the ambience of the area.”

Cllr Furniss added: “Working with Surrey County Council, we’re looking closely at the variety of transport needs in Guildford. This includes residents journeying out of the town and shoppers and workers travelling into the centre.

“These services are important to passengers and our aim is to balance the needs of residents, businesses and visitors in planned, realistic and sustainable ways.”

The council has appointed SYSTRA Ltd to help resource and deliver the bus station stakeholder engagement and meetings, working with the in-house council teams.

The meetings are to be spread over four weeks and according to a GBC spokesperson will be, “the start of the process to help inform the development of proposals”.

Responses to Bus Station Proposals – Council Announces Stakeholder Meeting Programme

Bibhas Neogi Reply

March 25, 2017 at 8:47 am

GBC says “Projects include tackling the Gyratory traffic issues, safer and more convenient routes for pedestrians from Guildford train station to the town centre, wider pavements, plus a new Walnut Bridge between the station and the cinema.”

My question is what is being proposed to tackling Gyratory traffic issues?

Wider pavements (meaning footways not road pavements?) could be done only if carriageway lanes are reduced. GBC has yet to unveil their proposals to illustrate how they are going to achieve this.

New Walnut Bridge is aligned to what Solum Regeneration would have in their plan to re-position the main entrance. Their planning application has not been approved and so the preferred route remains through Bridge Street. Walnut Bridge/ Bedford Road route is not the preferred route out of hours at present as it is too quiet and some consider it unsafe.

Again GBC says: “Discussions with stakeholders will include their views about improved on-street bus stops as part of the redevelopment of the lower North Street area.” To me it suggests GBC has made up their mind to have on-street bus bays to replace the bus station. This will be a poor replacement of a bus station with facilities such as heated waiting areas, cafes and toilets.

I have been advocating that a mini hub integrated with Friary Extension plus a bus station on Mary Road together with other infrastructures to make the town centre pedestrian friendly could be achieved as another option quite different from the Guildford Vision Group’s option. This integrated mini hub would provide an ideal service to bus users from the north and the east, be close to the current bus station and Waitrose. A relocated bus station would provide all interchange of services in addition to the mini-hub.

GBC does not mention Mary Road car park site anymore in their documents (I wonder why) but Bedford Road car park could be used instead of Mary Road if there is a compelling reason that GBC is not willing to disclose.

Please click here to see a sketch below shows the mini-hub integrated with the Friary Extension

And click here to see another sketch showing the solution for the Gyratory.

Town Bridge would be reopened for local traffic only and could be weight-restricted to protect the environmental character of the area.

Overall these improvements will be cheaper than GVG’s and much less visible. So the character of Guildford would be changed as little as possible compared with GVG’s proposal. Of course we do not know what GBC has in mind to tackle the traffic. We will have to wait and see.