On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:40:08 +0100, "Martin Underwood" a@b wrote:

Has Gloucester Green always been just for long-distance buses or did
all/most buses call there at one time. For some reason, the concept of
having one central place where you can guarantee all buses will stop seems
to have fallen out of favour in most towns these days.

I don't really know, I'm not *that* familiar with buses in the Oxford
area other than the X5 and Oxford Tube. The bus station does appear
to be mainly (but not exclusively) Stagecoach, however...

As to why bus stations have fallen out of favour, I don't know. In
Milton Keynes' case there is a good reason in that the centre is so
dispersed that all buses run the length of it on a single route (which
is useful in itself), and it was decided that stopping in front of the
railway station was more sensible than in the bus station which is a
short walk away.

The MK bus station remains as a staff layover point/cafe, a skate park
and a handy place to use as a meeting place if you want to run your
own private coach to somewhere.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
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Neil Williams wrote:

As to why bus stations have fallen out of favour, I don't know. In
Milton Keynes' case there is a good reason in that the centre is so
dispersed that all buses run the length of it on a single route (which
is useful in itself), and it was decided that stopping in front of the
railway station was more sensible than in the bus station which is a
short walk away.

One of cost maybe. In the case of a local authority owned bus station
there will be a charge of so much a departure whereas using a nearby
street will be free - or at least cheaper. If the bus company owns it
the temptation to sell it off for development must be high.