Metro Travel Interchange Bradford - a description : West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, Wakefield, 1977
Ah, the hope and aspirations! The informative booklet issued by the West Yorkshire PTE and describing the planning, construction and operation of Bradford's new Travel Interchange in 1977. The scheme was a long held aspiration of the City Council's post-war plan to essentially bring together the city's once separate motor bus stances and coach stations on the side adjacent to Hall Ings that had been identified in the first City Plan.
The scheme grew to include other features; firstly the relocation, further back, of the adjacent British Rail platforms at the old Exchange station. This did allow bus/train/coach interchange but it did mean that the British Rail facilities were a little further back from the city centre and further away from the opposing platforms at the city's other station, Foster Square. That 'gap' in Bradford's railway network has long been a source of contention and there was, once, a plan to connect the two. The desire to cut the tracks back was largely due to BR's ability to save money replacingt he Hall Ings overbridge as well as enabling demolition and redevelopment of the station site - and this can be seen on the aerial photograph. It's useful to see that for public transport the land was already being used a s a car park to accompodate the main form of competition! The BR part of the work was first to be completed and the new railway station and platforms came into use on 14 January 1973.
The second rationale behind the plan was to integrate, in the basement of the building, a new central bus garage and workshops that must have been seen as a real achievement at the time - a city centre location for the garaging and maintenance of a part of the PTE's Bradford city bus fleet. A third bonus was the construction of Metrochange House above, an eight story building that gave office accomodation for the PTE as well as space for the National Bus Company whose subsidiary West Yorkshire still operated services in the area as well as the National Express coach operation that used Interchange. The bus and coach station came into use on 27 March 1977 and allowed the closure of various city centre street terminal points and the old Chester St bus and coach station.
The Interchange has seen various changes since opening - most notably the demolition in 1999 of the overall ridge & furrow roof and this was followed by a remodelling of the bus station's layout and facilities in 2001. Further changes are being considered to both the bus station, now operated by West Yorkshire Metro, and the railway station.
Metro Travel Interchange Bradford - a description : West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, Wakefield, 1977
Ah, the hope and aspirations! The informative booklet issued by the West Yorkshire PTE and describing the planning, construction and operation of Bradford's new Travel Interchange in 1977. The scheme was a long held aspiration of the City Council's post-war plan to essentially bring together the city's once separate motor bus stances and coach stations on the side adjacent to Hall Ings that had been identified in the first City Plan.
The scheme grew to include other features; firstly the relocation, further back, of the adjacent British Rail platforms at the old Exchange station. This did allow bus/train/coach interchange but it did mean that the British Rail facilities were a little further back from the city centre and further away from the opposing platforms at the city's other station, Foster Square. That 'gap' in Bradford's railway network has long been a source of contention and there was, once, a plan to connect the two. The desire to cut the tracks back was largely due to BR's ability to save money replacingt he Hall Ings overbridge as well as enabling demolition and redevelopment of the station site - and this can be seen on the aerial photograph. It's useful to see that for public transport the land was already being used a s a car park to accompodate the main form of competition! The BR part of the work was first to be completed and the new railway station and platforms came into use on 14 January 1973.
The second rationale behind the plan was to integrate, in the basement of the building, a new central bus garage and workshops that must have been seen as a real achievement at the time - a city centre location for the garaging and maintenance of a part of the PTE's Bradford city bus fleet. A third bonus was the construction of Metrochange House above, an eight story building that gave office accomodation for the PTE as well as space for the National Bus Company whose subsidiary West Yorkshire still operated services in the area as well as the National Express coach operation that used Interchange. The bus and coach station came into use on 27 March 1977 and allowed the closure of various city centre street terminal points and the old Chester St bus and coach station.
The Interchange has seen various changes since opening - most notably the demolition in 1999 of the overall ridge & furrow roof and this was followed by a remodelling of the bus station's layout and facilities in 2001. Further changes are being considered to both the bus station, now operated by West Yorkshire Metro, and the railway station.